Codere Online Luxembourg, S.A.

Thank you for standing by and welcome to the Coderre Online third quarter 2024 financial results conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, again, press the star one. Thank you. I'd now like to turn the call over to Galerimo Lancia, head of investor relations. You may begin.

Thanks, operator, and welcome everyone to Coderre Online's earnings call for the third quarter of 2024. Today, you will hear from our CEO, Aviv Sher, and CFO, Oscar Iglesias. Our Executive Vice Chairman, Moshe Edre, will also join us in the Q&A section. Before turning the call over to Aviv, I'd like to remind everyone that during this call, we will be referring to a presentation we uploaded to our website earlier today, which includes non-GAAP preliminary and unaudited financial metrics, such as net gaming revenue or adjusted EBITDA, for which you can find reconciliations in the appendix of the presentation. Please note that all growth rates discussed during this call are year-on-year comparisons, unless noted otherwise. Let me also remind you that our accounting information is prepared under IFRS accounting standards, and that throughout this presentation, all monetary figures will be in euro unless expressed otherwise. Finally, please note that a replay and transcript of this call will be available on our website at coderionline.com, where you can also sign up for our investor email alerts. With that, I will go ahead and pass the call on to Aviv.

Thanks, Guillermo, and thanks for everyone for joining us today. Before we discuss the highlights of the quarter, I would like first to address and provide a quick update on where we stand with respect to the delisting process with NASDAQ. As you may have seen in our press release, the hearing panel where we would be requesting additional time to file our annual report has been scheduled for January 16th. As you know, the delisting of our share and warrants is currently stayed and will continue to be stayed through the duration of the hearing process. In practical terms, we now have seven weeks until the hearing in which we will continue working to file our annual report so as to regain compliance with the NASDAQ listing requirements, thereby eliminating the need for the hearings. Now diving into the highlights of the third quarter of 2024, on page eight, we delivered 52 million Euro in net gaming revenue, 8.5 million or 20% above Q3, 2023. Third quarter net gaming was negatively impacted by about 3.5 million as a result of a weaker Mexican pesos versus the prior year period. Excluding this impact, net gaming revenue would have been 55 million in the third quarter, a 32% increase over the prior year and an improvement over what was a record NGR in the second quarter. In terms of product mix, the contribution from our casino segment is increasing and more or less in line with the level achieved in the second quarter due to seasonal decline in sports betting during the summer months. This growth in net gaming revenue was driven by a 4% increase in average monthly spend per active customer to 120 euros, together with a 15% increase in the number of average monthly active customers. With regard to customer acquisitions, we had 67,000 first-time depositors at an average CPA of 250 euros. For those of you that have been with us for some time, you will recall that since mid-2023, our average customer acquisition cost has been on an upward trend, primarily due to the mixed effect that is more investment in Spain and Mexico versus Colombia, Panama, and Argentina, and both in Mexico and Spain, an increased focus on acquiring what we call casino-first customers, which generally requires a higher upfront investment. With this, I will now turn the call over to Oscar to cover the financial highlights of the quarter and to our current expectation with respects to the full year of 2024.

Thanks, Aviv. Turning now to the financial performance for the quarter on page 10, consolidated net gaming revenue grew by 20% to $52 million. This was driven primarily by our Mexican business, where revenue grew 27% In Spain, meanwhile, net gaming revenue grew 11% to nearly $21 million. Adjusted EBITDA was positive $1.5 million in the third quarter and included a contribution of approximately $6 million from our Spanish business and $1 million from Mexico. As a reminder, our country level results now include certain expenses that in 2023 were classified as undistributed B2B expenses. So the comparison versus prior year periods are hard. In Spain, for example, third quarter adjusted EBITDA includes approximately 1 million in what previously would have been undistributed B2B expenses and is otherwise negatively impacted by a higher allocation of platform expenses versus the prior year period. This, together with a higher level of total marketing investment in the third quarter, explains the year-on-year decline in adjusted EBITDA in Spain. Looking now at our P&L on page 11, the 1.5 million improvement in adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter was primarily driven by the 8.5 million increase in net gaming revenue, partially offset by a higher level of marketing spend in the quarter, as well as higher platform and content fees. Turning now to page 12, the 20% increase in net gaming revenue is being driven by both an increase in active customers from Spain and Mexico, together with a higher spend per active. I will discuss in more detail later, but given the significant devaluation of the Mexican BISL since the presidential election took place in June, we thought it would be helpful to also provide growth, assuming constant currency for Mexico, which would have been 32%, instead of the reported 20%. FTDs, meanwhile, dropped 3% in the quarter and 8% sequentially, mostly driven by declines in both Colombia and Argentina. Still, we had a 15% increase in active customers in the quarter, primarily due to improved retention of existing customers. Turning to the Spanish operating and financial metrics, net gaming revenue in the third quarter increased 11% versus the prior year, driven by the 18% increase in the number of active customers to 49,000, partially offset by a decrease in spend practice. In Mexico, net gaming revenue was $27 million in the third quarter, an increase of 27% year-on-year. The Mexican PISO devalued by more than 12% in the third quarter of 2024, resulting in a $3 million headwind to our net gaming revenue in Mexico. On a constant currency basis, our net gaming revenue would have grown 43%, so the underlying trend we have seen throughout this year in Mexico remains intact. This strong performance was driven by a 23% increase in the number of active customers. On page 15, we wanted to provide some context on the Mexican PISO and its recent performance against the euro, our reporting currency. As you can see, comparing yesterday's closing exchange rate against pre-election levels, the Mexican PISO has devalued by 18%. From a reporting standpoint, in the third quarter, the PISO devaluation was around 12%. And looking ahead to the fourth quarter, you should expect a similar headwind, with the vessel having already devalued approximately 14% in the quarter-to-day period versus the prior year period. Turning to the balance sheet on page 17, as of September 30th, we had 44 million euros of total cash in the balance sheet, of which approximately 38 million was available, 3.5 million more than where we ended the second quarter, In terms of our net working capital position, we ended the quarter with negative 23 million or around 11% of LTM net gaming revenue, which is both in line with prior quarters and continues to reflect a relatively restrictive trade terms from suppliers. Looking at our cash flow on page 18, in the first nine months of the year, we generated 4.4 million of available cash partially offset by a $2.4 million negative FX impact on ending cash balances, primarily due to the devaluation of the Mexican PISO in the year-to-date period. With regards to our 2024 outlook on page 20, we are reiterating current guidance, but expect that we will finish the year in the upper part of the range for both net gaming revenue and adjusted EBITDA. That's all from my end. I will now hand it back over to Aviv for closing remarks.

Thanks, Oskar. Before we turn to the Q&A, I would like to thank the Coderre online team as always for the hard work to deliver these results. As we approach the end of the year, I am pleased to continue delivering upon our commitment and also excited with what lies ahead for the next year and beyond. As always, thanks to the investors, analysts, and other market participants for your interest, support, and patience, especially with respects to our 2023 20F feeling. With that said, I will turn it back to the operator to open up the call to Q&A.

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the Q&A. If you'd like to withdraw your question, simply press star 1 again. Your first question today comes from the line of Ryan Sigal from Craig Hallam Capital Group. Your line is open.

Hey, good day, guys. I want to start with the Mexican peso. She quantified the revenue impact. What's the flow through to EBITDA, either overall or, I guess, on that segmented country?

Yeah. Hi, Ryan. Good question. I think that that is a generic response. I would say that in Mexico, our cost structure is overwhelmingly also Mexican PISO denominated. So there's a natural hedge between the revenue from our customers and Mexican PISOs with the cost structure. That said, there are a few exceptions. So we have some centralized costs, for example, streaming expenses that are hard currency costs. denominated and largely fixed expenses for us, some of which get pushed down into the different all of which gets pushed down into the different operating businesses. So there is there's a slight amount of mismatch there in terms of the cost structure. But overwhelmingly, the cost structure is is bissel denominated. So what would affect revenue typically would also affect at the operating cash flow level.

And then just staying on Mexico, anything surprising or to be aware of kind of from a proposed expected legislation regulation feels like an ongoing discussion there. And then just on the promotional environment with new competitors in recent months. Strong market growth, I guess, has that changed any of the competitive intensity in Mexico?

Okay. Aviv? Yes. So far, no change in legislation. Several people have been, let's say, replaced by the new government. We are in contact with them, but no surprises so far. We continue to work with them and we are getting responses. So it seems that nothing currently has dramatically changed. We don't feel anything like that. In terms of competitors, we saw competitors coming into the market, especially around the World Cup during the summer. I think now, again, it's stabilized between, let's say, four to six main competitors and maybe another two, three, four small ones. And so overall, I think now going into, let's say, winter, it's more or less the same environment, a little bit more pricey because of the inflation prior to the World Cup. And so again, there are also no big surprises over there as well. Aviv, you're referring to Copa America, correct? Yeah, Copa America. So not World Cup, I'm referring to Copa America. I'm already thinking 2026.

Very good. On Copa America, the Euros acquired a bunch of new customers, really good for the industry and for you guys. With those customers, anything surprise you from ability to cross-sell into iCasino as far as retention, engagement? I guess now that we have a little bit more time from when those events happened, anything surprise you?

No, I think we are putting a lot of effort in cross-sell. in cross-promoting the casino from the sport. Also, surprisingly, because we are seeing more and more casino customers, we are also crossing from casino to sport, which is, I would say, more surprising in that part. Overall, we are getting better in that. Also, the customers are... are looking for more casino content and are playing more casino when there is less sport. Right now, you know, the MLB, as I'm referring to Mexico at this point, MLB has been finished and the NFL started. So... It's a little bit more quiet now, but it's starting to pick up, and we'll pick up during the first quarter probably next year. So overall, I think we are succeeding in this cross-promotion, and we are getting better at that. We're getting better at that.

Good. Thanks, guys. Good luck, and I look forward to getting this out of behind us.

Thanks. Thanks, Ryan.

Your next question comes from a line of Jeff Stanchel from Stiefel. Your line is open.

Hey, great. Good morning, Aviv, Oscar. Thanks for taking our questions. Maybe starting off, Aviv, I appreciate the color you provided on the hearing schedule with respect to the NASDAQ lifting notification last week. Aviv or Oscar, whoever wants to take this, could you just maybe add some color in terms of where you're at with the 20F filing process, sort of any sort of context on blocking and tackling that can help frame, you know, sort of the timeline here as you look to get that file successfully ahead of the hearing in, I think, about seven weeks here. Just any context there would be helpful. Thank you.

Yeah. Hi, Jeff. It's a good question. And obviously, we'd love to be in a position to give a specific timetable to investors, analysts related to our filing. But the only thing I can say now is that we're doing everything we can on our end to complete the audit process. Obviously, that's the gating issue to us filing the 20F itself. And the work in terms of the heavy lifting is overwhelmingly complete. It's really a question of dotting I's, crossing T's, and then certain procedural aspects, I would say, given that it's a first-time audit from the standpoint of our auditor. But we can't give you something that we don't have. All I can tell you is that we're working. It's our number one priority right now. We're working as hard as we can to get this wrapped up as soon as possible.

Day and night.

Okay, perfect.

Day and night to close this issue.

Perfect. That's helpful. Yeah, I recognize predicting timing is tricky here. Turning to a follow-up on one of the questions Ryan just asked in terms of the competitive landscape, you talked about the new competition coming into Mexico. around COPA. I understand there's also been some entrants coming back into Spain following the pairback of some of the restrictions that were included in the royal decree. Can you just help me think about a bit mechanically how you feel that competitive impact flowing through the P&L? Is it mostly higher CAC? Is it sort of a lower pace of user acquisition? Is there pullback in sort of Yeah, retention or engagement on the platform. In particular, I'm curious on the retention piece, because I think Oscar, you said earlier that retention has been improving, which is, you know, big counter counter to that if you think about more competition coming in. So just any any color there on how this is is kind of fun with the P&L would be would be helpful.

Yes, so I'll start and I know also prepared for a similar question. Basically what we see, and I think this is the thing here, is that the prices are increasing. When the competition is higher, the prices are increasing both in digital and in traditional media, which eventually leads to a higher CPA and then later maybe to a lower ROI or a slower, maybe not lower, a slower ROI until we are able to cover those kind of CPAs. We see it increase. We see it increase as time goes by and it's expected because the market is growing more and more mature. The prices play more... important role in the acquisition part. And this is why we are happy. We already started investing in Mexico in the last three years and we didn't wait till now. I think a competitor coming in now to the market will face much higher prices than when we started the online business or when our biggest competitor started when prices were much more lower than now. So eventually, if you are looking at the KPI where it affects, you'll see it probably in the CPA goes up and maybe a lower or a slower ROI on those investments. But still, as we are getting better in the operational part, and this is what Oscar commented in his speech, is that we are managing to do better retention and to retain the player longer. So so as we build our brand and make the investment although it's more pricey and the clients choose to stay with us longer so we we are also we have this belief that if we buy a more expensive cpa through a certain range we are also getting better players which means that the roi will be there eventually yeah so i think eventually it's i don't want to say it's a zero some gain because the prices are getting up and the CPA are more expensive, but we are seeing an improving player value and maybe a little bit slower than before, not than expected than before ROI because we were surprised by the fast ROI that we are seeing.

Yeah, Jeff, I would just add that this is just for the balance of those on the call that this is really a dynamic that we're seeing on the back of as you mentioned the rollback of certain uh restrictions that were otherwise including the advertising decree that's been in place since since early 2021 so i think the most important aspect there is the reintroduction of the welcome bonus uh in the market which uh as you as you indicated i think on the margin makes it makes for all else being equal a more competitive landscape And it's one that we've obviously adapted to and we've reintroduced as have, I think, all of our competitors, a welcome bonus. So it does impact, again, on the margin of the unit economics, the return profile in the market. But as Aviv says, we have been successful in mitigating that. And we have to say that the unit economics in Spain still are are very, very good, right? So this is something that it's on the margin versus the environment when we were operating without a welcome bonus, which really favored the top five, six, seven incumbents. In this new context, you have an additional tool for either new competitors or existing competitors that might be looking to grab share from others. to be a little bit more aggressive. But again, this is something that we and I think all online operators deal with in all jurisdictions. It's just in Spain, we've had three years of, let's say, relatively benign, a relatively benign competitive landscape. The other point I wanted to make is on these rollbacks. And again, we're operating under the assumption that the rollbacks will continue, but there are initiatives underway where there could be legislation next year by other means to reinstitute some of these restrictions that would basically take us back to where we were by way of what they call a royal decree, an executive decree, and to achieve the same by legislative initiatives. So we very well could be here a year from now, back to where we were prior to the whatever it was, April 10th, constitutional rollback of some of these limitations. But again, we're not counting on that. We're operating under the assumption that this will continue, and this is the new operating environment in which we have to compete.

That's a really helpful context. Thank you both. Maybe as a corollary to that, actually, could you add some color or help us think about maybe what gross profit payback periods look like for that cohort of users that's been acquired in the last quarter or two that's coming at a you know a slightly higher a slightly higher attack you know is it 18 months 24 months just you know any sort of context on what you're seeing in the paydex there and then can you remind us i don't i don't think you've established one but philosophically do you have kind of a level where you invest up until is it 18 24 you know just just how do you think about um you know the level you're willing to spend up into when you're looking at the returns you're seeing that's

It's a really good question, and it's super important to understanding this business and operating an online business is understanding that you can, in economics, that relationship between that upfront investment and the expected, not only player values or revenue generation from that cohort, but also the flow through to obviously contribution margin and cash. So it's something we spend a lot of time. We don't share segment level, country level information. I can tell you that in Spain, we've seen a little bit of a weakening, again, on the margin of that return profile on the back of the impact of this welcome bonus. But the dynamic is still very strong. You can assume that definitely from a revenue standpoint, the net gaming revenue standpoint, that the paybacks are still well within a year. But every market's different, right? We look at Mexico a little bit different. So there's no one answer to Up until what level do we invest? It very much has to do with what our objectives are over a multiple year period. For example, Mexico, after we de-SPACed, we had a lot of work to do in that first year, year and a half. And a lot of the investment was directed to reinforcing the brand, right? Brand investment, above the line investment, TV, radio, and the rest. And we're seeing some of the benefits from that early investment in recent quarters and recent periods in terms of that return profile, which directionally, I can tell you, is continuing to get better in Mexico. I think where we stand today is similar to what we thought two, three years ago, but was a little bit less tested. I think we're still very optimistic and confident that the Mexican business is going to continue delivering for us in the future as it has in the past, because that profile, that That relationship between upfront investment and return and revenue generation is only getting better. So that's one. But we don't give specific numbers. Let us take a stab at maybe in the context of full year earnings, whether we can give the market and investors something that's helpful in that sense. But right now, we're not prepared to share anything.

I appreciate that more qualitative comment. That's very helpful. Thank you, Oscar. And if I could just squeeze in one last, just, just more clerical question, was there much of a, of a hold impact or a negative sport outcome impact in Q3, right? Well, you had, I think the finals of Euros extended into Q3 with Spain winning. And, you know, I think kind of obviously Alcaraz has been a bit of a terrier. So just, you know, was there, was there any noteworthy impact to call out on the whole front?

Can I just maybe just let me jump in and then I'll let Aviv compliment with whatever he thinks is appropriate. But in Spain specifically, we've spent a lot of time looking at kind of that. Because remember, the tournaments, especially the Euro Cup, was a four-week tournament, two of which fell at the end of June, the back half of June. The other two weeks fell in the front half of July. And there is, and again, all of these are on the margin, right? But there was an impact in terms of a little bit of pull forward of activity in those first two weeks of the tournament. versus those second two weeks. Obviously, the front end of a tournament like Euro Cup, Copa America, there's more games, there's more engagement. And as you work through and work through the eliminations phases, there's less games. So we had a little bit of pull forward of activity that fell in the second quarter that helped second quarter results to the expense of third quarter in terms of activity and revenue in Spain. And you also had, which is a one-off for us, let's say a Spain-based It's our home market and Spain being in the final and having won the final of the Euro Cup, which fell into the third quarter, which, again, on the margin impacted July margin in sports betting revenue in Spain. In September, we also had some favorites win. Nothing dramatic. We typically don't point to variations in our sports betting margin because that over time, typically averages out. So we try to be fair and not complain when it works against us and then say nothing when it works in our favor. But there was a little bit of that in the third quarter, both in July and then a little bit in September that, again, on the margin, impacted our revenue in Spain. But, Aviv, go ahead and compliment with whatever you want.

No, I think it's summarized. I don't have anything to add on that.

Perfect. That's all for me. I'll pass it on. Thanks for the cover and nice quarter.

Thank you.

Thanks, Jeff.

Your next question comes from the line of Pat McCann from Noble Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. I just have a couple here. Firstly, I was wondering, when it comes to, you know, the movement in the peso, have you, you know, have you looked at the possibility of any, you know, mechanisms to hedge currency risk there. Just curious if you have any opinion about that.

Yeah, I can take that. I think up till now, and we're just now inflecting to profitability generation of operating cash flow in Mexico. So up till now, it hasn't been, and obviously pre-Mexican elections from the time of COVID through to the Mexican elections, we've benefited from a a strengthening of the Mexican BISO. And up till now, we haven't given the natural hedge, the matching between revenue and the denomination of the operating cost structure in Mexico. We haven't really considered putting any hedges into place. I think more medium, long term, it's not something we're looking at short term, but as that business starts ramping and we get greater levels of profitability from Mexico, I think at some point we might consider and analyze doing cash flow hedges in terms of, you know, the upstreaming of those monies and having better visibility, let's say here in headquarters, hard currency over that operating cash flow and the timing and the certainties related to the upstreaming of those monies. But it's not something that I would say that we're working on here near term. But I think at some point, depending on how that business evolves, medium, long term, it'll be something that we probably will tackle with the board of directors, especially with a currency where there's a very active derivative market and you can readily hedge against, you know, either the dollar or the euro.

Gotcha. That makes sense. And then my other question is, you know, might not be the most pressing at this time, but just looking at the license expiries in the New World markets, let's say, I think the first one to come up will be Colombia in late next year. And I know that's not a market where you sort of de-emphasize it as far as growth goes for the time being and really are more focused on Mexico and the opportunity there. I'm just curious, Is that something where you would be kind of renewing that license and trying to maintain that market for potentially investment growth at some point down the line? Or how do you think about sort of the secondary markets when it comes to the licenses going forward?

Yeah, so I think definitely... we look at all our licenses as assets and Colombia is one of them and it's an asset and we would like to maintain it at least until we are able to grow it. By the way, we didn't talk here about Colombia a lot, but But we are seeing better results. It's slightly better and a little bit positive EBITDA. So I don't think that we can disregard this market that generates around 1 million euros almost a month. For sure, if the terms will allow it and it's not something crazy, we will renew the Colombian license. And maybe in the future, not so far, medium term, we will look deeply into this market for more opportunities there. I also saw that in the written questions they are asking about Argentina, and I think Argentina is a little bit different. especially today that there is a parliament discussion about advertising ban. So we need to look closely at this market, how it evolves.

Great. Thanks, guys. And congrats again on the quarter. Thanks, Pat.

Again, if you'd like to ask a question, press star, then the number one on your telephone keypad. While we wait for any further questions, I will turn the call back over to Guillermo for any further web questions.

Yeah, so we have a couple of questions on the webcast. The first one is around growth trajectory in 2025, if we can comment on that.

Yeah, I think this is one where right now we're focused on executing through the balance of what's left of the year. So we have December in front of us and we want to Make sure that December, which historically is a strong month for us, lots of activity on the sports betting and typically also engagement on the casino side of the business. So we want to make sure we close the year out as strong as possible. And then going into our full year call, which hopefully we'll have, as we typically do, the end of. February, we'll be able to bring some guidance in terms of both revenue and adjusted EBITDA for 2025. But we don't have any guidance just yet to share in regards to 2025.

Okay. Second question is around expansion into other Latin American markets, if we have any plans to expand.

Yes, I think in general we plan to expand, whether it's in other LATAM markets or to find good use of our cash. We are building cash slowly. And I think one of the things that we are considering is some kind of an M&A or entering a new market, growth market. So we are definitely looking at it. Nothing in the short term that we can announce or share. But I think in the medium term, we will see how we are going to use this cash in order to create some unorganic growth or maybe heavily more invested in our current markets.

Yeah, I think now three years, the benefit of three years post-e-SPAC, what we're not going to change is our approach to capital allocation and being very disciplined and ensuring that any money we put to work obviously has to compete if not do better than the return profile of the investments we're making in Spain and Mexico. So I think we're always open to new opportunities. We're analyzing a number of different opportunities in existing and new markets, but ultimately we're not going to change our approach as it relates to disciplined capital allocation.

Okay. Related to that, another question is, with the cash position that we are building, has management considered with the board any share buybacks?

Yeah, I mean, it comes up from time to time. It's something we have discussed in the past with the board. It's something we will in the future discuss with the board. And I think it's something that, especially as we move forward and to the extent that we continue building cash, that discussion needs to happen. That said, we'll see what happens. Our focus today is continuing to invest in what's been working for us and what we've been executing over the last two, three years, which is investment in our primary, our core markets, primarily Spain and Mexico. But I think it's a discussion that will continue to take place at the board level.

Okay. I don't think we have any more questions on the webcast. So, operator, unless there are any more questions.

Someone is asking about the same guy, Steve Allen. about the seller in the equity over the last few months. Is the sponsor selling their position? I think Oscar can answer better, but I don't think we know who is selling.

Yeah, I mean, we only see as it relates to the sponsor, the SPAC sponsor and what their intentions might be. I mean, we only see and are aware of whatever filings they make. I think they've had in the past in recent months. I think over the summer there was a 144 filing. covering a relatively small number of shares. I don't remember, Guillermo, if it was 200, 300 shares. But other than that, other than what's in the public domain and reflected in Egger in terms of SEC filings, we have no visibility over what their intentions might be with respect to their ownership position in the company.

Okay.

Okay. So if there are no further questions, thank you, everyone, for joining. And feel free to reach out if you have any follow-ups. And thanks a lot.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.