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Munich, 22 March 2018. CTS EVENTIM, one of the leading international providers of ticketing services and live entertainment, achieved record figures for revenue, normalised EBITDA and consolidated net income in the 2017 financial year.
Group revenues rose by 24.6 percent year-on-year to EUR 1.034 billion (prior year: EUR 829.9 million). For the first time in its history, CTS EVENTIM thus exceeded the one billion Euro mark in revenues. Both the Ticketing and Live Entertainment segments contributed to this significant growth.
Normalised Group EBITDA also reached a new best-ever figure and rose by 5.3 percent to EUR 204.7 million (prior year: EUR 194.5 million), thanks to a strong performance in Ticketing. The normalised EBITDA margin came in at 19.8 percent (prior year: 23.4 percent). Consolidated net income broke the record set in the previous year (EUR 94.6 million) by a significant margin, increasing 19.3 percent to EUR 112.8 million.
Klaus-Peter Schulenberg, CEO of CTS EVENTIM commented that ‘CTS EVENTIM generated more than a billion Euro in revenues in 2017, for the first time ever. We are absolutely delighted that this record is accompanied by a whole string of other positive developments. These include the growth of our online operations, our international expansion and the creation of new event formats like the ‘New Horizons’ festival, for example.’
In the Ticketing segment CTS EVENTIM notched up a record year thanks to continued dynamic growth of its online businesses. Revenue increased by 5.9 percent to EUR 418.4 million (prior year: EUR 395.1 million). Normalised EBITDA climbed 6.8 percent to EUR 178.6 million (prior year: EUR 167.3 million), while the normalised EBITDA margin improved from 42.3 percent to 42.7 percent, mainly due to a further increase in the volume of online ticketing sales.
In 2017, CTS EVENTIM sold 48.9 million tickets through its digital and mobile sales channels, an increase of 11.9 percent on the year before (43.7 million). This growth was both attributable to the company’s existing core markets and its new operations in Brazil and Scandinavia.
Revenue in the Live Entertainment segment rose significantly by 42.7 percent to reach EUR 626.7 million (prior year: EUR 439.2 million). The strong growth of FKP Scorpio and a greater number of tours and events attracting large audiences, among them the inaugural edition of ‘New Horizons’ at Nürburgring, were key factors in this regard. CTS EVENTIM acquired the majority of shares in FKP Scorpio in January 2017 and in recent months strengthened its position in Italy, thanks to the acquisitions of majority stakes in three promoters – Vertigo, Friends & Partners and D’Alessandro e Galli.
Normalised EBITDA in the Live Entertainment segment fell 4.0 percent to EUR 26.1 million (prior year: EUR 27.2 million), but this was mainly due to start-up losses of around EUR 10 million. The latter were incurred in establishing new festival brands, relaunching existing formats and in the form of advance costs for future events.
In total, more than 250 million tickets were sold in 2017 via the systems operated by CTS EVENTIM, including 100 million tickets for cinema shows. The other 150 million tickets were for more than 240,000 live events of all kinds. This meant that CTS EVENTIM consolidated its position as one of Europe’s leading eCommerce providers.
Given this successful business growth, the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board of CTS EVENTIM will be proposing for the 13th time in succession, at the Shareholders’ Meeting on 8 May, that a dividend be distributed to the shareholders, thus continuing the long-standing policy of distributing 50 percent of consolidated net income. This entails a dividend of EUR 0.59 per share (prior year: EUR 0.50).
For the 2018 financial year, assuming stable macroeconomic trends, CTS EVENTIM expects continued growth of Group revenues and normalised EBITDA. Further information on the reporting period under review can be found in the current Annual Report of CTS EVENTIM, which will be available for download, along with the Non-Financial Corporate Report, from the www.eventim.de website when this Press Release is published.
About CTS EVENTIM
CTS EVENTIM is one of the leading international providers of ticketing services and live entertainment. In 2017, more than 250 million tickets were marketed using the company’s systems – through stationary box offices, online or mobile. Its online portals operate under brands such as eventim.de, oeticket.com, ticketcorner.ch, ticketone.it and entradas.com. The EVENTIM Group also includes many concert, tour and festival promoter companies for events like ‘Rock am Ring’, ‘Rock im Park’, ‘Hurricane’ and ‘Southside’. In addition, some of Europe’s most renowned venues are operated by CTS EVENTIM, for example the LANXESS arena in Cologne, the Waldbühne in Berlin and the EVENTIM Apollo in London. CTS EVENTIM AG & Co. KGaA (ISIN DE 0005470306) has been listed on the stock exchange since 2000 and has been a member of the MDAX segment since 2015. In 2017, its 3,020-strong workforce generated more than one billion Euro in revenues in 23 countries.
