Specialist magazine giant, Future, has warned this morning that sales of titles in niche interest groups had been disappointing since the start of April, due to faltering consumer confidence in the UK.
Future’s chief executive, Greg Ingham, delivered the company’s first-half results, stating: “Trading in the (fiscal) second half has begun a little below our expectations and our short-term outlook is therefore cautious.”
Amongst those sectors worst hit was Future’s gaming division, with a “weakness in consumer demand” leading to a poor performance by titles such as xBox, Max PC and PC Gamer. However, the launch of several next generation games consoles promises to boost Future’s fortunes, as accompanying titles are launched to cater for the new systems’ users.
The publisher’s finance director, John Bowman, explained that the forthcoming launches, such as Sony’s PlayStation 3, promised to fuel “significant” growth from 2006. He said: “It will be an exciting time for the games industry and therefore for games magazines, there’s a lot of competition, more people than ever playing computer games, adding up to a lot of interest and excitement in the sector.”
Along with the expected upturn in the gaming sector, Future stated that it’s recent purchase of 38 titles from Highbury House would reinforce its fortunes (see Future Acquires 38 Magazines From Highbury House), with Bowman confident that the Office of Fair Trading would not intervene in the purchase, as it had with a proposed takeover of the company by Future (see Future Drops Highbury Merger After OFT Referral).
Amongst those titles being acquired under the deal are Fast Car, Fast Bikes, DJ, DVD Review, and What Video.
The publisher reported a 5% rise in turnover to £104.3 million in the 6 months to the end of March, with pre-tax profits rising to £12.8 million from £12.7 million in the same period last year.
Related Links
