Catena Media Posts Weak 2024 Results, Remains Confident in Its Strategy

Affiliate powerhouse Catena Media has published its year-end report for the period January-December 2024. Despite a noticeable decline in revenue, the company remains confident that its business strategy will soon pay off.

Optimization Measures Stabilized EBITDA in Q4

In Q4 2024, Catena Мedia reported EUR 10.2 million ($10.5 million) in revenue from continuing operations. This marked a 30% decline from EUR 14.5 million ($14.9 million) in 2023, emphasizing continued profitability difficulties for Catena Media.

The decline can be attributed to suboptimal performance in North America, where revenue from continuing operations dropped by 28% to EUR 8.9 million ($9.2 million). Despite that, it still comprised roughly 87% of all group revenue from continuing operations. These results were driven by a decrease in new deposit customers (NDCs) to 25,806, down 19%.

In the meantime, Adjusted EBITDA increased by 2% to EUR 1.5 million ($1.55 million), corresponding to а margin of 15%. EBITDA from continuing operations increased by 62% to EUR 0.8 million ($0.8 million), equivalent to a margin of 7%.

In the meantime, Catena reported a EUR 0.02 loss ($0.021) per share, showing significant improvement from the 0.47 loss it recorded in Q4 2023. However, the company’s cash declined significantly to EUR 8.5 million ($8.8 million) on December 31.

Catena Media noted that its operating profit was impacted by a non-cash impairment charge of EUR 1.2 million ($1.24 million) related to its AI content generation platform. The company reached a M&A agreement for the platform after which it will discontinue it and, in the process, will recoup EUR 0.7 million ($0.7 million) of its initial investment.

The FY 2024 Results Were Not What Catena Hoped for

In the meantime, Catena Media also published its FY 2024 results, reporting revenue of EUR 49.6 million ($51.2 million), down 35%. This decline was consistent with the decline in business in North America, which makes up some 88% of all group revenue. For context, the company reported revenue of EUR 43.9 million ($45.3 million) in the region.

The NDC count for 2024 decreased by 30% to 128,700.

Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations marked a staggering 79% decline to EUR 5.4 million ($5.6 million), corresponding to a margin of 11%. The company also reported EBITDA loss of EUR 0.3 million ($0.3 million), equivalent to a margin of -1%.

The company experienced а loss per share of EUR 0.63 ($0.65).

Other Notable Developments and Priorities

On October 22, Catena Media introduced further measures to streamline its pipeline and save millions of euros in costs. On the same date, the company also announced a non-cash impairment charge of EUR 40 million, related to a writedown in the book value of specific sports and casino assets.

On November 20 and December 4, Catena Media made important changes to its board of directors, adding new members and parting ways with others.

On December 19, Catena Media commenced the search for an independent external auditor for FY 2025.

 As for the company’s priorities, Catena Media pointed out that its resources have been stretched thin and that further optimization is needed. To that end, the company made key appointments, including directors of SEO, data and engineering. Conversely, the company reduced its overall headcount by over 10%.

CEO Stan Said That the Optimization Will Take Time

Catena Media said that it enters 2025 as a “more focused organization.” Although it admitted that FY 2024 was disappointing, the company is optimistic that its optimization strategy will soon pay off.

These sentiments were echoed by CEO Manuel Stan, who said that Q4 was the second consecutive quarter in which the streamlining efforts led to improved profitability. However, he added that the company must continue to enact its strategy in order to achieve further profitability.

It is clear that our initiatives in search engine optimisation (SEO), product development and geographic expansion will take additional time to translate into revenue gains. While this is unsatisfactory in the short term, I believe we now have the right focus areas and organisational structure in place to create a sustainable business with solid long-term growth prospects.

Manuel Stan, CEO, Catena Media

In other news, Catena Media previously said that it is considering sweepstakes opportunities despite the pushback against the vertical in America.