Catena CFO Peter Messner confirms departure

CFO sign
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Catena Media CFO, Peter Messner, has confirmed his departure from the sports betting and casino publishing firm to pursue a career outside of the industry. 

Updating investors, the affiliate marketing company noted that a process to replace Messner will be put in motion soon, with Messner set to depart ‘within six months’.

It comes at a time when Catena is increasingly focusing its prospects on the North American market, which has proven to be much more fruitful than its cross-Atlantic ventures in Europe. 

After initiating a strategic review of its European operations, Catena decided to offload certain parts of the business, which included the sale of Askgamblers.com and associated web assets to Gaming Innovation Group (GiG) for €45m. 

Further, Catena has hired Carnegie Investment Bank to serve as its financial advisor to assess options relating to more potential sales of media assets, including the entire sale of the business.

North America has increasingly become the priority market for Catena, which recently noted that operations in the continent accounted for 78% of the group’s total revenue from continuing operations for Q4 of 2022.

Catena declared that it anticipates its North American market revenue to grow by 31% YoY to $23.4m (Q4 2021: $17.8m).

It is in this context that Messner departs Catena, with CEO Michael Daly noting that as the strategic priorities of the business change, the CFO felt it right to depart. 

Commenting on Messner’s departure, Daly said: “Given our closer focus on the North American market, we have agreed that this is the right time to make a transition in our financial leadership. Peter has contributed hugely to our recent successes, and we thank him sincerely for his efforts.”