Another record breaking year for Future

Future plc, the global platform for specialist media, has revealed another year of record profit and cash flow with the publication today of its results

Highlights include

Full year revenue up 79% to £606.8m (FY 2020: £339.6m).
Organic revenue was up 23%.
US achieved organic revenue growth of 27%, demonstrating early momentum from the execution of our US strategy for TI Media; UK organic revenues grew by 17%, reflecting weighting towards events and magazines revenue.
Improved quality of earnings, resulting from favourable revenue mix, scalability of the model and platform effect, drove adjusted operating profit margin of 32%, up 4ppt year-on-year, adjusted operating profit¹ up 110% to £195.8m, and statutory operating profit up 127% to £115.3m.

The Group remains highly cash generative with strong adjusted free cash flow of £199.3m

Future now reaches 31% and 47% of internet users in the US and UK respectively.

Zillah Byng-Thorne, Future’s Chief Executive, said:

“I am pleased to announce another set of strong results, which builds on our long-term track record of growth. Our performance reflects the diversity of our revenue streams and our global reach.

“We generated 23% organic growth in the period, driven by the strength of our trusted content which continues to attract a high value audience. Our strategy is accelerated through acquisition and in the year we continued to strengthen our proposition through the well-advanced integration of GoCo Group, as well as the acquisition of Mozo, Marie Claire US, CinemaBlend and, post-year end, Dennis.

“Looking ahead, we expect our diversified strategy to continue to deliver and are well-positioned to continue to grow strongly. As we transition from the COVID-19 boosted comparators, we expect the growth to accelerate in H2 next year. We expect our operating model to drive enhanced scalability and operating leverage, leading to further margin expansion, and we are therefore upgrading our outlook for the full year and now expect adjusted results in FY 2022 to be materially above current expectations.”

Over the last twelve months the execution of Future’s strategy has continued to deliver exceptional results, with Media showing strong organic growth of 27%, and robust performance in digital advertising and eCommerce, all underpinned by continued investment in people and development of technology.

Value has been created from acquisitions. The integration of GoCo is now complete and ongoing benefits from the acquisition of TI media are exceeding expectations. Integration of Dennis, acquired in October this year, is well under way.

Later this year, Future will launch its responsibility strategy “Our Future, Our Responsibility.” Articulated around four pillars, the strategy sets out a clear road map of deliverables to support activity in areas where it can make a difference to society and the sector in which it operates.