Country Life owner buys Dennis Publishing in £300m deal | Publishing in the future

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Future, which owns titles including Country Life and Metal Hammer, has acquired the publisher of magazines including The Week and Minecraft World in a £300m deal.

The deal is the latest in a buying spree by Britain’s biggest magazine publisher, which spent nearly £600m to buy comparison site GoCompare in November, and will give a huge profit to Dennis Publishing’s private equity owners.

Future buys a set of 12 titles including the adult and kids versions of current affairs title The Week in the US and UK, MoneyWeek, Coach, Computer Active, PC Pro and IT Pro.

Exponent, which acquired the publishing company founded by the late Felix Dennis in 2018 for £166m, maintains Viz, Fortean Times, Cyclist and Expert Reviews. Dennis’ car magazines, which include Auto Express and Octane, have already been merged into a separate company called Autovia, which is headed by former MoneySuperMarket CEO Peter Plumb.

“I am delighted to announce the acquisition of a high-quality portfolio of trusted Dennis brands that will accelerate our strategy,” said Zillah Bing Thorne, CEO of Future.

Future, which has increased its market capitalization from around £30m to £4.7bn over the past seven years, was the FTSE 250’s highest rise on Monday morning as investors welcomed the latest round of consolidation in the publishing sector. The company’s shares rose more than 6%.

“In the three years that the company has been owned by Exponent, Dennis has been on an incredible growth journey, delivering double-digit increases in subscription revenue, a dramatically increased US footprint and significant increases in net profit,” said James Tay, president of the company.

Dennis reported 12% revenue growth to £105m last year, as adjusted profit rose 14% to £20m, according to the financial announcement announcing the deal. Future has said it expects to achieve annual cost savings of £5 million in the Dennis business by 2023.

This year Exponent hired LionTree Advisors to find a buyer for Dennis, which has drawn the interest of publishers including News UK, which has evaluated a brand-focused bid The Week.

The Daily Mail and General Trust, the publisher of Mail, Metro and i, considered trying to buy Dennis when it went up for sale three years ago when Exponent emerged as a buyer. In March, DMGT paid £70m to New Scientist, and spent £49.6m to buy i newspaper two years ago.

Future has been on a buying spree in recent years, as the company seeks to expand into the struggling magazine market while also moving toward a primarily digital model.

The company cemented its position as Britain’s largest magazine publisher last year after completing a £140m deal to buy TI Media, formerly Time Inc UK, which publishes 40 titles including Horse & Hound, Woman & Home and Wallpaper.

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