Future reveals drop in profits
Bath-based special-interest media group, Future has revealed that its revenue for the half-year ended 31 March 2011 is down by 4%.
The group has seen a drop in revenue from £71.4 million during the same period last year, to £68.6 million during 2011, with profits down by £1.2 million.
Future has stated that the results are partly due to its accelerated investment in growth areas, including its custom publishing and digital portfolios. The company has also continued to reduce its net debt.
"Trading in the first half was challenging, yet we've seen six months of an accelerating pace of change as the arrival of powerful mobile devices increases digital content consumption,” said Stevie Spring, Future's chief executive.
“The decline in profits includes maintained planned investment, particularly in digital, as we continue to transition our business for the future.
Our digitised content revenues grew 30% in H1 and online now represents 34% of our commercial advertising and, with a tenfold increase in digital edition sales, an increasing percentage of our consumer circulation revenues. Significantly, our digital activities were profitable for the first time this half.
Encouraged by that progress, the Board has maintained the interim dividend despite an expectation that the trading conditions for the rest of 2011 will remain challenging."
The company has stated that it will continue with new product development and that it expects the adoption of mobile developments to accelerate consumption of its digital products.
It expects the macro environment to remain challenging, but overall predicts that the full year will come in-line with expectations.