Shares in Digitalbox PLC (AIM:DBOX, FRA:RLXB) are likely to attract attention after the online publisher said profits for 2025 would come in comfortably ahead of expectations, despite a turbulent year for the media industry.
The AIM-listed group, which owns titles including Entertainment Daily, The Daily Mash, The Tab, The Poke and TV Guide, said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (a commonly used measure of underlying operating profit) are expected to be about £330,000 for the year to 31 December 2025. That is ahead of market forecasts.
Revenue for the year is expected to be around £3.9 million. At the end of December, the company had roughly £1.8 million of gross cash on its balance sheet, giving it a financial cushion as it heads into 2026.
The update comes after what Digitalbox described as a period of significant change across the media sector, particularly in the final quarter of the year, which is traditionally its most important trading period.
Publishers have been grappling with the impact of artificial intelligence on search, social media and advertising, all of which can affect how readers find content and how publishers make money from it.
Digitalbox said its spread of distribution channels and high levels of audience engagement helped it perform strongly during this period. It also benefited from tighter cost control in the second half of the year, which improved profit margins.
James Carter, the chief executive, said the latter part of 2025 had been “both an exciting and demanding period for the publishing industry”.
“We executed our plan to explore highly focused new market sectors, specifically reality TV, soaps, and the UK royal family, as part of what we call our ‘verticals strategy’, while also strengthening our on-platform revenue generation,” he said.
He added that the acquisition of digital assets from Media Chain Group during the year was expected to support further growth and feed into the company’s longer-term expansion plans.
Digitalbox said it expects to publish its full annual results on 31 March 2026.