Raketech Prioritises Core-Market Investment After Cost Cuts

Raketech Group Holding’s third-quarter results, published November 5, 2026, paired an 18.6% revenue decline with plans to invest in Sweden, Denmark and Italy while paying down bank debt. The affiliate group is relying on a lower cost base to protect earnings as it expands industry and sports media in its core markets.

Revenue from continuing operations, which exclude the Casumba assets divested in the third quarter of 2025, fell to €5.04 million from €6.19 million a year earlier. Raketech reported adjusted EBITDA of €1.16 million, down 4.5%, while its adjusted EBITDA margin rose to 23.0% from 19.6%. The interim report defines adjusted EBITDA as EBITDA adjusted for non-recurring costs.

Cost Cuts Improve Margins as Amortisation Weighs on Profit

Employee benefit expense fell to €1.06 million from €1.42 million, with full-time headcount down to 54 from 75. Publisher costs declined to €906,000 from €1.21 million and other operating expenses to €1.04 million from €1.29 million. Those reductions explain how the margin strengthened while revenue contracted.

Free cash flow before earnouts, including discontinued operations, rose 15.4% to €1.28 million. Raketech paid €938,000 of earnouts during the quarter, leaving free cash flow after earnouts of €343,000, compared with €300,000 a year earlier. The payments show how acquisition obligations continued to absorb cash despite the improved pre-earnout measure.

The margin improvement did not carry through to bottom-line earnings. Continuing operations recorded a €271,000 loss, against a €50,000 profit a year earlier, while depreciation and amortisation rose to €913,000 from €217,000. The increase followed an accounting-estimate change under which certain websites and domains began eight-year amortisation on October 1, 2025.

Investment Focuses on Media and Organic Publishers

Affiliation Marketing revenue fell 14.1% to €3.67 million, while SubAffiliation revenue dropped 28.5% to €1.37 million. Raketech said Sweden, its largest market, grew both sequentially and year over year, Denmark delivered strong year-over-year growth and regulated core markets were broadly stable. The overall Affiliation Marketing decline came primarily from non-core markets.

Six media products launched during 2026: Casinofeber Media, three sports editorial sections across TV sport guides, BetXpert Media in Denmark and Corriere del Gioco in Italy. Raketech said Corriere del Gioco’s October 6, 2026 launch was the first use of the media-led model outside the Nordics, with two more local industry-media launches planned for the remainder of the fourth quarter, including Finland ahead of a licensing regime it expects in 2027.

Within SubAffiliation, Raketech said the Organic Publisher Network on AffiliationCloud grew from the second quarter, with Nordic revenue well above the prior-year period. Exclusive publisher agreements signed in the second quarter had closer to full effect, while bundling traffic and commercial sales between owned and external organic publishers contributed to growth. The Paid Publisher Network continued to shrink as its remaining revenue-share player databases churned, including in Brazil after regulatory changes.

Casumba Settlement Remains Conditional

The investment plan sits alongside a conditional balance-sheet reset. On October 19, 2026, Raketech agreed to settle the remaining Casumba Media earnout for €8.2 million, compared with approximately €20.3 million outstanding under existing terms, including accrued interest and payable by March 2028. The funding is now €5.2 million from Bank of Valletta and €3.0 million of existing cash, which was paid to the sellers in October, revising the original €5.5 million bank and €2.7 million cash split.

The bank financing comprises a new €3.2 million term loan and €2.0 million drawn from the existing revolving credit facility, both repayable monthly over three years at a current interest rate of 6.65%. Total Bank of Valletta borrowings would be slightly below €8.0 million after completion. Completion remains conditional on disbursement of the financing and is expected toward the end of the fourth quarter of 2026, so the September 30, 2026 earnout liability remains measured under the existing terms.

Management projects net interest-bearing debt to fall from €18.08 million at quarter-end to approximately €5.6 million on completion and annual net finance costs to decrease by just above €1.0 million, with leverage moving from 3.77 times to around 1.2 times adjusted EBITDA before deferred divestment consideration is taken into account. The difference between the liability’s carrying value and settlement amount will be recognised on completion as a non-recurring, non-cash gain with no effect on EBITDA.

Chief executive Johan Svensson said: “Until now, a large share of our cash flow has gone towards paying for assets we no longer own. Going forward, the cash we generate will go towards reducing our own bank debt and investing in growth.”

The separate Casumba sale consideration totals €12.0 million in monthly instalments through December 2029, with €1.2 million received to date, and is unaffected by the settlement. Approximately €0.9 million from two US divestments is also unaffected. The Casumba receivable was carried at €6.6 million on September 30, 2026 and is pledged to Bank of Valletta; future share buybacks require the bank’s approval.

Raketech’s room to invest depends on completing the earnout settlement and on media and organic publishing offsetting the Paid Publisher Network’s decline. Cost cuts have improved the margin, but the quarterly loss and falling segment revenue show that the leaner business has not yet returned to growth.