Catena Media forecasts record revenue and profit for Q2

Affiliate giant Catena Media has said that it expects to achieve record revenue and profit in the second quarter of 2020, despite its business being affected by the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

Catena said in a trading update that revenue for the three months to 30 June is likely to amount to €27.7m (£25.2m/$31.7m). This would represent a rise of 17% on the same period last year, and set a new quarterly revenue record for the business.

According to Catena, the primary reason behind this forecasted increase was the performance of its casino segment, with its AskGamblers brand and Japanese business having their own all-time highs for revenues.

Catena also reported a record quarter for its US business, as with all land-based casinos in the country closed for most of Q2 and sports wagering almost non-existent, online and social casinos saw “tremendous growth rates”.

However, Catena did note struggles within its sports betting business, due to the fact that almost all major sports events around the world were either cancelled or postponed due to the pandemic, though some football leagues returned at the end of the quarter.

Catena also said that a major update by Google regarding its search and ranking algorithms at the beginning of May negatively impacted traffic numbers for some brands, but others, such as Catena’s US brands, saw a positive impact.

That said, Catena said that while those brands that experienced a negative impact, conversion rates and revenues were not necessarily hit in the same way, which was reflected in total forecasted revenue for the quarter.

New depositing customers the quarter was up 4% year-on-year to 104,000, but down 13% on the opening three months of 2020, though Catena said that the quarter-on-quarter decline was expected due to the impact of Covid-19 on its sports business.

In terms of profits for the quarter, Catena said adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation is set to amount to between €14.5m and €14.8m, either of which would be a record quarterly performance and at least an increase of 52% on last year.

Catena put this expected rise primarily down to growth in its casino segment, as well as higher margins, continuous cost control and lower direct costs as a result of the lack of sports and continued shift towards more organic revenue.

“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,” Catena chief executive Per Hellberg said.

Catena plans to publish its full results for the second quarter on 19 August.