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• Immediate to take on leading Sport and Craft titles in £24m deal;
• Approximately 130 staff transferring.
Future’s shareholders were notified about the £24m deal this morning, which is set to complete during the summer, subject to shareholder approval.
Future’s market-leading Sport titles reach over 4.7 million unique users a month, and will join Immediate’s fast-growing digital network. Focused on cycling, the Sport portfolio includes BikeRadar.com, the world’s largest cycling reviews website, alongside Cyclingnews.com, the world’s number one source for pro cycling news and race reports. The print portfolio has a monthly circulation of more than 100,000 with market leading Cycling Plusdelivering 14 years of continuous circulation growth, alongside other leading titles Procycling and the market leader for off road cyclists, Mountain Biking UK.
The Craft sector has shown impressive growth in print in the past few years, and Future’s portfolio of Craft brands have led through innovation and inspiration, with a track record of successful launches, including the recent Love Patchwork & Quilting. Simply Knitting is the largest audited print Craft title in the UK, while contemporary brand Mollie Makes has re-invigorated the general Craft market and has the largest combined circulation, including digital editions. The deal also includes Future’s contemporary lifestyle brand The Simple Things. The brands will join Immediate’s own portfolio of titles including Cardmaking and Papercraft, Craftseller and The World of Cross Stitching.
Immediate CEO Tom Bureau says: “We are delighted to have reached this agreement with Future. Immediate’s strategy is to create the leading special interest content and platform company, and these brands fit with our vision. We are developing our business around leading content brands, highly-engaged specialist communities, and multi-platform commercial models. Backed by Exponent Private Equity, we have a track record of investing in our brands, around content and platforms, and we are excited to be welcoming the new teams to our company.”
Future CEO Zillah Byng-Maddick adds: “These titles are well managed and very successful parts of Future’s portfolio and will continue to thrive under their new owners. Their disposal will enable Future to focus on our remaining lead verticals with an emphasis on the growing consumer technology market. I’m pleased that as we say goodbye to colleagues, I’m confident they are moving to an excellent home at Immediate.”
Immediate Media Co, formed on 1st November 2011 by the merger of BBC Magazines and digital platform company Magicalia, has become established as one of the leading magazine media companies in the UK over the past two years. With a portfolio of market leading brands, Immediate’s vision is to create a multi-platform content company in sustainable growth. Immediate’s rapidly evolving digital and transactional business is allied to the best performing print business in the industry. In the most recent Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) figures Immediate was the best performing of all major magazine media companies. The biggest brand in the portfolio is Radio Times which the company has driven to record levels of profitability with rapid growth in digital users and revenue.
Future plc is an international media group and leading digital business, listed on the London Stock Exchange (symbol: FUTR). Future holds market-leading positions in Technology and Photography sectors and attracts more than 58 million monthly global unique users to websites including techradar.com and musicradar.com. Future has been named Consumer Digital Publisher of the Year for three years in a row by the Association of Online Publishers (2011, 2012, 2013) and has been named the Professional Publishers Association Digital Publisher of the Year for two consecutive years (2012, 2013).
Contact: Toby Hicks at Immediate Media
T: +44(0)20 7105 5016 - E: toby.hicks[.]immediate.co.uk
List of brands moving from Future to Immediate
Craft: Mollie Makes (UK and US), The Knitter, Simply Knitting, Crochet Today! Simply Crochet, Love Patchwork & Quilting, Cross Stitcher, Cross Stitch Collection, Papercraft Inspirations, Your Family Tree, The Simple Things.
Cycling: Procycling, Cycling Plus, Mountain Biking UK, What Mountain Bike, Urban Cyclist, On Your Bike, BikeRadar.com, Cyclingnews.com, Onyourbike.org, Bikely.com.
About Immediate Media Co
Immediate Media Co (immediate.co.uk), the specialist interest content and platform company, creates compelling content on platforms that enhances the way people engage with what they love. With an exciting mix of market-leading brands, great talent and technology expertise, Immediate, one of the biggest consumer media businesses in the UK and the third largest magazine publisher, combines its reputation for editorial quality with an integrated approach to delivering multi-platform content.
Its wholly owned brands include Radio Times, olive, Homes & Antiquesand highly successfully digital brands including MadeForMums.com, loveyourhair.com and visordown.com. It publishes BBC Top Gear, BBC Good Food, and BBC EasyCook on behalf of BBC Worldwide as well asBBC History, BBC Gardeners’ World, BBC Focus and the CBeebiesportfolio, under licence. It publishes Lonely Planet Traveller magazine for LPG Inc.
With 850 staff in London and Bristol, Immediate has over 1 million subscribers, a brand reach of over 25 million UK consumers and revenues of £150m per annum. It is owned by Exponent Private Equity.
About Future plc
Future plc (futureplc.com) is an international media group and leading digital business, listed on the London Stock Exchange (symbol: FUTR). Future has been named Consumer Digital Publisher of the Year for three years in a row by the Association of Online Publishers (2011, 2012, 2013) and has been named the Professional Publishers Association Digital Publisher of the Year for two consecutive years (2012, 2013).
It has operations in the UK, US and Australia creating websites, apps, magazines and events. Future holds market-leading positions in Technology and Photography sectors and attracts more than 58 million monthly global unique users to our websites, which include techradar.comand musicradar.com. Future sold more than 15 million magazines last year. Our best known brands are T3, Total Film and Xbox: The Official Magazine.
Future has developed its own app-creation software, FutureFolio. We produce over 100 digital editions, and have sold over 5 million digital issues in the last year. Future exports or syndicates 225 publications to over 89 countries, making us the UK’s number one exporter and licensor of magazine content.
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chris.taylor[.]futurenet.com 
