Future, the Bath-based international media group, has said its far-reaching transformation of the business is “largely complete” as it revealed a £35.4m annual loss.
The firm, one of the city’s largest businesses, has sold titles, axed staff and shaken up its management team since implementing its root-and-branch restructuring in March. 
The full extent of the cost-cutting programme and the firm’s future direction has emerged in its annual results for the year to September 30.
The firm, best known for its GamesRadar, Edge, MusicRadar, Guitarist, SFX and Total Film titles, said that while 2014 had been a “disappointing year”, it had been a critical one in “putting in place the right team, simplifying the business, focussing on a core portfolio centred on consumer technology trends and reducing the cost base to ensure more stability”.
As a result it ended the year in a net cash position, with a rationalised property portfolio and fewer employees.
Sales for the year fell from £82.6m to £66m as Future sold income-generating titles. The cost of the transformation programme, including redundancies, added £24.3m to annual pre-tax loss.
Since March it has reduced its staffing from 980 to 577, sold most of its sport and craft titles to Bristol-based rival Immediate Media for £23.8m and its auto titles to Kelsey Publishing for up to £2.3m.
But Future said, with the programme now largely complete, it had raised £24.8m raised from non-core disposals, rationalised its property portfolio and strengthened its balance sheet to the extent that it had £7.5m in net cash at year-end. It said the benefits of the transformation had not been reflected in its annual results.
The cutbacks would also bring annual savings of £15m in future, it said. Part of this was due to ending print publication of some titles. It said its focus on digital was paying off with new revenue streams gaining momentum – it has 57m unique users a month across all its titles and more than 250,000 digital subscribers worldwide.
It also said it had sold its Monmouth Street office for £1.25m – a figure not included in the annual results as the deal completed after September 30.
Chief executive Zillah Byng-Maddick said: “We have now largely completed the transformation programme on time and according to plan. Our property portfolio has been rationalised, non-core businesses sold, our balance sheet strengthened and the cost base materially reduced.
“The business is now stabilised, although as we continue to grow our newer revenue streams and transition from a print-led business to a digitally diversified content business, there remain some elements of uncertainty around the pace of decline in the print market.
"Over the last three months, we have seen encouraging growth in higher margin e-commerce activities. We have market leading positions in all our portfolios and are building good momentum to take into 2015.”
She said “encouraging trends” had appeared in the fourth quarter when the group as a whole went back into the black. “We expect these trends to continue into quarter one of 2015,” she added.
Future said it implemented the transformation as its “organisational complexity” was impacting on its ability to generate sustainable margins while the reduction in demand for print meant it needed to move to a digital and diversified-content business.
It is now focussing on areas where it sees the highest potential: the growing consumer technology market, games, entertainment, music and photography.
That has resulted in five portfolios; Technology, Games and Film, Music, Photography and Creative.
Its editorial strategy is now based on creating content that connects with audiences, customers and consumers, it said, and supports two key customer experiences – ‘review led’ content and ‘how to’ content.
“Future has changed the way it works by no longer operating as individual brands but instead as content teams, underpinned by experts, who create content for all mediums of the business,” it said. “With editorial teams creating shared portfolio content for all platforms in the business as opposed to a brand-led structure.
“The group’s portfolio enables it to be at the centre of an increasingly digital and technology-led world. The brands and content created help to connect consumers with these trends and ensure that Future meets their evolving needs.”
