Earnings Call: Q1 2021

May 19, 2021

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the interim report. We're happy to report on a very successful quarter. Next slide, please. Today, we will talk through the highlights of the quarter, including our acquisition of lineups.com and some post quarter activity. We'll cover the financials for Q1 and then talk about our strategy and outlook and then take questions. Next slide please. Quarter 1, we saw rapid growth in the company, driven by the U. S. Business particularly. It was exceptional period for revenues, with revenues at $40,700,000 which is 53% above the same quarter last year. This was contributed with a 61% increase in organic search revenues, which made up about $38,400,000 of the total revenues, which Demonstrates our focus on optimizing this high margin revenue type. The 158,000 new depositing players which was 32% up year on year Also makes up part of this story. The drivers of the new States launching in Michigan and Virginia are significant to the quarter. The U. S. Gaming rose more than 200%. It's making up 55% of the total Q1 revenue. But we did also see positive momentum in Italy, Japan and continued global growth of AskGamblers. Continue our transformation work of the European casino markets and we see strong headwinds in markets like Germany, which declined by more than 50%. However, we remain with our solid focus on driving global portfolio of affiliation brands. Next slide please. We saw a massive 94% growth in adjusted EBITDA to €25,100,000 Very high margin of 62% and a strong operating cash flow of $20,800,000 which is up 85% year on year. That solid financial positioning provides a strong foundation for further deleveraging and flexibility regarding a more effective efficient capital usage. Such capital usage might include dividends or share buybacks, depending on financing conditions of our bonds And allow such things as our acquisition of lineups.com, which is an excellent strategic fit, which I will talk about a bit further. Overall, this provides a strong foundation for continued profitable growth for the rest of the year and for the years to come. Next slide please. The acquisition of lineups.com, it is a perfect strategic fit. It is part of the U. S. Sports betting market landscape. It is a site that sat complimentary to our own market leading position. We had the lines.com and it was a competitor and Now complimentary to that site in terms of national sports presence across all of the States that are currently live and the future States. It was a purchase price of USD 39,600,000 all cash. It's last 12 months of revenues ending April We're at $7,500,000 with corresponded to about 10% of the Q1 revenues sales Of what lineups made up would have equal if it were, it would have made 10% of the Q1 revenues. It does have an immediate positive effect. We expect EBITDA margins to be above 70%. It's a highly profitable business. Is it a type of business We run with our organic search and it is the type of business we want to look at if we look at an M and A. So we are very happy with the folding of lineups. We look forward to the upcoming NFL season with this new strong brand as part of our portfolio And expect great things out of the continued U. S. Business with this added. Next slide please. Significant events after the period. We had the Annual General Meeting on 12 May and we'd like to welcome 2 new board members, Ester and Austin. These 2 women come with strong digital marketing backgrounds and help further round out our extraordinary board. So we're very happy to see them joining the company, join the Board. We've also announced the share buyback program During the AGM and we will have an extraordinary general meeting on the 14th July to further vote on that because all conditions were not met regarding. Refinancing, we kick started a process as announced to refinance our existing bond loans, including bank term loan and a new bond loan. And update on our April performance post quarter. We saw organic revenue growth was 15% Over the last quarter of Q2, 2020 that's 24% when you exclude Germany and it should be noted that Q2, 2020 was our highest quarter Of the year, last year. So we're exceptionally pleased with the performance going into April and into Q2 and what it indicates for the road ahead. Next slide please. I'll now turn it over to Peter Mezner to go further into the numbers. Thank you, Michael, and good morning and welcome to our Q1 earnings call. Let's turn to the next slide and have a look at our overall Revenue development and development on our new depositing customers. So total revenue was at an all time high with close to €41,000,000 And grew above 50%, both compared to previous quarter and also the Q1 last year. Almost 95% of that Is organic search revenue, which grew even further with 61% as compared to last year. As we've seen in the previous quarter as well, our paid revenue was Below the previous year's levels and that has been an intentional decision on our end. During Q4 last year, we have changed Our performance marketing setup and we'll continue to complement our organic revenue with paid revenue where there is an attractive return on investment. The total number of new depositing customers increased by 32% year on year, which is mainly due to the sports segment and the key events During the Q1, which in particular was the Super Bowl and March Madness in the U. S. Let's go to the next slide And a closer look at our revenue segmentation. So the share of Sports and Casino has been fairly stable when compared to the previous quarters with the exception really of the Q2 2020 when the casino segment Was much larger due to the COVID-nineteen restrictions on sports and surge in the casino sales in the U. S. We saw and we further expect much less volatility in sports due to the COVID-nineteen we think and the overall improvement that we see around the world with vaccination programs So forth coming in. From a sourcing perspective, revenue from CPA that is cost per acquisition was Exceptionally high during this Q3 and that's mainly due to our U. S. Performance and the launches in the new states, Michigan and Virginia and the strong Sports development there, all of which are purely CPA based for now. The Financial Trading segment Represented 3% total revenue, which is slightly less than it has been in the previous quarters and that's due to our divestment The Hemastone news subscription service at the end of the last quarter 2020. It also meant that there was no more subscription revenue during that Quarter. Let's turn to the next slide then and take a closer look at our single segments. Casino. Casino had a strong quarter in the U. S. It was bolstered by the launch in Michigan. Michigan became the 5th That offered casino and or poker. We have casino operations in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and now in Michigan as well. But we also saw Very strong growth in Japan, which is a casino only market for us for the time being. We also saw continued solid growth in Italy And with our flagship global brand as Gamblers. On the European side, we continuously saw A declining trend on the casino brands that we previously also talked about and for which we started an internal transformation that hasn't yet fully recovered, but we see improvements there. And Germany in particularly, we have continuous headwinds and Michael talked about that before as well. As a result of These developments in Europe and in particular in Germany, but also the increases in the other areas such as Italy, Japan and the U. S, the total NDCs, the net depositing customers That's been fairly almost stable versus Q1 last year, but it was a minus 1%. Total casino revenue increased by 54% And the adjusted EBITDA in that segment by even 94% year on year. Let's turn to the next page then and Have a look at our 2nd largest segment, which is the Sports segment. Sports had an even stronger quarter in that respect Casino from a growth perspective and that's due to the key events in the U. S. With Super Bowl and March Madness, which is a college basketball event. Plus in addition the launches in Michigan and Virginia in the second half of January. Just to put that into context, so the Super Bowl It is the biggest acquisition event in the U. S. And that is not only for us. We had a massive more than 300% year on year increase just for this event, Which also was of course fueled by the fact that we have been life in many more states this year as compared to last year, 5 more states as compared to last year in fact. March Madness, a college basketball event is after the Super Bowl and after the start of the NFL, the 3rd biggest acquisition sports event in the U. S. Sports calendar and that didn't even have a comparison last year as the event was Canceled due to the COVID-nineteen situation in 2020. In Europe, excluding Germany, where we Likewise, continued headwinds prior to the regulation in July. We saw a very solid growth. Italian market in particular performed very strong And also the UK showed quite pleasing results also supported by the Cheltenham Festival, a 4 day horse racing festival. As a result, a very single source situation. The net depositing customers grew by 91% year on year. Keep in mind that we are ready towards the end of Q1 last year, we had impact in the Sports segment from the COVID-nineteen situation. Total sports revenue increased by 64% and the adjusted EBITDA by even 149% on a yearly comparison. Let's turn to the next slide and our final segment Financial Trading. Financial Trading had a A slight decrease from a year over year perspective when we exclude the Hemastone divestment, so to really take a look on a like for like basis, Which we however consider to be quite a solid performance because last year in Q1 we already had seen a surge in demand in financial trading related to requests And searches due to the volatility in the markets as a result of the COVID-nineteen pandemic. Our flagship brand, Which is as traders had a solid performance and is very well positioned. And all in all, As we have streamlined the segment operationally a little bit during the autumn, our adjusted EBITDA increased by 65% versus last year. Let's turn to the next page then and our entire company cost development. So the total cost for the quarter excluding items that affect the comparability was EUR 15,600,000 That represented a cost ratio of 38% of revenue. The direct costs increased Slightly versus the previous quarter due to the increased opportunities that we always have seen in sports and yet operating expenses have been fairly stable. The personnel expenses had the largest increase with roughly €900,000 versus the previous quarter and over the last year And most of which is due to our continued investment in North America. We hired dedicated staff to work and prepare, For example, for upcoming markets, including the Canadian markets, and also versus last year had a shift from contractors to employees, which Positively affected our other operating expenses. Other than that with biweekly payrolls in the U. S. Such The March numbers delivered with an extra payroll cycle as compared to last year. And in addition, we also considered certain bonus accrual adjustments during the quarter. That all That amounted to roughly €500,000 that can be considered to be a little bit extraordinary in these Q1 personnel expenses. Items affecting comparability totaled to some €1,800,000 The huge part of that €1,700,000 related Through restructuring cost built in relation to our transformation program and the remaining part is primarily in relation to refinancing related costs. Let's turn to the next slide. Taking the revenue development of our segments and overall and our cost development together, Adjusted EBITDA was in the Q1 at €25,100,000 an increase of 94% year on year And a very high margin of 62% as compared to 48% last year. Taking a look here at the last 12 months development, we We see now a trend here of adjusted EBITDA above EUR 60,000,000. Let's turn to the next slide and the profit For the quarter, the operating profit for the quarter was €21,000,000 And increased by 131 percent with a margin of 52%. Interest payments were Significantly reduced and that's also the effects of our refinancing from last year and the issuance of hybrid capital securities. They do come with an interest payment, but that is accounted directly in equity. Share market value movements on the existing bonds Differed quite significantly from last year to see here, and that is a pure accounting related item. All in all, profit increased by more than 100% and earnings Per share, we're at €0.26 which represents an increase of 73% year on year. This altogether shows Quite the continued strong performance and considering the cash generation behind open it up for deleveraging and the flexibility regarding the usage of capital that also Michael Talking about cash, let's turn to the next slide and have a closer look at our cash developments, operating cash flow and Cash conversion. So our business is one that shows a very strong Cash flow generation and a strong and solid cash conversion. The operating cash flow increased by 85% year over year and was €20,800,000 Which represented a cash conversion of 89% in line with what we have seen during the Q1 last year. There are certain seasonality effects, of course, in terms of the cash collection after strong quarters. Due to the strong cash Tetration, we also made a voluntary prepayment of €6,000,000 in nominal value and repurchased some further €3,300,000 in total €9,300,000 In relation to our existing bonds and as a result of that, our cash and cash equivalents balance at the end of the quarter was €37,500,000 Let's then turn to the final slide of my section Where we take a look at the company's debt and our deleveraging journey that we have been on since our refinancing during the summer of last year. So as you see on the graph, we have been on a significant debt reduction journey since Pretty much to start or the Q2 of last year, the key element in that journey has been the successful refinancing and de assuring of our hybrid capital securities during the summer. And since then as a result of the strong cash generation in the business, we have further deleverage from a leverage ratio which Was 1.32 after the rights issuance in the summer, down to 0.64 now at the end of the first quarter. Our net interest bearing liabilities were at €40,800,000 and hence reduced by €100,000,000 as compared to the end of the Q1 last That brought us into a much better position. And as announced only 2 weeks ago, we started to explore refinancing options for the existing bonds, Which otherwise had a maturity in March 2022. And with that, I hand back to Michael, who will continue with an update on strategy and outlook and we can switch to the next slide. Thank you, Peter. And I'll ask you to go on to the next slide as well, So the strategic growth focus slide. Talking about our focuses going forward. Christina Media is focused on organic growth. This is the highest return investment we can make is working on our own teams and the products that we have currently in Europe and North America And continuing to expand their positions. We are working on geographic expansion of our existing products as well as Gamblers which we've mentioned. So as John Slots, Saucia, New Casinos are brands that we believe have global power that we will continue to bring across multiple markets. We're also continuing to look at cost efficiency and improvements, particularly when we talk about the more mature markets in Europe, Such as Germany and Sweden and the UK. Those are still markets that we believe we can improve margins and continue to run Strong businesses in those markets as the markets develop with regulations. And we will look at strategic M and A, But it must be strategic and it must be in line with our multi year strategy. Talking about our markets a little We do separate our world into 3 types of markets. We have the growth markets which are our highest priority. Those are the existing businesses in the U. S. In their current 11 states, Japan, Central and Southern Europe such as Italy. We have the mature markets which are the UK, Sweden, Germany where regulations are Making changes, but we believe there's still attractive markets for an affiliate that can work within the regulated space like ourselves. But time will tell a little bit as how it looks for markets and operators in terms of countries like Germany. But we worked on the efficiencies and improving our products and improving margins. And then we have the incubation phase. This includes Latin America, Which we see great potential for in the future. Asia, which Japan is working well for us today, which has great additional potential. And in the U. S. Which has many new States, which if we go to the next slide, I'll spend a minute to talk about. North America has significant potential. Today, if you look at the landscape, it's about 65,000,000 of the U. S. Population In States that have access to sports betting, about 40,000,000 of the population, have access, will have access in the upcoming Months, Arizona, Maryland have regulated, are moving towards it in later this year, potentially later this year, could be early next year. Illinois, we'll go to online later in this year officially. Ontario speaking of North America not just the United States, A very large province in Canada bigger than Michigan, is expected to come online later this year with sports betting and Canada itself is talking about The nationwide sports betting. Christina Media is operating already in all of these states and Provinces should be ready for those launches. We've been operating for quite some time in many of these places such as Canada where we have been operating sites For years to build up authority not doing affiliation per se because it's not allowed yet but being ready with authoritative sites. And talking about what is beyond the next 12 months potentially, you've got the giant states about 100,000,000 of the population, Same sizes will have access currently in the next 12 months in just 4 states of New York, Florida, California and Texas. New York and Florida already talking about regulating California and Texas could be much further out. The data media operates in all of these States because we know it's a matter of When not if that they are going to regulate and they are going to become a significantly important market in North America and Koutana Media will be the leader there. And then we have another about 100,000,000 people, for in size of the market in all the States that are otherwise not included in this list, which are The other big states of states like Massachusetts, Ohio, which you're talking about regulating and are over 5,000,000 in population each. And then you have another dozen states that are under 5,000,000 but still have good presence if we can run those with an effective business which we know we can. So we see great potential in North America. That's just to looking at the sports betting landscape. Consider that at some point, Many of these states like Michigan as Peter referenced added casino initially many of these states will also add casino, Which gives container media another affiliation segment to then bring to all of these markets. So we see great potential for the future in North America, But also as I mentioned on the incubation slide in many other places, Latin America, Asia as well as parts of Europe, the Netherlands launching later in this year looks encouraging to us. The reregulation of Germany, While it's unclear what exactly it looks like, we expect that that market will be a good market for us in years to come because it is a large country With an interest in sports and casino and as long as there are operators there, we believe an affiliate like container media can thrive there. Next slide please. Finishing with the key takeaways for the quarter. We did see exceptional organic revenue growth in Q1 driven by the North American openings And the performance of teams around the world. We've strong earnings and cash generation opening us up for growth focused investment and financial flexibility In the quarters and years to come, linups.com, our first acquisition in quite some time strengthens our market leading position in the U. S. And is an excellent strategic fit. We had strong start to the year and the second quarter is starting out to look just as strong We're as strong as stronger than last year's Q2 on average. And organic revenue growth for 2021 is expected to be well above target. And remember our targets are double digit organic growth on a yearly basis With North America being the core driver and operate on a net interest bearing debt adjusted EBITDA interval of 0 to 1.75 which we are well within. With that, I'll finish the presentation and we will open it up for questions. Thank you. Please. Our first question comes From the line of Erik Moburg at ABG. Please go ahead. Your line is open. Good morning, gents, and thanks for taking my questions. To start off, in regard to the European business, if we exclude for Germany, could you perhaps elaborate on the year over year performance on whether you were up, Down or flat year over year. Peter, do you want to start with that one? Yes, I can start on that one. So that differs a little bit when taking on different segments. Let's focus on the Sports and the Casino segment. There is no impact on the Financial Trading segment when it comes to that question. So the Sports segment, when you take away German and the German headwinds and that impact there, there is a very positive growth over the entire market. When you take a look at casino and you take the German market away, we continuously have certain European facing casino brands For which we started the transformation program where we have not yet returned into a positive development yet. Got it. And in regards to the casino vertical, would you say that this one still has stabilized on a Q on Q basis? Yes, that is certainly true. We have seen definitely an improvement in the European Casino Segment in comparison to the previous quarter. That doesn't mean that it is growing as compared to the previous quarter, but it has stabilized to use that word. Yes. Great. And then just thinking sequentially here into Q2, are there Any region in Europe that you expect will face any headwinds here? So I think on that We've already mentioned Germany. Germany is in headwinds and remains in headwinds in Q2. The market reopening or re regulating It's sometime this summer and that will be, it's unclear whether that will be a one day it's not and one of the next day it is and everything is running or is it going to be a slot entry of the operators and the like. So a lot of those things will play into the Q2. So Germany is the focus there when it comes to headwinds in Q2. So aside from Germany, there are no other markets Did you foresee any headwinds there in Q2? Not really. We expect Lots of good things as we go into the European football season this summer across Europe. We're seeing good traction You're in the UK and other Italy as we spoke before. So don't foresee any headwinds, but of course we are still not Quite out of things like COVID exactly. So there is still potential for unexpected events. Got it. And then just looking into the second half Here over 2021, obviously we also have some tailwinds from Netherlands starting in Q4. But is there anything that Speaks against the notion that you will be back at year over year growth for Europe during the second half. I think it's hard to say with the unknowns in Germany. Outside of Germany, yes, It does all look positive. Germany is just unclear for me to be able to say that yes, where it will be by end of year. Netherlands, again Netherlands looks like it should launch later in the year. As you noted, it should give an uptick. There's also as we've learned in Many markets regulating in North America and other places over the years, there's always a potential for those dates to Slide and they never slide in and they never move in, they always move out. So there's also the potential that those dates are to our best. So That could be impactful depending on what we see. Great. And then while we're on the Europe, European market, could you perhaps elaborate On the cost side of things in the mature markets and give us some flavor regarding the margin trajectory And how much more cost that you can take out from these regions? I'm not sure how much we're really To answer that on this call, as we continue the transformation efforts, we continue to look at where costs and efficiencies and Duplications may exist. Our focus is what we always look for reduction of costs, the opportunities I do inquire investments as well and we believe that in a business such as ours that those opportunities may outweigh even some of their Costs required for them and some of those costs do have to come ahead of the opportunity. I don't know Peter if you want to say anything else regarding? No, exactly. It's important to understand that the transformation program is not a margin improvement or cost Efficiency program in its core, it is a growth acceleration program To turn around those cases that we talked about, Germany is part of that, but certain casino brands in Europe are the other one. The other part of cost efficiencies are our normal business anyway. And I believe we have shown that during last year that We have a very good cost control. So you can expect that we go on, on that journey, but that is nothing that should be additionally expected out of the Transformation program other than that we anyway work on that. It's a little bit too early to really elaborate on the details of let's say certain European markets And the cost in relation to that exactly as Michael said. Got it. And Just a question here on CPA versus rev share. Is the increase solely attributed to U. S. Increasing its share of total revenue? The majority of that. Yes. Okay. So if we compare CPA in Europe versus Q1 It's roughly around the same levels. That would be correct I believe. Got it. And on the U. S. Side of the business, I'm just trying to understand the dynamics better here. Obviously, you posted a very strong performance, but could you perhaps help us understand sort of the underlying performance better? I assume that you get a bit of a one time effect from new states such as Michigan and Virginia once they launch. Could you perhaps give us some flavor on this and how much these two states inflated the numbers? You definitely get a one time impact from new states when they launch, especially if you are like Catana Media that we're in Michigan for example, we've been working on our state sites There for two and a half years or more prior to the launch. So we had built up traffic and authority. So when those markets opened with 10 operators at the end of January That we were working with, we were able to drive a lot of traffic to them. So you do see initial and influx. But it also means that Post that influx as we saw as we get towards March and March Madness, there is a just a higher run rate now with these additional large states on board. That's a little difficult to project what exactly that run rate looks like because we now enter the off season of American sports essentially, While there's baseball and the end of the NBA going on, it's really not until the NFL season picks up in the fall when the sports calendar really Starts again in the North America acquisition for sports betting. So, until we reach that sort of like we saw this year where our NFL season was Stronger because we had, as Peter mentioned, 5 more states on by the time Super Bowl happened. We expect a higher base run rate Across the sports business in North America with these 2 states, but it might be a little early to say exactly how much higher that is. Got it. Fair enough. And just lastly on Canada and Ontario more Specifically, could you perhaps give us some flavor on your strategy and what you currently are doing to give up the presence there? Absolutely. So Canada is obviously a very large country with a pension for bedding And interest in it, they've had land based casinos and government run For quite some time and they're also looking at sports betting now. So, we've been operating Play Canada as one of our main domains up there for A number of years, it's not there's not affiliation, but it talks about news and information regarding sports betting, casino, etcetera To be ready for the day that these markets would regulate because we knew again it was a matter of when not if in many cases. So We are seeing operators, they've been operators there who have done some things feeding into Canada, but we've been focused more on Building up for being ready when Canada regulates and that now looks like it's on the horizon. So we have now then started to launch more sites to be ready for Ontario, now that we know that will be the 1st province. So just like our North America as U. S. Approach where we have national brands and we have state specific Brands, we will do the same thing in Canada where we have countrywide brands and province specific brands. So we will bring those together, which gives us more coverage And also more protection from competition. Great. It comes from the line of Mikael Acien of Carnegie. Please go ahead. Your line is open. Yes. Thanks. Good morning. I was just Wondering here if you have changed the 2021 revenue guidance or targets or is it exactly the same? No, we do not have any guidance on our end when it comes to the revenues other than our financial targets which we stated and reiterated last Time in our Q4 call as well, achieving and sustainably having profitable double digit growth organically. And we are well in line with exactly that and should deliver that well above. Okay. So it's no changes better? Yes. No changes there, correct. Okay. Yes. And when it comes to the start of Q2, 15% growth. Can you say something about how the U. S. Started now in Q2, Both the year on year and quarter on quarter. The U. S. Is stronger year on year, as we have new states. Again, we are in the slower of the sports betting cycle and the more states that go to sports betting, the larger that Cycle will be and it's dips and peaks as we go to off season, on season. As we add more states with casino That gets more stabilized. So year over year growth, but I don't know that we're breaking out specifically yet on our talking about April or Q2, The performance of any particular market. Okay. Fair enough. Just a little too early, I'd say to give that Clarity. Okay. Can you also comment on how you performed in New York City and Pennsylvania during the 1st part of 2021, you have been active there for quite some time just to understand the weather run rate. New Jersey remains a strong market for us. It is a casino and sport market. So, it like all other places had Strong Super Bowl and it continues to have a very strong casino business in any time of the year. Pennsylvania, We've seen the development of that market in a very happy and a successful way, started with sports and casino, but Slow number of operators entering the market and the more operators that enter, the more competitive it becomes, the more they look to companies like Chain and Media to assist with new depositing customers. So we have seen improvements in Pennsylvania as So we have seen improvements in Pennsylvania as that market matures and perhaps even better than the market. I couldn't be Specific on that, but we are very happy with our Pennsylvania performance and our New Jersey and those remain core parts of our U. S. Strategy is Take the state, keep the state and then drive into new states. And that's what we do with that capital that Capital we're bringing in from the CPA, which is the market is mostly there at this point. And so we're able to use that cash to infuse in the future states. So The current states are absolutely important to keep growing as well. Got it. Good. Thanks. And when it comes to the price per new deposit customer in the U. S, can you Talk about that, how that has changed maybe in Q1, if anything? And talk about maybe the differences between states And the products given up, taking up please. Thanks. Well, we won't discuss actual rates of CPAs. They are Developing in a sense that new states tend to come on with historically or so far with a lower starting point Because there is that pent up demand the operators know it. However, with the race of operators to gain market share, we have A number of operators we have relationships with now where we have multi state deals or nationwide deals for Wednesday to launch They want to be in a certain position on our sites and are willing to pay a rate that they're paying in a more mature market In order to be in that position in the new market. So we're seeing higher CPAs in states like Michigan than maybe we saw in states like Pennsylvania at the initial point of launch, these things are all positive impacts of China media and also raise the bar for the starting point for rates to go up From there as the markets get tighter on operators trying to find new deposit and customers where they again turn to container media for assistance. Okay. Thanks. Can you also, if I may, ask a question about the competition in the U. S, how the Competitive side is looking right now and how you ensure that your key sites remain competitive and relevant in the market? Always a good question. We obviously pay attention to not just our own product, but also how our competitors are doing And what is working well and what is not. We have lots of competitors in not just North America, but globally and some are global competitors and some are Local and in some cases those local competitors like the lineups.com was for us become also a target of acquisition. Not so much for us as others perhaps we are focused again on organic growth, but there are opportunities in there. Some of the best competitors are often some of the smaller competitors who are focused very specifically on certain states and markets versus, being everywhere. We are seeing more competitors. They are acquiring other competitors. So the landscape and the number of competitors It's decreasing the total number of sites that we compete against seems to be relatively stable at this point. Not seeing a lot of new entry seeing again acquisition of others by the consolidation of competitors. So we stay aware of that. As an affiliate, the way we stay on top is having the right team of the right size, Bringing the right technologies to bear using data where we can from our global operations to maximize our individual units And to look at player behaviors worldwide and optimize on the state or the province or the country and to drive that forward with technology To be doing things newer and more interesting and bringing affiliation techniques from outside our industry in our industry first So same cutting edge essentially is what is required in this industry. There's not a deep note between different affiliates. It's how well you execute And we tend to be the best at execution. Okay. One final question, maybe if I may, Regarding lineups, how we should think about this company and the revenue outlook? Will it follow the sports activity more in general? Or do we have something there in the product offering or on the sites that are Particularly competitive, and I mean, I can support them and grow their last part of the business well above the markets. So yes and yes, they will follow the sports cycle. It is a sports focused site. While we'll infuse some more probably casino and other things onto it for assisting in the off season, let's say, It is a sports focused site. It has some interesting sports tools and widgets and the like in it that were not in the rest of our portfolio. So We plan to further invest in those and potentially bring those across some of our other sites, which will see uptick across our portfolio, not just In this one particular site, and some of those, which is some things were meant to better compete with some of the other affiliates out there than we had been Using to compete against, we were looking at different affiliates each on which we competed against and which tools and techniques we developed to be more competitive in that realm. So That adding the lineups into our portfolio gives us a number of tools in the toolbox for all of our sites. And so we expect That will increase the growth of both lineups without us putting a team dedicated and focused on that And our largest strategy playing in with that and the work from the lineups team coming into our company to add new infusion of product. Okay, great. Thanks. Thank you. There's currently just one further question And that next question comes from the line of Jaimo Alba of Kepler Cheuvreux. Please go ahead. Your line is open. Thank you. Maybe just one more question on Europe and the kind of outlook here for Q2 and the start of April. When you mentioned Italy, for example, as being a strong market in Q1 in Europe, what do you see do you see any impact This part from markets where lockdowns have eased maybe and then that's Andrew K. 1 conclusions from that in the European markets. We monitor that. I don't know that we've really seen significant impact not like last year anyways in any of the lockdowns or any of the things Going on in various markets related to COVID spikes etcetera. The sports season in Europe looks to be moving along On a good trajectory, as you said, Italy is doing well. We benefit from that European football season coming. We've had good deals in place and set up for the European football events. And so At the moment, it looks all very positive in terms of what's going on in Europe for us versus anything such as Where we were at Q2 last year when we were in the midst of a very gloomy outlook for COVID. Got it. And on the lineups, you did mention that this site looks to have some Data or information that you might not have on other sites, is that I mean, proprietary data and how we still be to use this on your other Asset, I mean, is it a simple integration you can start to use within the next couple of months or quarters or is it longer work to be able to Use case on other assets that you have. So to be clear, it's not specifically unique data. Data is pretty much provided from The various sports and so it's how you let's say slice and dice that data and how you presented and how the tools and the products are integrating and using that to make Further projections on events or information that players are looking for. So that's what they were doing in there. They had looked at the sports data and said, we can use it for this and that within this site. And so those were things that, basically become learning lessons for And how fast do those integrate into our sites? I am not a 100% clear on that yet. A lot of them look They could roll over relatively quickly and be in place for the NFL season and some of them may be a little longer run to get Across the sites and some of those we will bring across because we do still want to have lineups having a different strategy than say the lines.com because having 2 sites that sit As equals, but to approach the market slightly differently gives us a larger share of the target audience. Okay. Thanks. And on M and A, I mean, you mentioned selective M and A and now the lineups in U. S. Will you mainly do M and A in the Gulf market? Or do you also see potential to, for example, do M and A in Europe to improve your position in some markets where you might have, I mean, slow growth or asset that is not the best assets I would say. I would say that Nothing should be ruled out because that is how a mature and organized company looks at things in our strategy. What is our strategy to the markets And where might M and A fit into that? Obviously in the growth markets, there is probably a stronger case for M and A than in others. But With a good case and a good strategic outlook in a market that could be M and A anywhere in the world. U. S. It's interesting in ways, but you also look at the multiples going on in some of the acquisitions there and they are getting quite high. So are there better opportunities since we already have a Strong organically growing team there. Are there better opportunities in Latin America, Asia or as you say in parts of Europe where we see great potential for the future, But know that we need something else added to our portfolio to be ready for that. So it's open. Again, I don't expect you will see a high volume of M and A from Container Media because we just when you do the return on investment on Organic growth versus M and A, our organic growth just seems to outweigh most of the M and A cases at this point. Okay. Thanks. And as you mentioned, valuation there, I mean, of course, with more competition that cannot come up in some markets. Can you say anything On lineups, was there any competing bids or was it something that you kind of found yourself And yes, apart assets. So I don't know that I've ever been in an acquisition where there weren't competing bids Or at least the buyer telling you that there were. So, yes, so as far as we know there were and I do believe in this case there were, As you would expect on pretty much any strong product in North America, we're not the only ones who would be looking at it. Okay. That's all for me. Thank you. Thank you. And as there are no further questions in the queue at this Time, I'll hand back to our speakers for the closing comments. Thank you. We all appreciate your joining us for this interim report. Again, we're very proud of our teams and the performance in this quarter and the outlook for the rest of the year and the coming years. So we thank you for your time and we look forward to speaking to you again about the next quarter.