Better Collective delivers another record breaking quarter with 135% operational earnings growth

Regulatory release no. 40/2023

Flash Highlights

• Revenue 78 mEUR, growth of 39%; organic growth of 29%
• Recurring revenue 46 mEUR; growth of 67%
• EBITDA before special items 29 mEUR; a margin of 37%; growth of 135% YOY
• July trading update: revenue of 23 mEUR; 39% growth

Q2 Highlights

• Q2 group revenue grew by 39% to 78 mEUR, which is a record Q2 quarter (Q2 2022: 56 mEUR). Organic revenue growth was 29%.
• Recurring revenue was 46 mEUR, implying 67% growth. Equal to 59% of group revenue versus 49% Q2 last year.
• Q2 group EBITDA before special items was 29 mEUR, a growth of 135% (Q2 2022: 12 mEUR). The group EBITDA-margin before special items was 37%.
• Cash flow from operations before special items was 34 mEUR (Q2 2022: 22 mEUR). The cash conversion was 112%. By the end of Q2, capital reserves stood at 78 mEUR of which cash of 65 mEUR, other current financial assets of 13 mEUR.
• New depositing customers (NDC) numbered more than 500.000 in the quarter implying growth of 32%. 87% of NDCs were sent on revenue share contracts.
• Skycon Limited was acquired and in doing so expanded Better Collective’s efforts within digital display advertising. Skycon has already delivered strong performance after swift onboarding.
• During the quarter the financial targets for 2023 were upgraded due to a very strong performance during the first months of the quarter. The group now guides for:
  • Revenues of 315-325 mEUR (305-315 mEUR)
  • EBITDA before special items of 105-115 mEUR (95-105 mEUR)
  • Net debt to EBITDA before special items <2.0 (unchanged)
• A share buyback program was initiated on February 21 and completed on April 25. Better Collective acquired 416.959 shares at an average price of 196.6 SEK. Following the purchases, Better Collective held 2.17% of the outstanding share capital.
• The UK Government published a “White Paper” as part of a Gambling Act review. Better Collective welcomes the long-awaited proposed initiatives with a stronger focus on safer gambling. Given the proactive compliance measures already taken, the proposed measures are estimated to have zero to limited financial impact on the Better Collective.
• Terence Gargantini joined as Country Director for Brazil to bolster Better Collective’s South American expansion.
• The Annual General Meeting 2023 was held electronically on April 25, 2023.
• Better Collective hosted its annual Greek Bookmaker Awards with its Greek flagship sports media, Betarades.

Significant events after closure of the period

• July trading update showed revenue of 23 mEUR implying 39% growth.
• Better Collective acquired Playmaker HQ to expand competitiveness within social media and sports content production. The total consideration of the acquisition was 54 mUSD with an upfront payment of 15 mUSD. Playmaker HQ has already shown promising trends.
• Better Collective expanded its Swedish position towards the generalist sport fans by acquiring four of the strongest sports media brands in the market. The media acquired from Everysport Group are SvenskaFans.com, Hockeysverige.se, FotballDirect and Innebandy Magazinet.
• Better Collective extended the club-financing from October 2022 with Nordea, Nykredit and Citibank by three years to October 2026 as well as executing the accordion option and thereby increasing the available facilities with 72 mEUR, leaving the group with a total financing of 319 mEUR where 247 mEUR has been utilized.
• Share buyback program of up to 10 mEUR initiated to be executed during the period from July 7 to August 21. The market value of Better Collective’s own shares amounts to 28 mEUR. The purpose of the buyback is to cover future payments relating to acquisitions and LTI programs.
• Better Collective hosted an EGM where Britt Boeskov and René Rechtman were elected to the board of directors. Following six years of dedicated work for Better Collective, Klaus Holse decided to step down.
• Better Collective bolstered its European sports media expansion with the appointment of René Schrøder as Editor in Chief Europe.
• By the end of July, Better Collective’s new HQ in Copenhagen opened. The leasing agreement runs for five years and has rent obligation of approximately 12 mEUR during that period.

Jesper Søgaard, Co-founder & CEO comments:“Q2 turned out to be an exceptional quarter with strong growth building on the momentum generated in previous quarters. This was driven by a great performance across the group, highlighting the Americas and our media partnerships as key factors. Driven by successful acquisitions and a strong team to execute on our strategy, I am pleased with the progress we are making towards our vision to become the leading digital sports media group.

We continue to be excited about the vast potential and opportunities in South America, where we plan to leverage our ‘Better Collective Growth Formula’ throughout the region. We are working hard to establish a talented team on the ground dedicated to delivering excellent sports content and experiences to the South American audience. 

In North America we have continued our investments despite tougher market conditions and I am proud to see that we are now reaping the benefits as operational earnings have moved from negative last year to a 33% margin during this low season quarter.”