SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Better Collective A/S maintains its full-year financial targets, reporting on its most eventful quarter in business, executing strategic M&As, opening its new office in Copenhagen, and finalising its dual-listing on the Danish Nasdaq.
Publishing its Q3 trading update, Better Collective registered corporate revenues of €75m, up 26% on 2022 comparative results of €60m. Investors were informed that recurring revenues accounted for €46m (61% of group income).
Q3 operational earnings, represented as ‘EBITDA before special items’, stood at €20m, up 35% on like-for-like 2022 results of €14.5m. The earnings result reflected a robust trading margin of 26%.
Of significance, Better Collective states that its revenue make-up reflects its rebalanced media network generating income of 87% via Revenue Share, 9% via Subscriptions, and 4% from advertising sales.
Media performance accounted for €48m (+17%) of income generated by the firm’s Publishing network (proprietary media platforms) and €27m (+46%) attributed to Paid Media (ad-tech unit).
Period trading saw Better Collective deliver 445,000 new depositing customers (NDCs) to partners of which 87% were revenue share contracts. Of strategic importance, the firm’s North American revenue share transition has been executed ‘faster than anticipated’ with Better Collective delivering 65,000 NDCs to US partners.
Group CEO & Founder Jesper Søgaard explained; “In Q3 we saw continued strong performance across the group working towards sustainable future growth for Better Collective. I am especially pleased to see that the transition into recurring revenue with our North American partners is moving faster than expected, which will provide strong value in the long run.”
Providing a geographic breakdown, Better Collective’s Europe & Rest of the World (ROW) segment, encompassing all markets outside North America, reported revenues of €53m (+27%), with operational earnings of €17m.
Better Collective noted that European income is a segment reliant on recurring revenues, making up 70% of revenue share and 85% of operational earnings.
In North America, Better Collective achieved €22m (+24%), with operational earnings of €3m. Better Collective anticipates operational earnings to be enhanced by the transfer of US media assets onto revenue share models.
From 2024 onwards the Group’s geographic structure will be revised to incorporate the new South American media assets of Playmaker Capital. A €176m deal finalised in November that will see Better Collective take control of the +180m audience of the FutbolSites‘ network.
On a year-to-date basis, Better Collective revenues stand at €241m (YTD2022: €181m), with revenue streams diversified across 50% revenue share, 30% CPA, 5% subscription sales, and 12% other income.
YTD costs escalated to €160 million (YTD2022: €133m), attributed to higher spending on its Paid Media and sports partnerships, while personnel expenses rose 30% to 66 million EUR, reflecting a 25% increase in the workforce.
Despite increased costs, Better Collective underscores a healthy operational efficiency, as YTD Operational earnings (EBITDA) stand at €82m, up 63% on YTD 2022 comparatives of €50m.
Entering Q4, Better Collective warned that the October trading update showed a slight decline in revenue due to lower sports win margins. Better Collective maintains confidence in its publisher network that continues to be optimised by the introduction of the in-house adtech platform, AdVantage.
Group leadership continues to focus on new market opportunities, North American growth, evaluating strategic acquisitions, and enhancing group-wide operational efficiencies.
Jesper Søgaard concluded: “Throughout the quarter we continued our global expansion acquiring leading national sports media across four markets and following the close of Q3 we made a transformational acquisition of Playmaker Capital that will further accelerate our journey towards becoming the leading digital sports media group. I am pleased to see that the entire team at Better Collective continues to execute strongly on our strategy.”
