SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Catena Media stated that it will deliver ‘record revenue and profits’ for Q2 2020 trading, as a result of significant online casino growth recorded across its global publishing network.
Navigating the ‘continued, changing market conditions’ of the global pandemic, Catena has anticipated that revenues will amount to approximately €27.7 million, a 17% increase on Q2 2019’s €23.7 million.
Q2 trading saw Catena achieve ‘all-time high’ revenue performance for its AskGamblers domain and Japanese business segment.
EBITDA is predicted to increase by 52% compared to Q2 2019, with Catena expecting figures to be in the range of €14.5-14.8 million.
Ahead of publishing Catena’s interim results on 19 August, CEO Per Hellberg said: “Given the extraordinary global circumstances, Q2 was a very challenging quarter, so we are happy to report that the measures taken by the company helped us achieve the best quarter ever in the history of the company.”
Further highlights have seen Catena laud growth across its US business, which ‘saw a significant increase compared to the same period last year and achieved its best quarter ever’. The key driver was due to the closure of land-based casinos, cancellation of live sports and a ‘tremendous growth’ in online casinos across the market.
COVID-19 impacts on Catena’s sports business are reported to have affected its numbers of new depositing customers (NDCs), which fell by 13% compared to Q1 2020 to 104,000.
The trading update added: “ A major Google update to its search and ranking algorithms at the beginning of May negatively impacted traffic numbers for some brands while others, for example Catena Media’s US brands, saw a positive impact.
“For those brands that experienced a negative impact, however, conversion rates and revenues were not necessarily hit in the same way, as reflected in the total revenues for the quarter.”
