Future's US business almost back in the black

Shares of media and digital publisher Future leapt ahead as it underlined its confidence of meeting full year expectations and said its US business is close to moving back into profit.

The publisher of magazines such as Classic Rock and Guitar World said: "Trading in the fourth quarter has been encouraging in both the UK and the US, Future's two biggest markets."

"This has reinforced our confidence that the full year numbers for 2012 will be in line with our expectations and also give us a good trajectory into the next financial year," it added.

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In the US Future said it continues to make strong progress and it is close to returning to profitability. It hopes to be profitable in the US in FY 2013.

Future said it also continues to make progress towards a predominantly digital business. Sales of digital editions on Apple devices surpassed £5m in the period since the Apple Newsstand was launched in October 2011. Meanwhile visits to Future websites surged over 50% this year and now total more than 45m users a month.

"At our full year results in November we will outline our plans to grow and monetise our global digital audiences, leverage our position as a global leader in tablet products and software and diversify Future's revenues further," it said in Thursday's company update.

CJ