Pre-close trading update

Future PLC
26 March 2008



26 March 2008

                                   Future plc

                            Pre-close trading update


Future plc, the international special-interest media group, is today issuing a
trading update in respect of the half-year ending 31 March 2008. As previously
announced the Group will announce its interim results on 23 May 2008.

Overall revenue for the first five months (October to February) was broadly in
line with the Board's expectation. As previously explained in our Interim
Management Statement on 29 January 2008, the phasing of customer publishing
revenue will favour the second half-year.

Operating costs, overheads, interest costs, depreciation and capital expenditure 
are all running within their budgeted level.

As stated on 28 November 2007 and 29 January 2008, the phasing of our EBITA in 
2008 is expected to reflect both the intensity of investment in the first half 
and anticipated business activity levels in the second half.

More generally, while there is uncertainty about levels of consumer confidence 
in both the UK and US, our advertising performance is pacing ahead of last year.  
As a special-interest media company, with an engaged demographic, Future is 
arguably less exposed to cyclical weakness in general consumer expenditure than 
many other consumer-facing companies.

The Board is encouraged by the progress of our organic business initiatives 
across all platforms - print, online and events.  In print, we now publish the 
Official magazines for all three major games console manufacturers on both sides 
of the Atlantic.  In online, during the last three months we have launched 
techradar.com and musicradar.com, which build on our successful Gamesradar and 
Bikeradar online networks.  In events, we now run, or have planned, consumer or 
industry-facing events in each of our core sectors.

Overall, while we sensibly continue to take a cautious view of our markets, our 
strategy remains firmly on track.



Enquiries:

Future:
Stevie Spring, Chief Executive Tel: [phone]
John Bowman, Group Finance Director Tel: [phone]
Vicky Bacon, Head of Group Communications Tel: [phone]


Hogarth Partnership:
James Longfield / Ian Payne Tel: [phone]



About Future

Future plc is an international special-interest media group that is listed on
the London Stock Exchange (symbol FUTR). Founded in 1985 with one magazine,
today we have operations in the UK and US creating over 180 special-interest
publications, websites and events for people who are passionate about their
interests. We hold strong market positions in games, film, music, technology,
cycling, automotive and crafts. Our biggest-selling magazines include T3, Total
Film, Digital Camera, Fast Car, Classic Rock, Guitar World, Official Xbox
Magazine, Official Playstation Magazine, Nintendo Power and MacLife. Online, our
websites include gamesradar.com, bikeradar.com, techradar.com, and
musicradar.com. Future produces over 4 million magazines each month; we attract
more than 11 million unique visitors to our websites; and we host 16 annual live
events that attract hundreds of thousands of enthusiasts. In addition, Future
exports, syndicates or licenses its publications to 90 countries
internationally, making us the UK's biggest exporter of monthly magazines.

Key performance indicators for the year ended 30 September 2007:

The table below sets out the key performance indicators published in the Annual 
Report 2007 (at page 15) for ease of reference.

Key performance indicators                                        FY07
                                                                  Per
                                                                  Annual
                                                                  Report 2007

Annual growth in revenue (normalised at constant currency)        Flat
EBITAE operating margin (as a %)                                  8.4%
Absolute EBITAE (in Sterling)                                     £14.0m
Change in adjusted earnings per share (as a %)                    + 14%

Number of magazines sold per month                                4.0m
Proportion of magazines sold from total number printed            See notes 1-3
Proportion of Group's business derived from our brands
compared with partnership publishing                              79:21 (note 4)

Number of unique users logging on to our websites per month       10m (note 5)
Growth in total advertising revenue (as a % at constant currency) + 3%
Proportion of advertising revenue that is online (as a %)         14%

Human Capital                                                     See note 6
Net bank debt                                                     £24.3m



Notes

1. The majority of magazines printed by the Group are sold, and those
unsold are mainly recycled and used for newspaper production. The precise
proportion sold at newsstand is a detailed KPI each month for every title.
However, the Group believes that it is commercially sensitive to disclose these
percentages, since competitors typically do not release this information.
Magazines printed for subscription have no wastage.

2. In the UK 82% of magazines (by volume) are sold at newsstand. Our
overall UK average newsstand efficiency improved in 2007 by 6% compared with
2006. Future has increased the proportion of magazine volume sales derived from
subscription rather than newsstand, from 16% to 18%. The majority of UK revenues
are derived from cover price.

3. In the US 35% of magazines (by volume) are sold at newsstand. The
majority are sold by subscription at heavily discounted prices, and the majority
of magazine revenues are gained from advertising.

4. Partnership publishing represented 21% of normalised 2007 Group
revenue. This category includes business from our Official magazines published
for Microsoft (Xbox 360 and Vista), Sony (PlayStation) and Nintendo, plus
customer publishing activities. The majority of the Group's revenue is generated
from our own brands.

5. For each of our websites we know the number of page impressions and we
know the number of unique visitors to that website. We do not know how many
unique visitors visit more than one of our websites. The number presented here
is the simple total of each website's average monthly number of unique visitors.

6. Human Capital is the Group's most important resource, with 1,200
employees. In the running of our business, the most important focal point is the
publisher responsible for each magazine and website. We focus on retention of
key employees to drive our business. Equally, we believe in refreshment of the
team with new people and new ideas.




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