Catena lauds ‘record’ Q2 as casino drives performance

Catena Media has praised its resilience and adaptability in navigating the challenges faced by COVID-19 as the group posted a ‘record’ Q2.

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Publishing its interim results for April – June 2020, Catena declared operating revenues of €27.8 million, a 17% increase on Q2 2019’s €23.7 million.

Operating revenues for the six month period from January – June 2020, operating revenues were up 9%, increasing from €49.8 million to €54.5 million.

Catena explained that its casino segment was the ‘key revenue driver’ for Q2, as the group lauded ‘all-time highs in revenue for AskGamblers, the US and the Japanese sites’.

Adjusted EBITDA for Q2 was up by 56% from €9.5 million in 2019 to €14.8 million, while H1 EBITDA climbed 34%, totalling €27.7m. This falls in the upper echelons of the company’s predictions that EBITDA would fall in the range of €14.5-14.8 million.

“Our company set records this quarter with an all-time high in profits, 17 percent in total revenue growth compared to last year, and a record in organic search revenues,” said Per Hellberg, CEO of Catena Media.

While new depositing customers (NDCs) increased by 4% during Q2, up from 99,981 to 104,326, the number fell during H1 when compared to 2019’s figures.

Catena noted that there was a 0.1% decrease in NDCs during H1, falling from 223,988 to 223,855. The group highlighted that this was attributed to ‘a major Google update’ which ‘impacted traffic numbers negatively’.

Peter Messner, Group CFO, added: “With the successful conclusion of our refinancing process, we managed to significantly reduce our leverage already and align the long-term interest of all stakeholders, and in particular our shareholders. While continuing to deliver on our strategy, we track towards a leverage of 1.00 by year-end.”