Bath media group Future has given more details of how it is coping with – and in some cases benefiting from – the coronavirus outbreak as it also announced it had completed its largest-ever acquisition.
The group, whose titles span technology and gadgets to hobbies and health, said among cost-saving measures it has carried out to lessen the impact of Covid-19 on the business were bringing forward the closure of some marginal magazine titles and reducing the supply of others to retailers, cutting costs linked to its events and making savings on salaries including furloughing some staff. 
Its senior management team and board have also taken a 20% cut in salary from last month.
In a statement to the London Stock Exchange this week, Future said its audience numbers remained strong, and were benefiting from additional users searching for advice and inspiration
Last month was the biggest ever for two of its US-base science titles Tom’s Guide, with more than 22m users and 28m sessions, and Live Science, which had 100m sessions in the month.
“Our digital revenue performance continues to be encouraging with, to date, continued strength in eCommerce, and although digital advertising is experiencing some reduction in yields this is offset in the main by audience growth,” it added.
“As previously announced, all material events scheduled during April to June have been moved to later in the financial year and are subject to ongoing review, while less material events have been cancelled for the remainder of our financial year.
“High street store closures have impacted magazine sales. Whilst we expect a significant reduction in sales in the coming months, our digital copies and subscriptions are performing well.”
The completion of Future’s £140m acquisition of rival publisher TI Media, announced last October, will also affect the way it is tackling the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, it said.
TI Media was a less diversified business and so the impact of Covid-19 on it was expected to be more significant, Future said.
TI’s UK magazine newsstand revenues have slumped by around 30% since the introduction of lockdown measures on March 23. However, subscriptions have performed well, with demand driving a material year-on-year increase in new sales. Events, most notably the Decanter World Wine Awards, have also been deferred until later in the financial year, Future said. 
To mitigate the impact of the reduction in revenue, a number of cost savings have been implemented at TI Media, including cutting promotional and discretionary costs, smaller print runs to reduce the supply of magazines, furloughing some staff and closing some roles, as well as tiered salary reductions for all staff.
Last month the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it would allow the TI takeover if Future addressed competition issues in a number of areas with competing titles.
Future this week said it had agreed to sell TI titles World Soccer and Amateur Photographer to Kelsey Media and Trusted Reviews to Incisive Media. The sales are expected to complete in the next few weeks.
TI’s portfolio includes 38 brands such as Decanter; Country Life; Homes&Gardens; and Woman & Home.
Future said the acquisition gave it a presence in the wine, golf, equestrian, country living, tv listings, women’s lifestyle and gardening sectors, and strengthened its position in home, cycling and country sports.
Future also said it had signed a new £30m multi-currency revolving credit facility with its existing banking syndicate of HSBC, Natwest and Bank of Ireland to provide it with additional working capital headroom to maintain the underlying growth momentum of the combined business “while navigating the impact of Covid-19”.
The key terms of the new RCF mirror the group’s existing debt facilities, and are being provided by the Group's
The group’s current net debt is £93m following completion of the TI transaction, with available cash headroom of £69m under the new facilities.
