According to Future plc:
Financial highlights include:
* Group revenue up 25% to £51.1m (2017: £40.9m), of which 7% is organic
* US revenue organic growth of 22% to £10.4m (2017: £8.5m)
* Media division revenue up 62% to £26.2m (2017: £16.2m), of which 31% is organic
* Organic eCommerce revenue increased 76% to £7.6m
* Digital display advertising revenue up 33% to £11.3m
* Events revenue grew 142% to £7.3m, bolstered by Home Interest acquisition
* Magazine division revenue up 1% to £24.9m (2017: £24.7m), reflecting the acquisition of Home Interest’s print titles in FY17 offset by expected continued print decline
* Recurring revenue* now 28% (2017: 27%) of total revenue
* Adjusted EBITDA** increased 83% to £8.8m (2017: £4.8m)
* EBITDA margin (adjusted) improvement to 17% (FY17: 12%), reflecting planned changes in revenue mix and operational leverage benefits of increased scale of Group
* Continued growth of adjusted operating profit*** up 97% to £7.5m (2017: £3.8m) and reported operating profit of £3.8m (2017: £1.3m)
* Adjusted EPS up 45% to 13.5p per share (2017: 9.3p per share) and reported EPS increased to 7.4p per share (2017: 2.8p)
* Strong adjusted operating cash inflow**** of £11.1m (2017: £6.2m) and reported operating cash inflow increased 225% to £10.4m (2017: £3.2m) with adjusted cash conversion of 127%*****
Operational highlights
* Considerable progress in strategy to build a profitable global platform business for specialist media with diversified revenue streams, through organic growth and acquisitions
* Scalable infrastructure allowing integration of Home Interest’s systems within four months, with limited increase in back office costs
* Leading edge technology has enabled further diversification of revenue mix, with continued improvements in Hawk eCommerce technology and programmatic advertising
* Investment in US management team to realise full potential of US growth opportunity while leveraging the Group infrastructure
* Acquisitions:
* Proven track record of successfully integrating acquisitions, Home Interest now completed
* Acquired US based NewBay Media in April 2018, driving macro revenue diversification with B2B brands and accelerating Future’s growth in the US
* Four specialist consumer brands acquired from Haymarket Media Group in May 2018
Zillah Byng-Thorne, Future’s Chief Executive, said: “We have delivered another period of significant growth in the first half of the financial year with increases in both revenue and profitability, driven by our strategy to develop a scalable global platform business.
“Underlying growth has been notably strong in Media revenues and in the US, which represents a significant opportunity for the Group. We have also maintained our relentless focus on delivering sustainable growth in EBITDA, through the generation of profitable and diversified revenue streams.
“The two acquisitions we have made this year exemplify our strategy of growing organically and through acquisition, delivering global expansion and revenue diversification. We have a proven track record of successful delivery, and the Home Interest portfolio we acquired 10 months ago has now been fully integrated. We anticipate continued growth momentum across the business in the second half of the year.”
Links / further reading: the full report.
