Future in crisis?
Shares were suspended this morning, and now it appears all sorts is going on
Down on their luck Future Publishing suspended shares this morning preceding a "financial announcement". Speculation was rife about what that might entail, and eventually it was revealed that the company's loss before tax for the six months ended June 30 2001 was some £106.8 million, a rather mighty figure by anyone's understanding. After a day of waiting, Future announced a new rights issue to raise £34.6m and appointed a new chairman. The six for five rights issue at 20p per share is being underwritten by Morgan Stanley and Beeson Gregory, MCV reports, and the firm has also secured a £35m five year revolving debt facility. Roger Parry takes over the role of chairman from Chris Anderson. So there's no buyout, which had been offered as a potential solution, but Future's troubles are far from at an end…
