Future plc (FUTR) Hikes Dividend Fivefold and Launches New Buyback After Tough 2025

Future plc (LSE: FUTR), the UK-based specialist media and Go.Compare owner, has reported a drop in revenue and profit for the year to 30 September 2025 – but paired the weaker headline numbers with aggressive shareholder returns, a confident outlook for 2026 and a sizeable valuation gap versus analysts’ price targets. ^[1]

On 4 December 2025, the group unveiled full-year results, a fivefold dividend increase, a fresh £30 million share buyback and a board succession plan, triggering a sharp rebound in the share price from depressed levels.

Full-year 2025 results: revenue down, margin intact

For FY 2025, Future reported group revenue of £739.2 million, down from £788.2 million a year earlier – a decline of about 6% on a reported basis, 4% in constant currency and 3% organically. ^[2]

Despite the top-line pressure, profitability held up better:

Adjusted operating profit fell 8% to £205.4 million, but the adjusted operating margin stayed at 28%, the same as last year. ^[3]
Adjusted EBITDA came in at £223.4 million, down from £239.1 million. ^[4]
Statutory profit before tax declined to £91.9 million from £103.2 million, an 11% drop. ^[5]
Diluted EPS fell to 62.1p (from 66.8p), but adjusted diluted EPS was essentially flat at 123.0p (123.9p a year ago), supported by share buybacks. ^[6]

Management described the performance as resilient given a tough macro backdrop, with advertising and price-comparison markets cooling after a very strong 2024. ^[7]

Segment performance: consumer media, Go.Compare and B2B

Future now reports through three main engines: consumer media (B2C), Go.Compare and B2B media. The picture is mixed.

Business-to-consumer (B2C) media

The B2C division, which houses brands such as TechRadar, Marie Claire and PC Gamer, saw organic revenue fall 2%. Within that: ^[8]

Magazines were broadly flat, an outperformance versus a shrinking print market.
Media (largely digital advertising and ecommerce) declined about 4% organically.
UK digital ad revenues remained under pressure overall, but the company points to an improvement in the second half, including a return to growth in the US and stabilising trends in the UK. ^[9]

Affiliate and ecommerce revenue, which had been a key growth driver in prior years, swung from high single‑digit growth in H1 to a full‑year decline (around 6%) as consumer spending cooled and certain verticals lapped strong comparatives. ^[10]

Go.Compare: a cooler price-comparison market

Price-comparison platform Go.Compare also faced a comedown from the surge in car insurance activity seen in 2024: ^[11]

Revenue fell 5% year‑on‑year.
Car insurance switching revenue dropped around 10%, reflecting fewer motorists shopping around after last year’s spike in premiums.
Non‑car categories – such as home and other personal lines – grew about 3% and now contribute roughly 39% of Go.Compare revenue, up three percentage points year‑on‑year.

Future also highlighted bolt‑on deals such as RNWL (to help build more loyal audiences for Go.Compare) and Kwizly (a tools and engagement business), alongside the closure of selected brands to sharpen the portfolio. ^[12]

B2B media: still weak, but improving at the margin

The B2B segment remains the softest part of the group:

B2B revenue was down about 9% organically, with particular weakness among enterprise technology clients.
Other verticals, including financial services, education and infrastructure, showed better trends, and management notes that the rate of decline eased in the final quarter. ^[13]

Overall, the mix is clear: consumer and Go.Compare are holding up relatively well in a tough environment, while B2B is still a drag – but no longer deteriorating as sharply as earlier in the year.

Cash generation, leverage and capital returns

Where Future continues to shine is cash generation.

For FY 2025 the group reported:

Adjusted free cash flow of around £177 million, with cash conversion improving to the mid‑90s percentage range. ^[14]
Net debt (excluding leases) of £276.4 million, up from £256.5 million, mainly due to shareholder returns and tax timing. That equates to leverage of about 1.3x net debt to EBITDA, or closer to 1.2x if one‑off items are stripped out – comfortably within the group’s target range. ^[15]

Crucially, Future has become increasingly shareholder‑friendly:

In FY 2025 it returned £99.5 million to investors, including £95.8 million via share buybacks and £3.7 million in dividends. ^[16]
Today it announced a new £30 million buyback programme to run alongside the existing £55 million programme launched in August 2025, marking its fourth major buyback in recent years. ^[17]

Separate disclosures suggest Future has already repurchased more than 6–7 million shares since August 2025 at prices just above 600p, taking the total cost of recent buybacks to over £50 million and reducing the share count to around 97 million. ^[18]

The company also emphasises that its strategy is to keep leverage modest while funding organic investment and regular capital returns via dividends and buybacks. ^[19]

Dividend increased fivefold

The headline‑grabbing move in the results is the fivefold increase in the dividend.

Future has proposed a final dividend of 17p per share for FY 2025, versus 3.4p previously. ^[20]
On today’s mid‑600p share price, that implies a prospective yield in the 2–3% range, up from well below 1% previously, even before factoring in the effect of continued buybacks on per‑share distributions. ^[21]

Management frames the step‑up as a reset to a more meaningful, sustainable dividend level rather than a one‑off special, sitting alongside ongoing buybacks as part of a broader capital allocation framework. ^[22]

Leadership and governance: new chair, embedded CEO

Alongside the numbers, Future also announced a board refresh:

Mark Brooker, currently the senior independent non‑executive director, will succeed Richard Huntingford as chair. ^[23]
Earlier in the year, Kevin Li Ying formally took over as chief executive, with a renewed focus on execution of the group’s “Growth Acceleration Strategy”. ^[24]

Insider dealing disclosures show Li Ying and CFO Sharjeel Suleman both bought shares in May 2025 around 647p, signalling confidence in the equity at prices not far from where it trades now, although Suleman also sold some stock as part of portfolio moves. ^[25]

Strategy: platform, data and generative AI

Future continues to pitch itself as a “data‑first platform for specialist media”, with a technology stack and first‑party data used to monetise highly engaged niche communities across websites, magazines, events and ecommerce. ^[26]

Key strategic themes highlighted in today’s commentary include: ^[27]

Monetising creator and social audiences more effectively, including new commercial models for social media creators.
Refreshing ecommerce and affiliate offerings, particularly around product discovery and price comparison.
Deepening direct audience relationships, via newsletters, memberships and data‑driven products.
Leveraging AI and large language models (LLMs): Future says its “trusted, authoritative and specialist brand content” is highly visible within major LLMs and that it is exploring ways to monetise that visibility over time.

Portfolio discipline also remains a priority, with selective acquisitions (RNWL, Kwizly) and targeted closures of under‑performing brands to simplify the group and focus resources on the highest‑return opportunities. ^[28]

Market reaction: from 52‑week lows to a relief rally

Future’s share price has been volatile into and around the results.

In late November, the stock traded as low as 569p, compared with a 52‑week high of 1,132p reached in December 2024. ^[29]
According to MarketBeat, on 3 December the shares fell below their 200‑day moving average, touching 590p and closing around 599.5p, with a 200‑day average price of about 687p. ^[30]

Today’s news prompted a sharp rebound:

Alliance News reported that the stock jumped about 10% to 664.75p on Thursday morning in London after the dividend and buyback announcement, reflecting “increased shareholder returns despite lower sales and profit”. ^[31]
London Stock Exchange data shows intraday trading around 630–670p, giving Future a market capitalisation of roughly £600 million and implying a single‑digit to low‑teens price/earnings multiple depending on the earnings measure used. ^[32]

In other words, even after the results bounce, Future trades more than 40% below its 52‑week high and remains well under the average analyst target price.

MarketBeat’s technical note also highlights a current ratio of about 0.69, quick ratio of 0.60, and debt‑to‑equity of 31.5, alongside a P/E of roughly 8x and PEG ratio around 0.64, reinforcing the “value with leverage” profile. ^[33]

What brokers and quantitative models are saying

Peel Hunt: Buy rating, big free cash flow yield

Coverage from Proactive Investors quotes Peel Hunt describing the FY 2025 numbers as “in line”, with revenue down 6% to £739 million and adjusted operating profit of £205 million, keeping the 28% margin intact. ^[34]

The broker emphasises:

Net debt slightly higher than expected but manageable.
Cash conversion improving from 86% to around 96%.
A new £30m buyback and fivefold dividend increase as the standout developments.
A valuation of roughly 4x next year’s earnings and a free cash flow yield around 25%, based on its forecasts.

Peel Hunt reiterates its Buy rating and 1,090p target price – implying substantial upside from the mid‑600p range. ^[35]

Consensus: strong upside from current levels

Across the wider market, consensus data also point to significant upside:

MarketScreener shows a mean analyst recommendation of “Buy” from nine analysts, with an average target price of £12.43 (1,243p) versus a last close around £6.00, implying over 100% potential upside. ^[36]
TradingView’s forecast page lists a 1‑year target around 1,133p, with a range from 733p to 1,875p. ^[37]
TipRanks reports three analysts with an average 12‑month target of 1,325p, again more than 100% above a recent price of about 635p. ^[38]

However, signals are not uniformly bullish:

TipRanks’ AI‑driven Spark model marks the stock as “Neutral”, and the most recent individual rating it highlights carries a more cautious 654p target. ^[39]
MarketBeat notes that although Future currently has a “Moderate Buy” rating overall, its system suggests that some top‑rated analysts prefer other opportunities. ^[40]

Longer‑term growth forecasts

Simply Wall St’s analysis of Future’s US‑listed OTC line (FRNW.F) gives a flavour of medium‑term expectations from analysts’ models: ^[41]

Earnings growth forecast around 6.3% per year over the next few years.
Revenue growth of roughly 0.5% per year, implying modest top‑line expansion.
Return on equity forecast at about 7.5% in three years’ time.

These are solid but not spectacular growth rates; the bullish case rests more on valuation, margin resilience and cash returns than on explosive revenue growth.

Key risks

Despite today’s relief rally and upbeat messaging, investors still face several risks:

Advertising and macro sensitivity
Future’s core B2C and B2B activities remain cyclical. The UK ad market is still soft, and any renewed slowdown in the US or UK could halt the nascent recovery in digital ad and affiliate revenues. ^[42]
Exposure to comparison markets
Go.Compare’s results show just how quickly switching volumes can normalise after a hot period. A prolonged lull in key categories like car insurance could weigh on group growth. ^[43]
Execution on AI and platform strategy
Monetising visibility in large language models and building new creator‑economy revenue streams is promising but unproven. The competitive environment – both from other media groups and from the platforms themselves – remains intense. ^[44]
Leverage and capital returns
While leverage is moderate, Future is simultaneously running substantial buyback programmes and stepping up dividends. Continued strong cash generation is essential to keep flexibility intact. ^[45]
Structural shifts in media consumption
The long‑term migration from search‑centric discovery to social feeds, apps and AI assistants could change traffic patterns and monetisation dynamics for many of Future’s brands. The group is trying to adapt, but the industry is still in flux. ^[46]

Outlook: return to growth in 2026

Looking ahead, Future is guiding to a return to growth next year:

Management expects “modest organic revenue growth” in the year to September 2026, weighted to the second half as strategic initiatives and operating model changes take effect. ^[47]
The group aims to hold its adjusted operating margin around 30% and to lift cash conversion to roughly 95%. ^[48]
Over the medium term, it targets sustainable revenue growth of 2–4%, with a broadly stable c.30% EBITDA margin. ^[49]

If those targets are met, the combination of steady (if unspectacular) growth, high margins, strong cash generation and ongoing buybacks could support the bullish analyst price targets. If not, the current discount may simply reflect structurally lower growth for legacy digital media businesses.

Bottom line

As of 4 December 2025, the story around Future plc is finely balanced:

Fundamentals: revenue and profit are down, but margins and cash generation remain strong.
Capital allocation: management is signalling confidence with a fivefold dividend hike and continued heavy buybacks.
Valuation: the stock trades at a steep discount to analysts’ average targets, even after a post‑results bounce.
Risks: cyclical advertising exposure, a cooling comparison market and structural shifts in digital media all still loom large.

For now, the market is tentatively rewarding Future for doing what many investors want to see: protecting margins, throwing off cash and handing a lot of that cash back to shareholders, while promising a return to modest growth in 2026. Whether that promise is fulfilled will determine if today’s re‑rating is the start of a sustained recovery – or just another bear‑market rally in a still‑challenging sector.