Catena Media has announced it will be laying off 29 employees in advance of the Q3 trading call in an attempt to “streamline and rightsize” the content and marketing teams.
Looking ahead to the call on 7 November, the affiliate booked a non-cash impairment charge of €40m.
Catena cited the authorising of a writedown of “specific sports betting assets” for the impairment charge as it transitions to a new operating model.
As disclosed in H1 trading, Catena modified its remaining US media network, taking the “strategic decision to focus product development efforts on a cluster of core brands.”
Preliminary figures for the firm indicate that Q3 revenues will stand between €10.5-€11.0m (Q32023: €15m). Catena expects adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of €1.0-€1.5m (Q32023: €3.2m), corresponding to a margin of 10-14%.
CEO Manuel Stan commented: “It is important that our balance sheet reflects current realities. In sports betting, we have been operating at a loss for an extended period. We have responded to market challenges by shifting resources away from loss-making products and into those that we believe have the best potential to generate long-term value. I believe that this strategy will position us for success in the coming quarters.”
Staff redundancies will see Catena pay severance costs of approximately €400,000, with Catena projecting cost savings of €2.2m, effective from 1 November 2024.
Stan added: “As part of our drive to embed our new product-led organisation, we are optimising the operational teams to achieve a flatter structure that is more closely aligned with our product goals. Today, our priority is to support all the individuals who are affected by these changes.
“We are keenly aware that the market is looking for signs of a return to revenue growth. Although the figures reported today do not yet show that improvement, we see positive signals from the changes we have made in recent months, such as a leaner cost base and improved search rankings, and we remain on course to achieve our objectives.”
