Future Publishing boss hails record results
tHe queen of publishing, Zillah Byngthorne, hailed record results after an ‘excellent’ six months at the magazine house.
the FtSe 250 company behind the Week and Country Life upped its guidance for the current financial year after sales in the half year to April rose by almost 50pc.
Future said sales were boosted by the added income from its recent takeovers.
the magazine publisher is one of the best performing businesses on the London Stock exchange, having seen shares jump ninefold in the past five years thanks to a wave of acquisitions.
it said it is showing resilience despite soaring inflation pushing up printing costs and brushed off fears of advertisers reining in spending which has dogged giants such as Facebook. Byng-thorne, who is one of Britain’s best-paid chief executives, said: ‘We have delivered robust growth despite an inflationary environment and prior year comparators enhanced by the impact of Covid-19.
‘We are pleased to be on track to deliver another strong full-year of profitable growth despite the wider macroeconomic outlook.’
Byng-thorne has faced a shareholder backlash over a massive pay package that could see her paid as much as £40m in shares by the end of 2025, with £13m up for grabs as early as next year.
Yesterday the Bath-based business said it struggled to keep up with audience figures from last year, which were boosted by lockdowns. But in the back half of its financial year it expects to return to audience growth. it also said its takeover this month of Who What Wear will complete in the coming months and begin boosting sales.
Who What Wear, which has 12m online users and 10m social followers, makes around 90pc of its revenue from the US.
Future said it will become the sixth biggest beauty and fashion publisher in the country because of the deal.
it came as sales in the first half of its financial year hit £404m, a 48pc jump from the same time last year.
Profit at the publisher also jumped 48pc to £88.4m, up from £59.7m a year earlier.
Despite the update, its stock dipped 5.8pc – or 120p – to 1934p as shareholders took profits.