Catena Media shares plunge 14% to 52wk low after Q1-2022 report
Shares of online casino, sports betting and financial trading lead generation site operator Catena Media (STO:CTM) fell by 14% on Wednesday, after the company reported its financial results for the first quarter of 2022.
CTM shares closed at kr37.50, their lowest closing price in more than a year.
Catena Media share price past 12 months. Source: Google Finance.
The company actually reported its best-ever revenue quarter, at EUR 46.2 million, but operating cash flow was down significantly from Q1 last year (EUR 13.0 million versus EUR 20.8 million). This comes amid a shift toward North America business and away from Europe at Catena, with revenue in North America increasing by 32% to EUR 29.5 million, or 65% of group revenue.
Revenue in Catena’s Financial Trading segment also continued to suffer, down by 24% YoY to just EUR 0.8 million for the quarter, representing only 2% of group revenue. Adjusted EBITDA decreased by 68% and new depositing customers decreased by 78% in the Financial Trading segment. The figures reflected what Catena called challenging conditions on financial markets, in stark contrast to an exceptionally strong first quarter of 2021.
We had previously reported that Catena Media stated in late 2020 that it was making “no further investments into the Financial Services segment”, which has clearly been a disappointment for the company. In 2017-2018 Catena made a concerted effort to grow from its base of gaming affiliate websites into the “financials” area, spending tens of millions of dollars in acquiring a number of (mainly) FX broker affiliate websites such as DeutscheFXBroker.de, BrokerDeal.de, ForexTraders.com, TheBull.com.au, TheBull.asia, FatCat.com.au, LearnTrading.com.au, LearnCFDs.com, hammerstonemarkets.com, and Leaprate.com.
The full Catena Media interim report on Q1-2022 results can be seen here.