Future plc half year revenues up 89% to £273m
Future plc has today announced its Interim Results for the half year up to and including March 2021, reporting an 89% year on year increase in revenues to reach £273m for the period. Adjusted operating profit was up 124%, while the company also grew its global audience by 31%, to reach 311 million monthly online users.
We recently reported on Future’s purchase of Marie Claire US, and certainly acquisitions – in addition to organic growth – have played a huge part in the media owner’s success. Future reported 21% organic revenue growth for the period, with media specifically seeing organic revenue growth of 30%. Marie Claire UK, which already sat within the Future portfolio, itself saw a 26% increase in online users in HY 2021 versus HY 2020, a 35% increase in media revenue, and an impressive 47% growth in e-commerce revenues.
Zillah Byng-Thorne, Future’s Chief Executive Officer said: “Content and data sit at the heart of our business; the depth of our market-leading, specialist brands means that today we reach one in three people online in the US and UK. Thanks to our expert content, combined with our scalable proprietary technology, we continue to increase our reach; the recent acquisition of Marie Claire US is another enabler of our ongoing focus on vertical leadership.”
“We know our audiences increasingly seek intent-driven content and authoritative advice to inform their purchasing decisions. We were therefore delighted to acquire GoCo Group and Mozo during the period, accelerating our strategy by extending our eCommerce proposition beyond products into services, further diversifying our revenue streams.”
Digital advertising on Future platforms enjoyed strong increases, recording 30% year on year organic growth. Digital ads off platform (principally email & AVOD) were up 15%, with strong organic e-commerce/affiliate revenue growth across all verticals of 56%.
Growth across verticals
In the Women’s Lifestyle vertical, in addition to Marie Claire UK, Woman & Home also enjoyed strong growth, reporting a 45% increase in online users through the launch of new endorsement programmes.
As part of a growth strategy based on pushing deeper into lifestyle-related tech content, Tom’s Guide has seen significant UK investment including the appointment of a new UK Editor-in-Chief, Marc Mclaren, resulting in the site seeing a 22% MoM increase to over 2 million users.
Future Homes ranked number one in the UK comScore category for Home Lifestyles. Gardeningetc, which launched in July 2020, grew to 800,000 online users at the end of March 2021, and Ideal Homes has reached 3 million visitors, growing 37% MoM.
