Future Publishing predicts tough 2010 after 'challenging' quarter

The magazine publisher Future has reported a "challenging" first quarter, with a similar forecast for the rest of 2010. Future's revenues fell 12% year on year to £36m in the three months to the end of December, the company said in an interim management statement today. Future said that its games division – home to magazines such as Playstation: The Magazine and The Official Xbox Magazine – faced a particularly challenging market, with 40% fewer high-quality "AAA" or "A" rated games released compared with last year. But its other divisions – active, technology and music & movies – had shown more resilience. In the UK, which accounts for more than two thirds of Future's turnover, the group's special interest titles were helping it to avoid the worst of the media recession, the company said. Circulation revenue decline slowed from 7% year on year in the same period in 2008 to 4% in the October to December quarter, while advertising revenues slipped 13% in the quarter. Future said it was getting over the difficulties it experienced last year at US newsstands because of a distribution dispute . Circulation revenue in the US fell 13% year on year in the quarter, compared with 26% in the final quarter of 2008, but advertising revenues were down 32%. The company predicted a challenging year ahead: "Although the broader macroeconomic outlook indicates that both the US and UK are pulling slowly out of recession, and there are some signs of a return of confidence, projected growth rates are very low and advertising budgets remain soft against a fierce competitive backdrop which is putting pressure on yields. "For Q2, we expect January's adverse weather conditions to have some impact on UK newsstand performance in the month, but do not expect this to be significant. "Overall, we expect trading conditions to remain challenging throughout 2010."