Future expects no coronavirus hit

Future plc (LON:FUTR) announced that it does not expect to be affected by the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Shares in the British media company were trading over 4% lower on Wednesday.

Future said that the outbreak of the virus will not have an impact on profit for the year to 30 September 2020, nor will there be an impact on the following financial year.

As the virus continues to spread across the world, many companies have issued warnings outlining the negative impacts it will have on their respective businesses.

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However, investors will be pleased to know that Future is not one of them.

“Overall, we are seeing limited impact of Coronavirus in our day-to-day business model; our strategy is working well in terms of audience, product and end market diversification,” Future said in a statement.

“The fundamentals of our business have not changed, our headline audience numbers continue to be strong, and our operating disciplines mean that we are well placed to meet the challenges and opportunities arising from these dynamic market conditions,” the company continued.

The coronavirus outbreak has recently accelerated in Europe, with Italy becoming Europe’s worst-affected country.

Italy has been put on lockdown, with the number of people infected rising above 10,000.

Future has, however, decided to postpone two UK events.

“At Future our primary concern is always for our customers and staff and, in the light of this, we have taken the decision to postpone two UK events; The Photography Show and The Homebuilding & Renovating Show, both of which were scheduled to be held at the NEC in Birmingham later this month. We expect that The Photography Show will now run in September 2020 and anticipate that the National Homebuilding & Renovating Show will run in July 2020 (both within the current Financial Year),” the company said.

Shares in Future plc (LON:FUTR) were down on Wednesday, trading at -4.19% as of 16:35 GMT.