Better Collective Posted Impressive Second Quarter Performance

Sports betting media group Better Collective released its interim financial report today, posting €40 million ($47 million) in second-quarter and €74.85 million ($88 million) in first-half 2021 revenues, respectively.

Second Quarter 2021

Financial performance in the second quarter picked up right where it left in Q1 2021, mainly driven by the US business, which performed strongly even before the acquisition of The Action Network, despite the period being low season.

Q2 marks yet a record quarter in terms of revenue and NDCs delivered to our partners. At the same time, we continue to record strong profitability and cash flows. The strong performance is especially driven by the US business, and by our media partnerships that saw breakthrough performance during Q2.”

Jesper Søgaard, Co-Founder and CEO, Better Collective

Group revenue for the reported Q2 2021 increased by 162%, compared to the €15.25 million ($18 million) Better Collective registered in the respective quarter of 2020, while organic growth reached 47%.

The peak of the quarter was the closing of our largest acquisition to date, Action Network, which is a game changer and consolidates our leading sports betting media position in the US.”

Jesper Søgaard, Co-Founder and CEO, Better Collective

Group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) reached €12.66 million ($14.9 million), with an increase of 90% before accounting for special items, such as the €5.3 million ($6.2 million) acquisition cost of The Action Network. The EBITDA margin was 32%, coming from a margin of 43% in the publishing and 11% in paid media segments, respectively.

New depositing customers reached 197,000 in the second quarter, setting up a new quarterly record and an implied growth of 179%. More than 38,000 of them came from media partnerships after the group entered into three new media partnership deals.

Before special items, cash flow from operations reached €11.07 million ($13 million), up 7% compared to the €10.36 million ($12.2 million) registered in the second quarter of the year prior. Q2 2021 cash conversion rate was 93%, following a rate of 121% in Q1 2021.

By the end of the reported period, June 30, 2021, Better Collective had capital and cash reserves of €69 million ($81 million) and €40 million ($47 million), respectively, as well as unused bank credit facilities of €29 million ($34 million).

During the quarter, Better Collective raised €145 million ($170.4 million) of proceeds after placing 6.9 million shares and paid €1.2 million ($1.4 million) in cash and €0.9 million ($1 million) in shares related to the 2020 acquisition of HLTV as a pre-agreed financial performance target was achieved.

First Half 2021

Revenue for the first six months of 2021 reached €78.8 million ($92.6 million), up 118% from the €36.2 million ($42.5 million) for the respective 6-month period in 2020, while EBITDA before special items came out at €25.8 million ($30.3 million), up 64% year-over-year. EBITDA margin was 33%.

As new depositors exceeded 370,000, posting growth of 99%, cash flow operations increased by 37% to €27.2 million ($32 million) from €19.8 million ($23.3 million) in H1 2020.

The period also saw a new addition to the Board of Directors, CEO of NOD and former group CEO of NetEnt Therese Hillman. The company has received a lot of industry support, as well, with EGR’s Global Power Affiliates 2021 ranking Better Collective at the top for the 4th consecutive year.