Ticketing EBITDA +22.1% - CTS EVENTIM continues growth course

Munich, 26.11.2014. CTS EVENTIM AG & Co. KGaA, listed on the SDAX exchange (ISIN DE0005470306), was able to continue the growth course in Germany and the neighbouring European countries in the first nine months of the 2014 financial year, as a result of both organic growth and growth by acquisition. After the successful first quarter of 2014, the second and third quarters were negatively impacted by a major international sporting event, the FIFA World Cup in Brazil. The dominance of this major international sporting event meant that fewer events were offered for presale and that fewer events in Live Entertainment took place .  
 
The CTS Group revenue increased by 5.7% to EUR 469.3 million (Q1-3/2013: EUR 444.1 million). Normalised EBITDA improved by 5.2% to EUR 90.4 million (Q1-3/2013: EUR 86.0 million) and normalised EBIT before amortisation from purchase price allocation rose to EUR 78.2 million (Q13/2013: EUR 76.9 million, up 1.7%). EBITDA improved to EUR 89.4 million (Q1-3/2013: EUR 83.7 million, up 6.8%) and EBIT to EUR 68.9 million (Q1-3/2013: EUR 66.8 million, up 3.2%).  
 
The Ticketing segment generated a significant 14.3% revenue growth (before intersegment consolidation) to EUR 192.6 million. Normalised EBITDA amounts to EUR 67.5 million (Q1-3/2013: EUR 56.7 million, up 19.0%) and normalised EBIT before amortisation from purchase price allocation amounts to EUR 56.8 million (Q1-3/2013: EUR 49.2 million, up 15.6%). EBITDA rose to EUR 66.4 million (Q1-3/2013: EUR 54.4 million, up 22.1%), while EBIT increased to EUR 48.0 million (Q13/2013: EUR 39.5 million, up 21.4%). The total Internet ticketing volume rose to 18.6 million tickets (Q1-3/2013: 15.0 million tickets, up 24.0%); including 2.1 million tickets from acquisitions made in the 2014 financial year. These growth rates underline once again the leading position of the CTS Group in online sales of various entertainment formats.  
 
The Live Entertainment segment achieved a slight 0.7% year-on-year increase in revenue to EUR 282.4 million (Q1-3/2013: EUR 280.5 million) due to additional revenue contributions of the in 2013 newly consolidated Swiss subsidiary. As expected, EBITDA fell 21.5% to EUR 23.0 million (Q13/2013: EUR 29.2 million), due to the absence of major events that was partly attributable to the FIFA World Cup. The EBIT figure was down 23.2% at EUR 21.0 million (Q1-3/2013: EUR 27.3 million).  
 
In the further course of business, the CTS Group focuses on the growth of Internet ticketing, international expansion and the introduction of new products and services. The Management Board expects further growth in both revenue and earnings for the current financial year. 
 
The nine-month Report for the financial year 2014 is available on our website simultaneously to the publication of this press release.