Digitalbox PLC - digital media and owner of brands such as Daily Mash, The Poke and The Tab - Provides trading update for the six months to June. Reports revenue of £1.2 million and net cash of £2.3 million as at June 30. Explains while the company has traded ahead of expectations in the first half, it has seen traffic sourcing to its sites in the first months of the second half continue to be impacted by a previously communicated and well-documented trend that many publishers are seeing. This trend is for lower traffic volumes from the major platform sources Alphabet and Meta to third party sites, it notes. Macro-economic pressure on these key players means they have had to increase consumer engagement time on their own platforms to improve their results, which has reduced traffic sent to third-party publishers like Digitalbox, company says.

Further, has seen a block within Google discover cutting traffic to Entertainment Daily, and an imposed reach reduction on a leading Facebook page for The Tab. While traffic volumes have been disappointing, session values have traded materially ahead of the market, company adds. Despite uncertainty, expects full-year revenue of £2.8 million and the company to remain profitable at adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation level. Plans an on-platform pivot fuelled by AI-assisted video output creation to increase audience engagement for its brands.

Current stock price: 5.00p, down 9.1% in London on Tuesday

12-month change: down 49%

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