Better Collective A/S

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Better Collective Q3 2024 presentation. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1 1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 1 1 again. Alternatively, you may submit your question via the webcast. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Mikkel Munch. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and hello, everyone.

My name is Mikkel Munch-Jakobskov, and I'm the Vice President of Investor Relations, Group Strategy, and Corporate Communications here at Better Collective. Thank you for joining us today for our Q3 webcast. but this time is hosted from our office in New York. I'm joined by our co-founder and CEO, Jesper Söker, and CFO, Flemming Pedersen, who will provide today's business update in connection with our Q3 report that was disclosed yesterday. Please follow me to the next slide. We ask you to pay attention to this slide where we display our disclaimer regarding any forward-looking statements in today's webcast. Please turn to the next slide. Here you see today's agenda. Jesper will start by providing a business update, including some of the highlights of Q3, where after Flemming will take you through the financial performance before handing the word back to Jesper for key takeaways. As usual, we end the call with a Q&A session. Now, let's get going. Please turn to the next page as I hand over the word to Jesper.

Thank you, Megan. Please turn to the next page. For today's webcast, we'll do things a little differently than usual as our Q3 headline numbers were sent out on 24th of October in connection with us adjusting our annual financial guidance. On this slide, the new full year financial guidance is what you see in the blue bar to the right with revenue on top and EBITDA at the bottom. I'll start by addressing recent developments and some of the tactical adjustments we're currently implementing. Better Collective has been on a strong path of growth for over two decades, both financially as well as organizationally, expanding the team significantly across many geographies. Our audience across our sports media network has surged from 7 million to over 400 million visits since 2018, a testament to the impact we've made in the digital sports media arena in the pursuit of becoming the leading digital sports media group. Part of this growth has been through M&A, but also with strong underlying organic growth. Since Better Collective IPO'd in 2018, we have in particular seen strong growth in the new markets that have opened across the Americas, in particular many U.S. states as well as Brazil. These new markets are still developing, and during Q3, we have experienced changing dynamics in both the U.S. and Brazilian markets. The changes to these markets have impacted Q3 performance as well as the outlook and have led us to lower our financial targets for the full year. This is the first downgrade of financial targets since our IPO in 2018. We have always taken pride in meeting our financial targets, so this is not something we are taking lightly and certainly not something we planned for. When we see changes that affects our business, we inform and take action. So let me address the various components and how they affect our outlook. I'll address the following. First, the U.S. market. Here we have seen a changing business landscape not meeting our expectations. Secondly, the Brazilian market. During the past few years, we have seen strong growth in this market, but in recent quarters, we've seen a marked retraction. as market participants now prepare for the long-waited regulation to take place from January 1st, 2025. Thirdly, I'll speak to our short-term actions of implementing a cost reduction program of more than 50 million euros. This is done in order to balance the lower revenue expectations short-term, but also executing on synergies following many acquisitions. And fourth, despite the market changes we have seen, we're still confident in our long-term guidance reflecting our growth plans, including getting back to the M&A agenda. I've been asked whether the changes we have encountered represent a structural shift to our strategy and business model. I want to assure you that it doesn't. We've seen unexpected changed market dynamics in two young markets that have been significant growth drivers in the past two to three years, and we've taken action to address these changes. The developments within our media partnership since the Google policy update has been resilient and continuing with the same potential as before the update. Given there are no updates since what we reported in Q2, this will not be in focus today. We still see great future potential in the Brazilian and US markets, and the rest of our business remains very strong. We own some of the world's strongest sports and e-sports media brands within their niches. that deliver strong exposure to our partners with world-class capabilities to run and monetize digital sports media. We continue to compound revenue share income, building for future sustainability and profitability. And we have a second to none talent base. Personally, I'm very optimistic about the future of Better Collective. Let us dive into the details, so please turn to the next page. Starting with the U.S. market, the first U.S. state regulated online sports betting about six years ago, and 30 states have since followed suit, all with different regulatory frameworks and thereby a different customer landscape. In the recent three years, the U.S. market has been a significant growth driver for Better Collective, following a number of acquisitions that both allow us to tap into the performance marketing market and the more general sports media market with subscription services, advertising, and sponsorships. When it comes to performance marketing, the US market has always been concentrated around few larger sportsbooks. There have been several new market entrants, as well as some leaving the market. We have also seen sportsbooks marketing activity fluctuate over time, not least in connection with new state openings and new brands launching. A big part of the revenue has historically been CPA-based, which has allowed us to report strong revenue growth and earnings in 2022 and 2023, as we saw several state openings and big willingness to acquire customers on CPA payments. A lot of the deal-making takes place heading into the high season for sports or leading up to a new state opening. This season, we've seen low activity, in particular affecting CPA revenue, hence we've revisited our expectations. On the other hand, we continue to see success working with partners in revenue share. We have since the PASPA repeal in 2018 pushed for working on more long-term sustainable business models, i.e. revenue share, as we do in the rest of the world. This is much more sustainable for both us and our customers, thereby aligning our interests. We saw the first breakthrough of working with revenue share in the U.S. during Q3 2022, and we have since worked on various types of business models involving revenue share. Now, two years later, our partners acknowledge that this is a good model, allowing them to build their business in an efficient way with high predictability while allowing us to build significant value. We have decided to do an extraordinary deep dive into our expectations for the deferred revenue buildup. In the two-year period where we have been active in working on various types of revenue share contracts, we estimate that our U.S. assets have sent new deposit customers at a value of more than 155 million euros, where approximately 35 million euros have been reported as revenue. This leaves more than 120 million euros to be received and reported in coming years. Even without this buildup, we've been proud of our fast growth in what will likely become the world's by far largest sports betting market. When including this, we've seen an even stronger value creation in the US market, where in general, very few players have managed to be profitable. Despite market fluctuations, we believe the US market remains extremely valuable with high growth potential, and I'm very satisfied that we are so well positioned there. Then we will come back with more details about this value buildup later during the presentation. I will also come back to our announced cost reduction program. However, Isolated for our North American business, we're adjusting the cost base to deliver minimum 20% reported EBITDA margin and minimum 35% when including continuous revenue share buildup in the coming years. Please follow me to the next slide as we turn our focus towards the Brazilian market. We've seen huge success in South America, as Brazil now consists of approximately 20% of our total group revenue. Based on this success and in anticipation of the market becoming a regulated market, we've made significant investments to establish ourselves in the best possible way, both through organic market growth investments and MNAs. With the recent acquisition of Playmaker Capital being our biggest move in the region, As can be seen on this slide, we've managed to establish Better Collective as the company with the broadest reach when it comes to digital sports media in the region. At the outset of 2024, we anticipated a highly active year leading up to the expected regulation, which has been awaited for years. Following guidance from regulators throughout the year, we have noted that several sportsbooks have reduced or even completely stopped spending in anticipation of the official regulation early next year. This dynamic has affected Better Collective in two ways. Firstly, revenue share income has declined, and secondly, there's been a decrease in new deposit in customers as partners have limited their marketing activity. We already mentioned this earlier this year, and the trend has accelerated in Q3. While regulation is anticipated early next year, final decisions have not been made, leaving some uncertainties outstanding. Brazil remains a new and immature market, and Better Collective does expect the period after a potential launch to include changes and adjustments from a regulatory point of view, similar to other markets post-launch, including local taxation. It is anticipated that approximately 100 sportsbooks will be granted licenses creating a highly competitive market dynamic that offers a favorable business environment for Better Collective. We remain confident in the long-term growth trajectory of the Brazilian market and is greatly positioned to grasp growth opportunities ahead. Please turn to the next slide as we shift focus to the initiated cost reduction program. In the fast-evolving digital sports media landscape, adaptability is key, and we've initiated a review of our group's operational cost. These tactical adjustments and the decision to streamline our operations comes against the backdrop of 35 acquisitions combined with the changed market outlook and makes it important to right-size our business. Regrettably, as part of this process, more than 300 valued colleagues have left our team end of October, representing more than 15% of our workforce. I want to take a moment to acknowledge the contributions of these colleagues. Their hard work and dedication have been instrumental in building this company, and we remain grateful for their efforts in helping us reach where we are today. However, when we encounter changed market dynamics and all shifts in the market outlook, it has always been our option to pull the brakes and readjust. This resilience and adaptability are the hallmarks of Better Collective, and I'm confident that we'll do the same in our current situation, continuing to thrive and grow. Now I hand over the word to Flemming for a review of the financial performance as well as a deep dive into the past two years of revenue share buildup in the U.S. Please turn to the next slide.

Thank you, Jesper. Yeah, please follow me to the next slide. During the third quarter, we saw an 8% increase in revenue reaching 81 million euros with a 6% decline in organic growth. While we have consistently seen significant organic growth in the past, this quarter was influenced by the factors previously highlighted by Jesper. In our North American operations, the primary impact was on CPA revenue in the performance marketing business. whereas in Europe and the rest of the world, the revenue share income was affected by the developments in Brazil. EBITDA rose by 14%, totaling €22 million. Please follow me to the next slide. Our recurring revenue grew by 14% to €53 million, which made up 65% of group revenues. The growth came mainly from M&A, as we have acquired advertising businesses that add to the recurring revenue. The developments in Brazil negatively impacted the recurring revenue. Please follow me to the next slide. This slide highlights the substantial growth in our pure revenue share income since our IPO in 2018, which has compounded significantly over the years and remains a central focus for Better Collective. A key aspect of the future growth in this revenue stream is the ongoing transition in our North American business towards a recurring revenue share model. The transition was initiated two years ago, and this quarter we have decided to provide an update on the value that has been achieved during this period in order to give you a sense of how we are thinking internally about upgrading and steering our business. Please proceed to the next slide. As Jesper mentioned, the U.S. market is still in its early stages, with the first state going live six years ago and most other states gradually following since. Let me give you a bit of background on our U.S. business. Since the market in 2018, Better Collective's North American operations have seen remarkable growth, scaling from zero to over 100 million euros in revenue, with strong margins even before accounting for the revenue share growth. This rapid expansion began in 2019 when Better Collective made strategic acquisitions in the U.S., adding brands like Roto Grinders, U.S. Bets, Sports Handel, Vegas Insider, and scores and odds to its portfolio as sports betting became legal. In 2021, our growth momentum continued with the acquisition of Action Network. The expansion extended to Canada in 2022 with the acquisition of Canada Sports Betting. During the same year, Better Collective established key media partnerships with prominent outlets such as the New York Post. By 2023, Better Collective acquired Playmaker HQ, a sports media platform fueled by a strong social media presence. The expansion trajectory proceeded into 2024 with the acquisition of Playmaker Capital, a digital sports media group operating across US, Canada, and South America. Following the PASPA repeal in 2018, CPA, meaning upfront payments, has been the dominant contractual model with our partners enable us to build a robust U.S. business, as illustrated on this slide. However, CPA revenues come with the caveats, such as decreased partner activity when there are fewer state launches, sporting events, and their strategic priorities, et cetera. At Better Collective, we have always preferred revenue share over CPA because it offers us higher customer lifetime values while also aligning us with the market and partner growth. While the graph might suggest that our North American revenue growth has plateaued, it is crucial to consider the ongoing transition to the revenue share model. Please proceed to the next slide for a visual presentation of our revenue share growth. As of this quarter, we estimate that the strategic shift has resulted in an accumulated database with customer lifetime values of more than 150 million euros. A portion of this has already been recognized as revenue, through hybrid deals and some pure revenue share income. As a reminder, hybrid deals in the U.S. include a prepayment of revenue share, which pushes out the revenue share even further into the future. After these upfront payments and some revenue share, we are left with an estimated more than 120 million euros yet to be recognized in the future. Additionally, we continue to deliver new deposits and customers to our partners, steadily increasing the value in our revenue share databases. The graph on the slide illustrates that the value transition towards our partners was generated between 2022 and 2024. However, recognition of this value will occur in the future. This means that our North American business has, on a pro forma basis, created significantly more value over the past two years due to the nature of this type of value and revenue generation. We are managing our business by analyzing the net new revenue generation, and we allocate resources aligned for that. On the table on the slide, you can see the performer revenue and EBITDA margins when including the revenue share buildup, of course, presenting a quite different picture than just looking at the reported revenue and earnings. Please turn to the next slide. During 2025, Better Collective expects to recognize around 10 to 15 million euros in pure revenue share income in the U.S. market without factoring in hybrid contracts and expect this to increase in the future. Following the recent changes in the market dynamics, we have decided to restructure the U.S. business to ensure continued sustainability. We aim for that the North American business will deliver a minimum 20% reported EBITDA margin and minimum 35% pro forma EBITDA margin when incorporating the continued revenue share buildup. As we navigate this transition, the commitment to adapting to the U.S. market shifting landscape remains in focus. In summary, the U.S. market is extremely valuable, and we are one of the company's best positions to grasp future opportunities here. We strongly believe that the market will continue to expand, and we remain highly committed to capture opportunities within. We have acknowledged that the market is different from other gambling markets. However, we have demonstrated that we can navigate this. Please turn to the next slide where I hand the word back to Jesper.

Following our recent trading update, we now expect 355 to 375 million euros in revenues and 100 to 110 million euros in EBITDA, as well as below three times net debt to EBITDA. Furthermore, our long-term targets remain unchanged. These assume for 20% growth CAGR from 2023 to 2027, as well as margins of 35 to 45% in 2027. Lastly, net debt to EBITDA will stay below 3. This guidance implies strong growth in the coming years. Even after the changes to the short-term guidance and uncertainties relating to selected markets, I believe we will see growth in the coming years, including M&A, which still is an important part of our growth agenda. Timing just needs to be right. Please turn to the last slide. In conclusion, it's important to note that nothing structural has changed for Better Collective, and the new markets in the Americas are expected to be significant growth drivers in the future. Both markets remain young markets, but we have seen strong growth in the past years. I'm proud to look back on how we have approached the markets through many changing dynamics, all while remaining a strong and profitable business as one of the very few players in this industry. We continue to operate in robust underlying growth markets. We recognize that when market dynamics shift, adaptation and adjustments are essential, and our flexible operating model allows us to do just that. Our strong financial position, backed by substantial recurring revenue, assures us that we can navigate these changes and emerge even stronger. With this approach, we are confidently positioning ourselves for the next chapter of growth. Lastly, I want to use the opportunity to extend a big thank you to my incredible colleagues, our shareholders, partners, and other stakeholders for your unwavering support. Despite current times presenting some headwinds, we are adapting and building a resilient future together. Thank you for listening in, and we now open for the Q&A session.

Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star 1 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To answer your question, please press star 1 1 again. We will now take the first question. From the line of Sebastian Gray from Nordea, please go ahead.

Hi, Jesper Fleming and Mikkel, and thank you for taking my questions. First, I would like to ask in regards to the U.S. So, Jesper, you talk about a changing business market, not meeting your expectations. You talk about overall partner activity having decreased. But I guess with the market still expanding, I miss some more details on why you see this lower activity. So maybe you could help me here or be a little more specific so we can eliminate any market speculation. Thank you.

Well, so the low activity that we mentioned in the report relates to the commercial developments with partners in the U.S. So it's specifically there where we right now experience a bit of headwind. But it really doesn't change sort of the feeling we have about the position in the U.S. which we in the last three to four years have built up by acquisitions and continued investment in our products and brands there. So we have a very significant audience and great products for both the sports media interested people as well as the sports betting passionate people. So the position we feel is great and considering the outlook of this market, I feel we're in a very exciting position where we can grasp those opportunities that will present themselves with more states coming, with changes, with new entrants to the market. So I feel really good about the position we're in in the U.S., but yes, we experience some headwinds right now.

Okay. Thank you. That's fair. My next question is on your cost reduction program. So can you help me square the 50 million OPEX reduction target with the 300 layoffs. So to me, that sounds like a fairly high implied cost per employee. And also, I guess what is more important here is what is sort of the OPEX-based starting point that we should deduct the 50 million euro from? So will Q2 times 4, i.e. 165 million, would that be sort of a fair starting point?

Yeah, thanks for that, Sebastian. I think I'll hand this question to Flemming.

Yeah, I think, as you can see, the cost reduction program now, we have announced that it of course consists of a reduction in employees, a number of employees and salaries, and also a lot of other cost items that we have decided to reduce spend on. So it is a mix of the two. I don't think we would give sort of a starting line for this. I can say that the Q3 numbers are lower than normal because, as you can imagine, we also have variable payments that when we don't meet our targets will not be paid out. So Q3 is lower, has a lower base than normal. So the 50 million is basically what we are targeting as a mix of salary reductions and a lot of other specific cost items that has been identified.

Okay, thank you for that Flemming. And maybe staying on your cost base here a little bit, so you state in the report that you will safeguard direct costs within paid media and media partnerships. So, I mean, should this be seen as we should expect growth be driven from these verticals going forward? And also, could you help me sort of square how will this impact your margin profile going forward? Is it fair to assume that you're SG&A base will be relatively smaller and your gross margin as well will be relatively lower given this sort of change in setup.

Yeah, Sebastian, I'll probably speak to the first part related to sort of the growth areas. And you are right, like we have areas in the business that are well performing and where we see continued very high growth potential. And then we have, as mentioned, the U.S. with current headwinds, but no change to the long-term potential, but also acknowledging sort of this current headwind. We don't know exactly when that will end. So we've adjusted the U.S. business so it's profitable and solid, and we're greatly positioned in the market. So for the long-term growth, we definitely think that market will also deliver strong growth. And we have also spoken to the Brazilian market where there is a dampening due to the expected market regulation happening 1st of January next year. And again, for the long-term aspect, we are very excited about that growth potential and outlook for the Brazilian market. And then maybe Flemming on the margin profile.

Yeah, we have, you can say, our long-term guidance is really tying into EBITDA margin between 35 and 40, and that is how we are thinking. Also, hence, what we just discussed and presented on the U.S. market, we are really, you can say, structuring and resourcing our operations to meet these margin targets. So the cost reduction here is, of course, you can say also to short-term reflection, but also to meet the long-term guidance and allocate resources to specific areas where we see high growth, as specifically mentioned for esports, for media partnerships, and also to our paid media where we have a lot of direct cost.

Got it. That's very clear. Okay. Thank you for taking my questions.

Thank you. We will now take the next question. the line of Oscar Rongvist from ABG Sandal Collier. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon and thanks for taking my questions. I have quite a few so please stop me if I would ask too many. The first one had a question just on the magnitude of the drop in guidance and on the implicit H2 guidance is quite cut quite significantly you were already having seen one and a half months of H2 when you reiterated the guidance last time so I just wondered if there's anything sort of more specific related to the guidance downgrade such as you know is it any specific client that has accounted for a big part of revenue that has left or cut their spending a lot or is it just sort of on a broader basis just in Brazil and in North America that you've seen the weaker than expected performance.

Yeah, so as we write and have spoken to, it's sort of across lower commercial activity that we are experiencing. And in terms of the timing, obviously the start of the NFL and sort of the first part of the NFL is quite crucial in the commercial landscape for the U.S. business.

All right. And then the Brazilian slowdown, I think you talked about that already in the Q1 report. And I think you also mentioned that in the Q2 report. So, I mean, I guess that, you know, you have much of the revenue stemming from revenue share accounts. So have the underlying GGR from operators faded that significantly into Q3 and Q4? Or how should we think about the Brazilian sort of gradual slowdown throughout the year?

Yeah, it's right what you say there, Oscar, that we have throughout the year seen sort of a slowdown, and then we have seen an acceleration for Q3 in this sort of dampening of the market, affecting both the NDC intake and the revenue share activity that we are seeing from that market. But again, the Brazilian market is one where we are truly excited about the prospects of this, and to the the experience of regulated market that we didn't expect such an acceleration, but again, with licenses being applied for right now, and the regulators mentioning that they want a market to arrive soon, it's natural to see that dampening.

Alright, then I just have a final question on Brazil. So, As I alluded to just recently, I think Brazil mainly on RevShare accounts. So the contracts that you already have with Brazilian operators that are operating unregulated at the moment, when that market goes live, are those contracts still valid or does those sort of NDCs need to be renewed when that market launches again?

They will still be valid.

All right, perfect. My next question would be on the implied Q4 sales guidance. So there is a 20 million range, which implies either minus 1% or plus 23% quarter-over-quarter growth. So I just wondered if you could elaborate a little bit. I mean, I guess you don't want to guide on the guidance, but just the wideness of the range can maybe be compared to gambling.com just released their implicit guidance, and I think they have like a 7% wide span for Q4 revenue on a sequential basis. So I'm just wondering if there's any particular reason behind the wideness of the span.

Yeah, basically, we cannot give any further comments to our guidance. It reflects sort of, you can say, the span that we are seeing and also, you can say, the dynamics in our business and, of course, cannot comment really on other companies.

Got it. Next, just if there's anything more to comment on Playmaker Capital. So it was obviously, as you wrote, a transformational acquisition, and pretty large in size. And I think before that, you guided for flat profit and revenue for the first year. And I think you say that the remainder of the group is performing well, and I know that you have a very long-term oriented mind. So just wanted to know if you could elaborate anything on the financials for Playmaker Capital during the first, I think it's now nine months since you consolidated the business. Thanks.

I think we have generally significantly improved our position in both North America, but in particular South America with Playmaker Capital. and to the part of the Brazilian market soon launching in a regulated state. Playmaker capital is crucial in that position we have now. And we see it also in other of the South American countries that we are now a combined market leader in terms of digital sports media. So for the long-term ambition that we have, that we want to own market-leading digital sports media brands in the most exciting markets that will grow in the coming years, it's really spot on for us with Playmaker Capital and truly have given us a great position in these markets.

Got it. Thank you. Next, just on CapEx, it was a little bit higher in Q3 comparing to a few quarters previously. And then I just adjust for the business combinations and also M&A-related intangible assets. So both a little bit on TP, but mainly I think my question would be on the other investments in intangible assets, which I think is 14 million euros during the first three quarters. which is quite a big step up from the previous years where it has been very close to zero. So just wanted to get a notice that it's capitalized media partnerships still and also what your plans are going forward with the intangible CapEx related to the media partnerships, if that should fade or if we could still expect that to be a significant CapEx item in the quarters to come.

Thanks, Oskar. And right before I think Flemming answers that, I will ask you to, if that's okay, jump back in the queue because we still have a queue here online. Flemming?

Yes. Yeah, thanks, Oskar. As we also discussed yesterday, we have expanded some of our media partnerships where we see great success with. And I can say part of the, you can say the upfront when we expand those in time, we treat them as intangible assets have to We have also acquired, we have done a small acquisition of social media assets, $70 million in the quarter, as we state in the report. And then we have, including also what you can see in the cash flow statement, we have 8.5 million euros relating to the last earn-out payment for FODBIN that also has been shown under the group of intangible asset additions. Thank you. Thanks, Oskar, for your questions. Great.

Thank you very much. I'll jump back.

Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Hjalmar Ahlberg from Red Eye. Please go ahead.

Thank you. My first question on that.

us uh could you say i mean if this is a kind of similar development in all states or are there any differences between the different states yes it's a general lower activity um that we experience in the us business so it's not specific to one state okay and can you give any comment on i mean is it like uh change terms, so I guess CPAs are lower or they're not paying CPAs, and in terms of revenue share, has there been any change on how those contracts are, on the terms of those contracts as well?

Well, we'll not comment on individual contracts, sort of developments and negotiations. But just coming back to the point where the position we have in this market is one where we own really strong brands and do experience great demand for that. And we're able to cater to customers in many ways, both via the performance marketing model, delivering customers, but also quite important as sponsorship deals via the podcast shows we present. and overall exposure on a very big audience brand that we have. So it's sort of a good position, we feel, and very diverse also in the offerings we have for our partners and where we overall sense good demand.

All right. And the question on the 120 million unrecognized revenue share revenue. How kind of certain are you on this value? Is it based on the existing current development in the US or how it is calculated?

Yeah, we do that across our business all the time where we can say analyze and estimate customer lifetime values. It's not something that we have, you can say, included in our reporting before. But of course, when we are in such a transition that we see in the U.S. market, we have disclosed at this time. We have a big team of business intelligence analysts that basically analyze all the data that we get in over time, analysts, player cohorts in different views and from different operators. So we have a long standing knowledge about the values. With the US and North American general, this has existed for a short time only. So now we have analyzed, we have two years of data pool from several hundred thousands of indices that we have sent across the past two years. So it is basically an analysis of those data and the actual activity that we see in these cohorts. Okay.

Thanks. And the final question on the 2027 targets. Can you give some color if that means now that you need more M&A to achieve this, or do you think growth will kind of catch up and be higher in the later stage of this time frame?

Yeah, so again, coming back to the positions we have in the different markets and the outlook we have of these markets, we still see the same kind of long-term potential for these markets. Obviously, with a bit of headwind, the headwind we're experiencing in the U.S. right now, it's, of course, not making things easier, but we believe long-term that this market will present a great opportunity for us And then on M&A, when we look historically to the development of Better Collective, M&A has been completely instrumental to the position we have in this market and also a big part of the growth we have achieved. And nothing has changed there. And for the long-term targets, we definitely believe that we will be executing attractive and important M&A for the company leading up to the 2027 year. Right.

Thank you. Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Sebastian Gray from Nordea. Please go ahead.

Hi again, guys, and thank you for taking my follow-up. So circling back to the U.S. revenue share database, first of all, we appreciate the color here. Could you just remind us how many NDCs have you sent on revenue share contracts in the U.S. just to get sort of a sense of the value per revenue share NDCs? And also maybe talk around the assumptions around the time lag between the customer acquisition and when you expect to start recognizing revenue share in the U.S. cohort. Does this assumption square with the European part of the business or is it fair to assume or do you sort of work with different assumptions across different cohorts?

What we basically do is that we, in every geography, Sebastian, we analyze what we see concretely in these databases. So it's analyzed on actual behavior. We have sent several hundred thousands of NDCs across the past two years on revenue share contracts. We have not disclosed the exact number, also as we see that as a commercial insight that we want to keep for ourselves. But that is, you can say, actual behavior on player deposits, activity, churn rates, et cetera. So that's basically how we are assessing that. And then just back to Jesper.

Yeah, I just want to add on to the insights we have related to CLB social player values in different markets and varying also sort of by brand, etc. These are quite unique insights that we historically have had a great advantage of knowing in many parts. So for the paid media business, this is absolutely crucial in setting the spend levels for how we acquire customers. and by audience. So it's really unique insights that we have across many markets that we can utilize in the paid business as well as we can use it in the acquisitions when we assess the value and quality of a business.

Yeah, no, okay, thanks so much for the details here. In terms of sort of the time-lapse in particular for the U.S. business. So, I mean, just given the fact that the U.S. seems to be a very competitive market, which should mean higher sign-off bonuses all else equal, is it fair to assume that the time lag between acquisition and revenue recognition is all else equal a little bit longer in the U.S. compared to other parts of your portfolio, or is that far-fetched?

No, it's actually correct. And I think actually we have spoken to that on different occasions, starting back with our capital markets in 23. The U.S. market dynamics bodes for a longer period of time before we see players become profitable. We have mentioned between 18 and 24 months. Also due to the, in some cases, this hybrid component where we get a revenue upfront, a part of it at least, And you can say to your question on when we will see something, we are seeing something already on pure revenue share. So it is a part of our revenue base already. But of course, it takes time before it becomes material, as we also have seen in other markets. And now we have mentioned specifically for next year with the model, we expect that pure revenue share will account for 10 to 15 million euros.

Thank you a lot.

Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Oskar Rongqvist from AVG Sandal Collier. Please go ahead.

Thank you very much. Hi again. Just a very quick one, sorry. So just the first one on NDCs on revenue share, I think it's down 14% year-over-year. Can you say anything on the impact from the Brazil weakness of this number? And also, approximately, if you could say anything about how much the acquisitions are contributing to this number. Thanks.

So it relates to Brazil, the slowdown that we see there. Due to the tune of acquisitions effect, we have increased the affiliate performance, but it's still not material. So it's You can say the existing business that is delivering the NFC performance right now.

Okay, thank you. And just the final one, if you could say anything on your casino exposure at the moment and also if you've made any efforts to ramp that up recently. So I'm just asking specifically because one other affiliate company has stated increased competition in that segment. Thanks.

Well, we have in our total mix of revenue, we have casino revenue stemming from basically sports betting players also consume the casino product. And maybe it's not going back to the roots of Better Collective. When Chris and I founded the company, we actually started out with a small casino portal. So it's a line of business that we have in Better Collective and know well. But the focus is on the sports betting and digital sports media opportunity that we see. But it's like we see revenue from casino. We know that business. And that is actually where Beto Collective started out in the very early days.

All right. So I think it was 25% exposure at the IPO. Is it fair to assume that that is much lower at the moment?

We don't doubt on that.

All right. Perfect. Thank you very much.

Thank you. I would like to hand back over for any webcast questions.

Yes. Thank you. And thank you for all the questions up until now.

I think the first one here is, could you explain how you can do such a big cost savings program while only reducing your staff with 15%?

Yeah, Flemming here. I can try to answer that. I think we touched upon it in some of our previous question line. You can say part of the cost reduction program is, of course, salaries. So it's not sort of we can just take the number of headcounts and then equate that to the full cost program. There are many other cost items that we are reducing on. So that is a connection we cannot make. I made the comment that specifically for quarter three, we see a lower salary base because of variable salaries not being applicable anymore. We're not meeting the guidance of how we have organized the business. So that's a low base of starting point to begin with.

Thank you, Mr. Fleming. And then there's also a question related to the intangible assets during the quarter, but I think you've already spoken to that.

Yeah, I specified the 20 million that is mentioned in the cash flow statement in a previous answer.

Thank you. And then we have a question specifically on some of our partner activities. And as Jesper has stated earlier on this call, we don't comment on single customer commercials. And with that, we actually don't have more questions for now. So thank you all for listening in and for showing interest in Better Collective.

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