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Munich, 23 March 2021. CTS EVENTIM, one of the leading international providers of ticketing services and live entertainment, is focusing on culture and live events restarting in 2021 after a year of coronavirus crisis that began in 2020. ‘With our full-scale cost management from the very beginning of the crisis and thanks to our prudent economic management in the years before, we see ourselves as superbly positioned when live shows return to concert halls and our business revives’, said Klaus-Peter Schulenberg, the CEO of CTS EVENTIM, when presenting the figures for the 2020 financial year. ‘In view of the increasing availability of vaccines and rapid tests, and the progress of vaccination campaigns, there are good prospects that our industry can start getting back to normal over the next few months.’
The figures show that Group revenue in 2020 fell 82.2 percent year-on-year to EUR 256.8 million (2019: EUR 1.443 billion). Normalised EBITDA came in at EUR -2.9 million (2019: EUR 286.5 million), the result of rigorous cutbacks, income from insurance compensation and government grants to cover payroll and overhead costs, also and especially in countries outside Germany. Group revenues in the fourth quarter of 2020, at EUR 28.1 million (Q4/2019: EUR 368.6 million), were 92.4 percent lower year-on-year. Normalised EBITDA amounted to EUR 14.8 million (Q4/2019: EUR 109.5 million).
Revenue in the Ticketing segment for the whole of 2020 was 73.7 percent lower year-on-year, at EUR 126.6 million (2019: EUR 481.6 million). Normalised EBITDA fell year-on-year from EUR 220.4 million to EUR -23.6 million. This includes EUR 10 million in compensation paid by insurance companies. In the fourth quarter of 2020, revenue fell 88.9 percent from EUR 174.7 million to EUR 19.5 million, while normalised EBITDA came in at EUR -11.0 million (Q4/2019: EUR 101.2 million).
In the Live Entertainment segment, revenue in the whole of 2020 was 86.1 percent lower year-on-year, at EUR 136.8 million (2019: EUR 985.8 million). Normalised EBITDA was EUR 20.7 million (2019: EUR 66.1 million). This includes EUR 50.8 million in insurance compensation. In the fourth quarter of 2020, revenues fell 95.4 percent from EUR 204.4 million to EUR 9.5 million. Normalised EBITDA was EUR 25.8 million (Q4/2019: EUR 8.3 million).
CTS EVENTIM responded promptly to the pandemic by adjusting its cost structure and boosting its efficiency even further, thus saving a double-digit million figure. Investments were also reduced to a minimum. In key European markets, furthermore, CTS EVENTIM is safeguarding further liquidity by implementing promoter voucher schemes. The company’s financial foundations, which remain very robust even after a year of pandemic, is manifested by the EUR 741.2 million in cash and cash equivalents at the end of 2020.
‘Never at any stage did we experience any kind of shock paralysis,’ Klaus-Peter Schulenberg continued. ‘It was clear to us from the very beginning that, with our outstanding teams, we will emerge from this crisis stronger than before, by continuously extending our core competencies in technology and industry know-how.’
As a direct response to the hazards posed by the coronavirus, CTS EVENTIM developed powerful software solutions to protect the health of people attending events. Algorithms control the allocation of seats and automatically ensure compliance with minimum distancing. In addition, our new EVENTIM.CheckIn technology allows visitors to events to have their personal data conveniently recorded from their mobile phone, either in advance or directly on admission to an event.
Since the end of 2020, CTS EVENTIM has also been supporting the health authorities in Germany and Austria with a software solution for allocating and organising vaccination appointments. The system, which is based on the company’s proven ticketing software, is designed for high levels of peak demand. Several tens of thousands of appointments can be provided within just a few minutes.
A proprietary streaming platform linked to the EVENTIM systems for ticket sales and access control was added to the product portfolio in 2020. It is now in operation in more than a dozen national subsidiaries.
In the 2020 crisis year, CTS EVENTIM also pushed ahead with the international expansion of its EVENTIM LIVE promoter network. The Gadget abc Entertainment Group was established in Switzerland, a partnership deal was signed with Michael Cohl, the legendary US promoter, and a majority stake in the Barracuda Group in Austria was acquired. Since the beginning of 2021, the DreamHaus agency headed by Matt Schwarz has been part of the network, which now includes 36 promoters in 15 countries. The events industry has acknowledged this commitment on our part in 2021 – in its highly regarded rankings for promoters, the Pollstar music magazine in the U.S.A. ranked EVENTIM LIVE second worldwide and first in Europe in 2020.
In the ticketing field, CTS EVENTIM has also concluded new partnership agreements for top-level sports events such as the European Handball Championships in 2022 and 2024, and for next year’s European Basketball Championships. EVENTIM Sports, the specialist for the sports market, has signed long-term partnership agreements for ticketing and other services with Werder Bremen and Hannover 96, two long-standing football clubs.
Outlook for 2021
Given the major uncertainties that continue to surround the future course of the coronavirus pandemic and its impacts on the 2021 financial year, the management believes it is still impossible to provide an accurate forecast for the year as a whole.
The Annual Report will be available at corporate.eventim.de 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 2019, around 250 million tickets were marketed using the company’s systems – be it through stationary box offices, online or from mobile terminals. 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’, ‘Southside’ and ‘Lucca Summer’. In addition, some of Europe’s most renowned venues are operated by CTS EVENTIM, for example the LANXESS Arena in Cologne, the K.B. Hallen in Copenhagen, 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 is currently a member of the MDAX segment. In 2019, its 3,202-strong workforce generated more than 1.4 billion Euro in sales revenue in 21 countries.
