Future - Pace stepping up in US

Future has announced a further acquisition to scale up in the important US market and reinforce its authoritative voice in the music and consumer electronics sectors. Newbay Media is being bought for $13.8m, mainly in cash, and is expected to be earnings enhancing in FY19. This deal, and March’s purchase of five titles from Haymarket, will be added into our FY18 and FY19 forecasts with the interim results in May. Future’s H118 trading has been strong, as expected, with good organic growth from the Media business and promising US progress. We consider that the current rating does not fully reflect the opportunity.