Somerset-based magazine and digital publisher Future, which includes sports-oriented motorcycling title Fast Bikes in its extensive portfolio, has declared a loss on the back of falling revenue in the first half of the company’s current financial year to 31 March.
Revenue for the period declined by 10.6 per cent to £54.6m. Operating profit almost halved to £700,000 and Future finished up with a net loss of £300,000. Group chief executive Mark Wood admitted that the publisher “experienced some difficult trading conditions” with the circulations of its big electronic gaming brands badly hit while consumers await the appearance of new Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation 4 products.
As for Fast Bikes, its latest ABC-authenticated annual sales for Jan-Dec 2012 slumped to a monthly average of 20,553 print copies plus 2050 digital edition subscribers.