Catena announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2024. Overall, Q2 revenue was EUR 12.8 million (USD 14.1 million), a 14% decrease year-over-year, while adjusted EBITDA dropped significantly by 67% to EUR 700,000 from last year’s EUR 2.1 million.
Pretax loss remained relatively stable, reducing from last year's USD 2.8 million to USD 2.5 million. However, the overall loss for the quarter significantly improved from a USD 18.2 million loss in Q2 2023 to a USD 2.7 million loss this quarter.
By region and vertical – North America
Looking at Catena’s North American division, total revenue was EUR 11.2 million, down 11% year-over-year. This is reflected in the New Depositing Customers (NDC) which also decreased by 11% to 29,824. Adjusted EBITDA saw a similar decrease but not as drastic as the entire business, falling 24% to EUR 4 million.
Of the EUR 11.2 million revenue, EUR 9.1 million came from the casino sector, one of the few growing sectors this quarter, marking a 13% increase year-over-year. The sports division accounted for the remaining EUR 2.1 million, a significant decrease of 53% compared to last year’s EUR 4.5 million.
By region and vertical – Rest of the World
The remaining EUR 1.6 million in revenue came from around the globe, seeing a 33% decrease year-over-year. The NDC even surpassed the decrease of its North American counterparts, dropping 62% to 1,651, but despite this, the adjusted EBITDA still managed to grow, totaling EUR 800,000, up over half a million euros from last year’s EUR 300,000 adjusted EBITDA.
Revenue from both the casino and sports divisions decreased year-over-year, with the casino sector taking the biggest hit, falling 44% to EUR 900,000. The sports division saw a much smaller decline, down just 6% to EUR 600,000.
By vertical classification
Overall, Catena’s sports division generated total revenue of EUR 2.8 million, accounting for 29% of the subsidiary’s total revenue. This reflected a 47% decline, primarily due to a 53% drop in the US sector. This also reflected in the NDC, which dropped 46% to 9,011. Nevertheless, adjusted EBITDA’s impact was not as severe, with losses increasing from EUR 2.7 million to EUR 3.2 million.
Meanwhile, Catena’s casino sector grew by 3% year-over-year to EUR 10 million. NDCs only fell by 3% to 22,464 — a noticeably smaller drop compared to other metrics — while adjusted EBITDA decreased by 18% to a total of EUR 3.9 million.
This Quarter
As part of ongoing restructuring efforts to turn the company’s financial situation around (results reflecting recent quarterly trends), Catena has appointed several new executives to its leadership team.
Edward Midolo has been appointed as Chief Technology Officer, effective from April 1, while Michael Gerrow was appointed Chief Financial Officer, effective from April 15. Entering the third quarter, Catena announced the appointment of Manuel Stan as the new CEO in March. We interviewed Stan for the upcoming September issue of Trafficology, which will also be available in Huddle format.
He noted, "It's important to state that I'm not the only newcomer at Catena; by the end of this year, almost the entire management team will be new. Since early Q2, we’ve had a new CFO, a new COO, a new CTO, and myself – so four newcomers in the team, and it's a great team.
“We have both newcomers and people who have been with the company for some time, those who have grown with the company and those who have proven themselves. Everyone is highly motivated, everyone is eager to take on this challenge... Together, as a management team, we are highly motivated to turn things around.”
Commentary
About the performance itself, Stan stated in Catena's report, “Our Q2 performance is consistent with the earnings update issued in June. They reflect changes in search engine policies which affected media partnership relations, including Catena Media. While these changes had an immediate negative impact, we saw positive effects on our proprietary and operated products towards the end of the quarter...
“I am excited about the challenges ahead and optimistic about the future as we will maximize the potential of our products, particularly in the casino sector where we see great growth opportunities. I believe Catena Media has the power to become a leading partner in the North American iGaming industry.”
