Catena Media announces cuts amid revenue decline in Q1
The company will eliminate over 50 roles, including both contractors and full-time employees.
Malta.- The affiliate group Catena Media has announced further cuts as it reports a drop in Q1 results. Revenue from continuing operations came in at €9.8m, down by 39 per cent year-on-year. North American revenue, which represented 89 per cent of the total, was down by 39 per cent to €8.8m.
Adjusted EBITDA fell by 51 per cent to €0.9m, representing an adjusted EBITDA margin of 9 per cent. The company said the lower margin after two quarters of improvement, was attributable to a shift in the revenue mix towards subaffiliation as well as a modest increase in personnel expenses.
The company said it would initiate cost optimisation measures, including removing one management layer to improve internal agility. This will mean eliminating over 50 roles, affecting a mix of full-time employees and contractors. This is expected to reduce headcount by around 25 per cent and deliver annualised cost reductions of close to €4.5-5m. The company said technical consolidation changes that would generate further savings of around €0.8m annually.
Catena Media CEO Manuel Stan said: “Q1 was a disappointing quarter that showed we still have substantial work ahead to fully stabilise the business and rebuild profitability. The 3 per cent decrease in revenue from Q4 2024 was the smallest quarterly drop in recent periods, signalling that the steep declines of past quarters may now be behind us. However, this small positive was overshadowed by significantly lower adjusted EBITDA, which fell by around 60 per cent from Q4, bringing the margin below 10 percent.
“The immediate priority now is to improve long-term profitability by increasing revenue while maintaining a lower cost base. We will achieve this by operating more efficiently and eliminating internal silos. We will build a tech-enabled centre of excellence to identify and execute automation opportunities across the organisation to deliver real, scalable impact – an effort that will require investment.”
Chairman of the board Erik Flinck added: “Today’s decision was difficult and not taken lightly. We believe that deferring interest payments on the hybrid capital security and choosing not to redeem this instrument in the short term are essential to secure the group’s financial stability and to enable investment in development and growth. In the interests of transparency, we will provide regular market updates on this matter and on our progress going forward.”
