• by Ray Schultz , August 16, 2021

British publisher Future plc has acquired several specialist tiles from Dennis Publishing, including Kiplinger, MoneyWeek, The Week and IT Pro, for £300 million ($415 million).  

The properties “strengthen our North American presence at a time when Future is expanding aggressively, especially in the Consumer Wealth, Knowledge and Technology spaces,” states Zillah Byng-Thorne, CEO of Future. 

Dennis Publishing will retain Viz, Fortean Times, Cyclist and Expert Reviews. The company was acquired by Exponent for £166 million ($229 million) in 2018, according to The Guardian. 

Future is on an acquisition kick, having purchased assets worth £1.1 billion ($1.5 billion) and increased its underlying business by more than £2 billion ($2.2 billion), it says. Earlier this year, it acquired the U.S. edition of Marie Claire, from Hearst. And it last year it bought the comparison site GoCompare for £594 million ($822 million). 

The company says it will “optimize performance” of the Dennis Publishing titles by using proprietary ad tech and ecommerce technology to increase online audiences. The purchase adds what it says is a significant subscription conversion engine to the company’s offerings.

In addition, the buy will “enhance our content capabilities and bring additional geographical and vertical revenue diversification, whilst materially increasing the proportion of recurring revenues across the Group,” Zillah Byng-Thorne said.

Future reported income of £71.7 million on £272.6 million in sales for the year ended in March. Its 2021 operating income is forecast to reach £140 million ($194 million), with a net profit margin of 23%, according to estimates cited by The Wall Street Journal.

Future’s stock has nearly quadrupled in value in the past two years amid investor enthusiasm for its growth.

The acquired publications include: 

• The Week / The Week US 
• The Week Junior / TWJ US 
• MoneyWeek 
• Kiplinger 
• Science & Nature 
• IT Pro 
• Computer Active 
• PC Pro 
• Minecraft World 
• Coach