They say never put all your eggs in one basket and for Catena Media, who’s avowed aim is to become the Number One media affiliate in North America, that warning appears to have gone unheeded as their fiscal fortunes continue to go down, down, down, as underlined in their latest Q2, ending June 30.
Reported revenue for the Malta-headquartered, Swedish-origin, iGaming leads outfit fell 25 percent, year-on-year, to €9.6 million (£8.28m/US$11.24m) for the second quarter — and two percent less than Q1 this year.
Citing a weaker U.S. dollar, the affiliate reported that its overall revenue in North America–which generates some 90 percent of its takings–plunged 23 percent to €8.7 million (£7.5m/US$10.18m).
And in a further blow, new depositing customers fell 36 percent to 20,229.
Thanks to swingeing job cuts in May at the company’s offices in Malta, Sweden, the U.K. and The States, Catena Media’s adjusted EBITDA doubled to €1.4 million (£1.2m/US$1.63m), with a margin of 14 percent, in the quarter — much better than their comparative loss of -€600,000 (-£517,827/-US$702,938) in Q2 2024.
Bad News Bears
Catena is hoping the staff cuts will save them up to €5 million annually (£4.31m/US$5.85m).
The bad fiscal news ran across all of the first half of this year, with revenue from continuing operations down 33 percent, y-o-y, to €19.4 million (£16.74m/US$22.72m) and adjusted EBITDA falling nine percent to €2.3 million (£1.98m/US$2.69m) in H1.
Catena also off-loaded its esports assets during Q2 for €1.4 million (£1.2m/US$1.64m), which they say will give them “a stronger focus on core products”.
“Although we remain cautious in our outlook, Q2 brought signs that our stabilisation efforts are having a measurable impact,” argued Catena Media CEO Manuel Stan.
“It is encouraging to report our strongest quarter-on-quarter performance for Q2 for several years — driven by underlying business improvements rather than state launches or seasonal tailwinds,” he asserted.
“Adjusted EBITDA rose strongly to EUR 1.4m and the margin grew to 14 percent. This was more than double the level in Q1 2025 and Q2 2024. The improvement is an encouraging reward for the changes we have implemented in recent quarters. [We hope to] further embed our leaner, more agile organisation.”
Headcounters
“Given that the headcount reduction took place largely in May, its full financial impact will start showing from Q3 onwards.
“Likewise, the gains from consolidating software licences will build during the second half of the year as longer-term agreements come to an end. It is encouraging to see that these and other actions undertaken in the last few quarters have successfully reduced costs and improved profitability without affecting revenue generation,” continued Stan.
“In Q2 we continued to focus on diversifying our revenue mix by increasing the contribution from non-SEO channels – primarily paid media, sub-affiliation and customer relationship management.
“As we move into the second half of the year, we will build on the progress made this quarter to improve profitability and build long-term resilience as we diversify the offering, optimise operations, further consolidate our tech stack and grow in areas where we know we can win.”
Fighting talk or an epitaph?
Watch this space!
