Munich, 27 May 2015. CTS EVENTIM AG & Co. KGaA (ISIN DE0005470306), listed in the MDAX, started successfully into the new financial year. Revenue of the CTS Group grew to EUR 151.7 million (Q1/2014: EUR 150.4 million, up 0.9%). Normalised EBITDA increased by 11.7% to EUR 36.8 million (Q1/2014: EUR 32.9 million). EBITDA was up by 12.7% to EUR 36.8 million (Q1/2014: EUR 32.6 million).
The Ticketing segment remains the growth engine of the CTS Group and recorded a significant 9.5% increase in revenue (before consolidation between segments) to EUR 76.0 million (Q1/2014: EUR 69.4 million). Normalised EBITDA grew by 7.7% to EUR 29.2 million (Q1/2014: EUR 27.1 million) and EBITDA was up by 8.9% to EUR 29.2 million (Q1/2014: EUR 26.8 million). Higher internet ticket volume growth in Germany and abroad contributed to an organic and acquisition-based improvement in earnings. The total volume of tickets sold online increased by 1.9 million to 7.8 million tickets, with acquisitions made in the previous year accounting for 1.2 million tickets in all. The counteracting effect was a lack of earnings from the settled Sochi project in 2014 and the lack of income from the purchase price allocation of acquisitions incurred in the same period.
In the Live Entertainment segment, revenue fell by 7.1% to EUR 77.3 million in the first quarter of 2015. The year-on-year decline is due to the relatively large concentration of high-revenue events in the first quarter of 2014. EBITDA in the Live Entertainment segment improved by 30.2% to EUR 7.6 million due to lower production costs.
In 2015, the focus of the CTS Group is on the expansion of the profitable e-commerce business and the introduction of new, innovative products and services. Continued international expansion through organic growth and acquisitions is also a top priority. In view of this, the corporate management anticipates further growth in revenue and earnings in the current financial year.
The figures for Q1/2014 have been adjusted retrospectively due to the final purchase price allocation for the ticketing companies acquired at the beginning of March 2014 in accordance with IFRS 3.
The 3-Month report for the financial year 2015 is available at www.eventim.de simultaneously to the publication of this press release.