Acquisition

RNS Number:0475G
Future Network PLC
06 December 2004



6 December 2004


                             The Future Network plc


                Acquisition of Beach Magazines and Publishing Ltd.


The Future Network plc ('Future'), the international special-interest consumer
magazine group, today announces that it has acquired Beach Magazines and
Publishing Ltd. ('Beach Publishing') for an initial consideration of #1.5m in
cash and up to a further #1.5m in cash, deferred for one year and subject to the
business meeting certain targets.

Beach Publishing was founded in 1998 and today publishes three titles: Junior,
Junior Pregnancy & Baby and Wedding Day. Turnover for Beach Publishing for the
year ended 31 December 2003 was #3.1m and operating profit was #0.2m.

Junior, Beach's first title, was launched in 1998 and claims to have redefined
the parenting magazine sector with its high production value approach. Junior
Pregnancy & Baby was launched out of the Junior brand as a bi-monthly in spring
2003, aimed at brand and fashion-conscious pregnant women and new mothers. It
moved to a monthly frequency in July 2004

Wedding Day was acquired from Crimson Publishing in May 2003 and repositioned as
a high-end product to complement Beach's other titles. Aimed at
fashion-conscious brides, it targets the trend towards women getting married
later and the ever increasing amounts spent on weddings. Wedding Day is a
bi-monthly publication with an ABC of 31,679.

No major changes are planned for the editorial content of any of these
magazines, which will continue to be run by founder Chris Taggart. They will be
published from Beach's current offices in West London for the foreseeable
future. All three titles are firmly established and Future anticipates that its
strong newsstand presence should help to drive further sales growth.

Commenting on the acquisition Greg Ingham, Chief Executive of The Future Network
plc said:

"This acquisition fits very well with our diversification strategy. It opens up
new growth sectors for us to enter and brings us new audiences and advertisers.
We also see significant opportunities for the titles in overseas markets.
Beach's approach is very similar to our own, namely publishing high quality,
special-interest magazines with narrow but deep content. We are delighted to
welcome the publishing and editorial teams to Future and to add these titles to
our growing magazine portfolio."

Enquiries:

The Future Network plc
Greg Ingham, Chief Executive Tel: [phone]
John Bowman, Finance Director Tel: [phone]


Hogarth Partnership
James Longfield/Georgina Briscoe Tel: [phone]




Notes to Editors:

Spending on weddings grew 158% from 1998 - 2002.
The UK average amount spent on weddings in 2002 was #16,000.
Source: Mintel Bridal Wear Report 2003

About Future

The Future Network plc was founded in the UK in 1985. Today, it publishes over
100 regular special-interest consumer magazines worldwide and is the fifth
largest magazine publisher in the UK.
Future employs around 1,100 people in offices in the UK, US, France and Italy.
Over 100 international editions of Future's magazines are also published under
licence in 30 other countries across the world. The company is listed on the
London Stock Exchange (symbol: FNET).




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