Shares in media group Future (FUTR) surged by 15.9% to £36.98 following the announcement of its full year results (30 Nov).

This advance means the shares have doubled since the start of 2021 and are up more than 23-fold in the last five years. A £4.5 billion market valuation suggests Future could soon be big enough to gain entry to the FTSE 100, assuming it maintains its positive momentum.

The latest numbers were ahead of expectations, and have prompted a series of earnings upgrades. Perhaps more significantly, forward-looking guidance from management is encouraging. Growth is expected to accelerate during the second half of 2022, with the prospect of a further improvement in the margin.

This improvement in the outlook follows a doubling of full-year profit and continuing improvement in profitability. For the 12 months ended 30 September 2021, pre-tax profit jumped 107% to £107.8 million year-on-year as revenue increased 79% to £606.8 million. A final and (full year) dividend of 2.8p has been declared which was ahead of a consensus estimate of 2.5p.

Future made two key acquisitions in February 2021, Monzo, an Australian price comparison website that focuses on selling financial products like loans and bank accounts.

The Monzo deal was shortly followed by the takeover of GoCo Group, the parent company of insurance firm Go Compare. The deal brings discount platform MyVoucherCodes and energy savings services Look After My Bills and Weflip under its portfolio. This  forms part of its strategy to enhance its e-commerce and financial services capabilities.

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