Futures bright after turnaround

Future Publishing is leaner, more focused and set to further increase its online presence, according to Future’s UK MD Robert Price.

The leading games magazine publisher has turned its business around after a few turbulent years – posting a full-year pre-tax profit of 9.2 million in its latest financials, a dramatic change from the 36.7m loss of the previous year.

We’re moving in the right direction, we’ve got a clear strategy and we’re moving forward online and with our contract publishing division,” Price told MCV.

I think we’ve become a lot more focused. We’ve reduced our titles by 51 and we’ve divested some of our businesses abroad. And our web operation is starting to have a real impact on the business – we’ve grown online ad revenues by 50 per cent in the last year.”

And he added that despite its efforts online, the continued strength of Future’s print magazine business remains the publisher’s focus – even alongside fierce rival Imagine.

We’re in a stronger position than ever as we have all three official magazines and we are increasing our presence in the US. We want Imagine in the market – competition is healthy and it also proves that print can still be successful.”