Shares in Reach PLC hit a near 14-year low after the publisher halved its dividend payment and reported lower half-year earnings, citing Google directing fewer readers to its publications.

Reach's stock fell over 24.5% to 44.55 pence Tuesday, a level not seen since September 2012. Shares are down around 90% from their August 2021 peak of 430 pence.

London-listed Reach posted revenue of 232.9 million pounds ($311.5 million) for the first half of 2026, a 9% on-year fall. The drop was down to declining print revenue and a drop in online readership, it said.

Online page views fell by 40% on-year as a result of lower referrals from search engines, especially Google, the company said. Digital revenue fell by 11% over the first half of the year.

Reach--which publishes U.K. titles like the Daily Mirror and Daily Express--cut its dividend to 1.44 pence a share from 2.88 pence to boost financial flexibility and focus on more organic investment. The company added that it will continue reviewing capital allocation, particularly from 2028 when it can reduce the amount it pays toward topping up employee pensions.

Adjusted operating profit--a company-preferred metric which strips out exceptional and other one-off items--fell 4.1% to 43.0 million pounds for the period ended June 30.

Without those adjustments, the company made an operating loss of 43.5 million pounds compared with a profit of 29.7 million pounds.

The publisher said it remains on track to meet market expectations for the year. It provided a consensus adjusted operating profit for the year of 95.9 million pounds. This compares with 104.7 million pounds for 2025.

Going forward, the company said it will seek to lessen its dependence on referral traffic--that is, readers who find articles through search engines, social media sites and other third parties.

"Our future will be less about volume and more about original content, distinctive brands and securing better returns," Chief Executive Piers North said.

Online news publications that had previously relied on Google searches to draw in readers are reevaluating their relationship with the search engine as it expands its artificial-intelligence search features. USA Today, Politico, the Economist, People Inc. and Reuters are among the publishers weighing their relationships with the search giant, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Looking ahead to 2027, Reach said it expects industry headwinds, including a continued decline in circulation volumes, to persist.

Despite industry challenges, media groups with trusted brands that focus on producing their own content in different formats can still prosper, Panmure Liberum analysts Sean Kealy and Johnathan Barrett wrote in a note to clients.

Write to Joe Stonor at josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 22, 2026 06:51 ET (10:51 GMT)

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