Revenues grow for Catena Media despite profits slipping

Affiliate giant Catena Media has released its results for Q1 of this year, reporting a dip in profits despite showing an increase in its revenues for the first quarter.
The affiliate detailed that its revenues had jumped nine per cent from the same period last year, reporting total revenues of  €26.1m (£22.4m/$29.1m) up from €23.9m.
Catena CEO Per Hellberg commented on the results: “Everything we are doing is now converging in the right direction. We are continuing our long-term transformation, based on the strategies of organic growth, fewer but larger brands and increased cost control.
“During the first quarter, which also tend to start a bit slower due to seasonal effects, we saw that regulations impacted operators negatively, and us in turn, leading to a quarter where our revenues came in below our expectations.
“We are agilely adapting to changing conditions and expect to see positive developments from the second quarter onwards.”
Profit before tax was listed to have fallen from  €5.1m to €2.0m, meanwhile the group’s profit that is attributed to the equity holders if its umbrella company also dropped from  €4.7m to €1.9m.
A drop in profits may possibly be attributed to a reported increase in expenses for the group, having reported an increase €15.3m to €18.3m. In comparison to Q1 of last year, operating profits were reported at €8.6m, with results for the three months ending March 31st 2019 reported to be  €7.8m.
Despite a drop in profits, Catena has reported that EBITDA had grown year-on-year to €11.2m.