Marie Claire publisher Future announces £45m share buyback

Future Shares soared after the magazine publisher announced a proposed share buyback of up to £45 million, or 10 per cent of its existing share capital.

The group behind titles like Country Life, Marie Claire and Four Four Two said Monday it will ask shareholders to vote on the proposed buyback at a general meeting.

It told investors it had a “strong balance sheet” and “a robust pipeline of attractive inorganic investment opportunities.”

“However, the board believes that the share buyback program will provide more flexibility to achieve optimal use of cash to create shareholder value, while maintaining a strong balance sheet,” it added. up to it.

Future Shares rose 7 percent to 740p in morning trading on Monday.

But they’ve lost about 45 percent of their value since the start of the year, with the stock suffering recently after Future warned of a drop in online viewership.

Lower online audiences in the UK and US have led to a drop in digital advertising revenue.

In May, the group said difficult market conditions were likely to continue, meaning results for the year to the end of September should be “at the lower end of current market expectations.”

That would suggest a profit of around £256m, down from £271.7m last year.

Companies usually buy shares and hold them in reserve to reduce the number available to the public.

This tends to drive up the value of the stock, but it’s also a way for companies to return money to investors instead of paying dividends. Skeptics say it could amount to manipulating the stock price.

Future stocks also suffered from the September revelation that then-CEO Zillah Byng-Thorne had “informally indicated” that she wanted to step down by the end of 2023.

Byng-Thorne left in March and was replaced by Jon Steinberg, ex-president of Altice USA’s news and advertising division.