Publishing group Future has announced that its current trading is in line with expectations for the full financial year, after reporting that its magazines division had remained “resilient”.

This is despite the UK advertising market continuing to be “challenging”, the group said, as it also saw improvement in US digital advertising and eCommerce.

Future was announcing a trading update covering the four-month period to 31 January and also confirmed it was making “good progress” with its growth acceleration strategy.

The publisher said it is maintaining strong financial characteristics with an “attractive” margin and strong cash generation, and that as part of its capital allocation policy, the £55m share buyback programme announced on 5 December was “progressing well” with just under £10m repurchased to date.

However, Future said the performance of GoCompare – which it took over in 2020 – had declined following a “standout” FY 2024, reflecting an “expected slowdown” in the car insurance switching market.

“After our return to growth in the second half of last year, our focus for this year is on the continued execution of our growth acceleration strategy,” Future CEO, Jon Steinberg, said.

“We are pleased with the start to the new financial year and, whilst we remain mindful of the macro backdrop and the ongoing evolution of the media landscape, we are confident about making further progress and delivering a performance in line with market expectations.”

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