Future snaps up Centaur home mags arm for £32m

Future, the publisher behind PC Gamer and Classic Rock, is moving into the home improvements sector

It is paying £32 million for the Home Interest portfolio of rival publisher Centaur, snapping up three titles: Homebuilding and Renovating, Period Living and Real Homes magazine.

The deal also includes seven exhibitions, including the National Home Improvement Show.

Centaur, which publishes Marketing Week and The Lawyer, said it wants to focus on business-to-business titles.

Future is to raise £22 million from investors to help pay for the deal, issuing 8.8 million new shares at 250p each.

HSBC will provide a new £12 million banking facility. Future shares today jumped 16p, more than 6%, to 265p, leaving it valued at £95 million.

Future chief executive Zillah Byng-Thorne said: “Centaur’s Home Interest division will significantly add to our scale and momentum, while further diversifying our revenue streams, as we continue to build a global platform business for specialist media with data at its heart.”

Centaur is buying MarketMakers, a Portsmouth-based integrated marketing services business, for £13.4 million. MarketMakers had revenues of £11.4 million for the year ended 31 December.

Andria Vidler, chief executive of Centaur Media, said: “It is the right time for our Home Interest business to fulfil its potential under new ownership.”