Catena revenue falls ahead of strategic review
Revenue for Q2 was down 4.9 per cent year-on-year at €28.9m.
Malta.- The affiliate group Catena Media has reported a decline in revenue for Q2 as it looks ahead to a strategic review of its business that aims to save €5m. Revenue fell 4.9 per cent year-on-year to €28.9m.
It posted a net loss of €1.3m compared to a €4.3m profit in Q4 2021. EBITDA was down 39.7 per cent to €9.1m. Pre-tax profit was down by 12.6 per cent to €23m and net profit by 13.2 per cent to €18.5m.
Search revenue was €27.3m, down 3.9 per cent, and paid revenue $1.6m, down 20 per cent. Revenue-sharing arrangements accounted for 39 per cent of all revenue, cost per acquisition accounted for 52 per cent and fixed fees 9 per cent.
Casino revenue was down 18.5 per cent at €17.2m, although revenue grew in North America. The launch of online sports betting in Ontario, Canada, boosted sports betting revenue to the tune of 31.1 per cent to €10.9m. Finance revenue was down 20.6 per cent at €773,000.
Catena said it has already begun to reduce expenditure and strategic investments ahead of its planned review of its European business, which envisages redundancies in the UK and Malta. It had announced in May that it would review its business following takeover interest. It’s since extended that review to cover its whole European online betting and casino business.
Catena chief executive Michael Daly said: “Catena Media is an agile business with global reach in markets where the fundamentals for online sports betting and casino remain strong,” Daly said. “The changed economic environment will likely reduce user spending on entertainment in coming quarters, and we are pivoting aggressively to this new reality.
“Our priority is to continue to remove costs where we can and to adapt the business to lower margins in key markets while continuing to develop the many attractive growth opportunities ahead of us. People will still be betting, and we will be finding those new bettors and bringing them to the table for our partners.”
