"LONDON, June 6 (Reuters) - British magazine publisher Future Plc (FUTR.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said it swung to a first-half pretax loss on Tuesday, warned future profits would fall and said its chief executive had resigned, sending its shares tumbling 13 percent. Future, which publishes more than 150 consumer magazines such as Xbox, Total Film and Fast Car, said Chief Executive Greg Ingham was leaving with immediate effect. Ingham said he was leaving to do something different in business and 'to broaden my experience.' He will be succeeded by Stevie Spring from July 3.
The group said it was scaling back its rapid expansion plans and over the next 18 months would focus on organic growth and operational effectiveness.
'Together with lower expectations for 2006 this organic investment will depress reported profits in 2007 to a level below existing expectations,' Chairman Roger Parry said in a statement.
The group said pretax losses for the half-year to end-March were 12.1 million pounds ($22.7 million), compared with a profit of 11.1 million pounds the year before, due to a major profit shortfall in games titles.
'Future's interims for the six months ended March 2006 are actually worse than anticipated,' analysts at Bridgewell said, while maintaining an 'underweight' rating.
Spring was most recently chief executive of media company Clear Channel. Prior to that she spent sixteen years in national and international advertising company management.
Shares in Future, which have underperformed the UK media sector <.FTASX5550> by more than 50 percent in the last year, were down 13 percent at 38-1/4 pence by 0820 GMT, valuing the group at around 122 million pounds."
Yay! We're being led by someone from billboard advertising who doesn't understand or know magazines! Woo! A perfect replacement for our friendly and ebullient greg who's leaving to spend more time with the World Cup. Let's hope she's po-faced enough that the city types will think she's competent!
...
Anyone want some Future shares? Going cheap (and cheaper by the minute.) We're so ripe for a takeover, it's hilarious.
EDIT:
nei! [only five weeks left] says:
does it say HOLY CRAP
nei! [only five weeks left] says:
CAPTAIN JUMPS SHIP BEFORE RATS
Also it's 6/6/6 and this is my 777 post... creepy.
2 comments:
I love corporate euphemisms.
"Gardening leave" is probably my favourite. It translates as "We're going to stop you from working for anyone, you disloyal fuck."
i thought clear channel were just a billboard company too, until i read this article at red pepper; in fact, they're terrifying.
Post a Comment