Together Stronger: Better Collective Posts Record €177m FY21

Powered by a flurry of acquisitions and a big push in American action, super Affiliate Better Collective has reported a near doubling of group revenue to a record €177.1 million (£147.4m/US$197.6m) for its Financial Year 2021, ending December 31.

However, special costs and charges, related to its M&A surge, resulted in net profits falling by 21 per cent, year-on-year, said the Danish company.

“The US market is already [our] single biggest market and is approaching the same profitability as our European publishing business,” said Better Collective Co-founder and CEO Jesper Søgaard when announcing the results.

“And we have established ourselves with strong American sports betting brands, including the recently acquired Action Network.”

Better Collective (BC) bought Action Network in May 2021 and Atemi, the pay-per-click specializers, in October the previous year.

The group’s publishing business of online platforms and media partnerships generated €120.2 million (£100m/US$134.1m) of total annual revenue, up 62 per cent compared to 2020.

Atemi helped push BC’s paid and social media revenue up 235 per cent to €56.9 million (£47.3m/US$63.5m).

Other significant group acquisitions in 2021 included Rekatocklart.com, a Swedish sports betting media platform; RotoGrinders Network in the US, and soccernews.nl and Voetbalwedden.net in Holland.

BC also struck a special partnership deal with top US daily newspaper the New York Post — and upped its stake in Mindway AI, a leading-edge responsible gaming solutions provider.

Earnings before EBITDA reached €55.8 million (£46.6m/US$62.2m) and operating profit–after the deduction of special items–was up 50 per cent to €45.5 million (£37.9m/US$50.7m).

The group paid €8.9 million (£7.4m/US$9.9m) in income tax during 2021, leaving a net profit for the year of €17.3 million (£14.4m/US$19.3m) — a drop of 21 per cent compared to the profit of €21.9 million (£18.2m/US$24.4m) in FY2020.

Added Søgaard: “We have more media partnerships in our pipeline.

“We [are] a truly international company, and [this year] we will continue our efforts to seek market growth through M&A activities.”