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On 20 September 2022, in response to press speculation and share price movements, Future plc (Future) was forced to publish a confirming rumours that its chief executive, Zillah Byng-Thorne, had expressed an intention to leave:

‘Future plc…the global platform for specialist media, notes the recent press speculation and share price movement and is providing the following clarification.

Future made it clear in last year's annual report that CEO succession planning was an ongoing focus of the Board and Nomination Committee.  Zillah Byng-Thorne, CEO, joined the business in November 2013 and is approaching 9 years at the Group. Zillah remains committed to the business, and has not resigned, however she has informally indicated that she would like to step down by the end of 2023.’

The announcement brings to an end a challenging year for the company, which saw its fall 63.3% during 2022. To add to the magazine publisher’s woes, rumours surrounding Byng-Thorne’s intention to jump ship, saw the company’s gradually declining share price go into free fall, dropping from 1,657 pence per share on 16 September 2022 to 1,407 pence per share as of 9:30am on 20 September 2022, representing a 15.3% decline. On 15 September 2022, Future plc not only that Byng-Thorne was standing down from her position as The Hut Group plc’s senior independent director, but also her new appointment as non-executive director and deputy chair at Trustpilot Group plc. Since Byng-Thorne’s departure was confirmed, the company’s shares have slid further, before stabilising just below 1,400 pence per share as of 21 September 2022.

CEO succession planning was noted as ‘a particular focus’ for Future’s Nomination Committee in both its  and annual reports. The wording of the 2020 annual report is especially interesting, with Future noting that:

‘Whilst the Committee and Board hope very much that the current Chief Executive, Zillah Byng-Thorne, will continue to lead the Company for the foreseeable future, the Committee felt it would be prudent to engage an executive search firm, Russell Reynolds, to perform a desk-top review of the external Chief Executive talent pool.’

This quote adds credence to the possibility that Byng Thorne may have been looking for an exit for quite a while.

Under Byng-Thorne’s leadership, Future managed to thrive in the struggling print media space, transitioning into the digital age as an online provider of e-commerce by directing users to partnered retailers. This success saw Future’s share price soar and the company entered the FTSE 250 for the first time on 24 June 2019 as part of the . However, more recently its share price has waned, as technology sectors worldwide suffer due to the ongoing cost-of-living crisis and rising inflation. This is despite the fact that Future’s marked a 48% increase in both revenue and operating profit compared to H1 2021.

Early in 2022, Future suffered a shareholder revolt at its on 3 February 2022, with its remuneration report being one of the three that failed to secure the requisite majority support during the 2022 AGM season (for more information, see: Remuneration and pre-emption remain hot topics as 2022 AGM season kicks off). The company’s 2022 AGM did not enlighten shareholders as to the reasons why the dissent against the report was so high. However, the AGM Results acknowledged that certain votes against the remuneration report  were based on the discretion exercised by the Remuneration Committee in respect of the leaving provisions of former CFO, Rachel Addison. Others may have been due to continuing investor displeasure with Future’s remuneration policy and value creation plan, which received 35.8% and 35.7% opposition respectively at the company’s .

The 2022 AGM also saw high dissent against the company’s Remuneration Committee chair, Mark Brooker, and non-executive director, Rob Hattrell, with 38.8% and 34.7% of votes cast against their re-election respectively.  In the aftermath of the vote, Future's update statement noted that the company had ‘written to 45 shareholders representing approximately 84.5% of the shares outstanding of the company as well as three major shareholder advisory bodies’.

For more information on shareholder dissent during the 2022 AGM season, see Market Tracker’s recent Trend Report: . A full analysis of the 2022 AGM season is to be produced in due course.