Stevie Spring is not an avid gamer, so when she joined Future, the games magazines specialist, five months ago, colleagues gave the new chief executive a Pink PSP to help her to get to grips with Grand Theft Auto.

However, mastering video games is the least of Ms Spring’s worries. The company, which publishes special- interest consumer magazines, faces huge challenges. Readers are increasingly turning to the internet for information, and, allied to the difficult advertising market, Future’s market value has suffered.

Greg Ingham led and grew Future from a small portfolio of magazines over two decades. Ms Spring’s experience is in advertising, and her previous role was UK chief executive of Clear Channel, Britain’s largest outdoor advertising company. She regards that background as a benefit in a changing media environment.

“It helps that I do not have a legacy,” she says. “I am also incredibly interested in the creative process, helped by 25 years in advertising.” In addition to the challenging advertising market and competition from the internet, Future has faced a cyclical downturn in the games market, while there has been a wait for new games consoles to be launched. The delay of the PlayStation3 until March has not been helpful.

Ms Spring believes that Future’s main problem is that the group has been too acquisitive. In the past financial year it spent £48 million on acquisitions — a substantial amount for a company with a market capitalisation of £133 million.

“With the acquisition of the Highbury House magazines for £30.5 million, we either paid too much or the titles seriously underperformed,” she admits. The former is probably likely. Some industry experts believe that Ms Spring offers hope of a turnaround, but that Future must continue spending to drive organic growth — which is likely to depress profits for some time.

Ms Spring has no intention of making acquisitions. Instead, she is focusing on getting the business back on track, disposing of non-core businesses — such as the Italian- language magazines and the possible sale of the French- language business — and developing its online strategy.

When will Future’s fortunes improve? “I am cautiously optimistic,” she says. “In the past Future has done a lot of overpromising and under- delivering.” Last week at the group’s full-year results, when it announced losses of £49 million, she noted that it was the first time that Future had “stood up and spoken out” to acknowledge its difficulties.

Shares in the company have climbed about 30 per cent in the past week on the back of Ms Spring unveiling her strategy and having successful meetings with investors. Her strategy is simple: she wants to exploit all available media outlets to the full and not rely solely on magazines. “We have to go back to basics if we are going to make this business robust,” she says. “My ambition is to deliver great content for the right place. Some things should be available instantly online and others monthly or annually . . . Podcasting is also important.”

She insists that magazines will always have a place, saying that they have a “bed, bog, bath” element. Ensuring that Future has the right talent there will be a focus, she says. Another part of her strategy is to investigate cross-media partnerships — one way to try to win over advertisers who believe that traditional media has lost its sparkle. Although the magazine element of Future is reliant on publishing partnerships, she believes that there is potential to exploit the brands through other media outlets, such as radio or internet protocol television (IPTV).

She points to a recent deal with BT Vision, the telecom giant’s new TV-over-broadband service, as a stepping stone to further cross-media partnerships.

Alongside news, entertainment reviews and programme listings, Future will supply editorial content supporting BT Vision’s interactive services, including community forums and reader-generated content, along with user ratings and popularity charts.

“It’s about taking our content and fusing it with someone else’s service,” Ms Spring says. “We need to think creatively.”

£6.7m: The amount Future Publishing intends to invest in online in 2007

Source: Future Publishing

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