CTS EVENTIM: Double-digit ticketing growth maintained

Munich, 18.08.2011. CTS EVENTIM AG, listed in the SDAX index (ISIN DE0005470306), continued to assert its unique position in the European ticketing market in the first half of fiscal 2011. A substantial boost in revenue was achieved by the Ticketing segment. The highly profitable Internet business, especially, continues to grow at a double-digit rate. As expected, revenue and earnings in the Live Entertainment segment declined. The Management Board expects the Group to achieve further business growth as well as further improvement in revenue and earnings in the current 2011 business year, above all in view of the traditionally strong fourth quarter.  
 
In the period from 1 January to 30 June 2011, the CTS Group generated EUR 263.8 million in revenue (HY1/2010: EUR 270.9 million, down 2.6%), a normalised EBITDA of EUR 47.1 million (HY1/2010: EUR 46.7 million, up 0.9%) and a normalised EBIT before amortisation from purchase price allocation (Ticketcorner Holding AG and See Tickets Germany GmbH) of EUR 41.2 million (HY1/2010: EUR 42.2 million, down 2.5%). The operating result is temporarily burdened by various special effects, in particular the once-only expenses for acquisitions, personnel restructuring at See Tickets Germany / Ticket Online Group and legal consultancy expenses relating to ongoing arbitration proceedings against Live Nation. After these non-recurring items, the EBITDA figure amounts to EUR 41.2 million (HY1/2010: EUR 43.6 million, down 5.4%), while EBIT amounts to EUR 30.1 million (HY1/2010: EUR 37.9 million, down 20.4%).  
 
In the Ticketing segment, organic growth in the core European markets and a number of successful acquisitions resulted in a significant increase in revenue before consolidation between the segments, despite the absence of revenue from the partnership agreement that was terminated by Live Nation in June 2010. Revenues totalled EUR 104.1 million (HY1/2010: EUR 81.5 million, up 27.7%). The CTS Group sold 8.5 million tickets via the Internet alone in the period under review – a year-on-year increase of around 16% (HY1/2010: 7.4 million). Around 204 million visits to the Eventim web portals were logged (HY1/2010: 160 million). The impacts of the aforementioned non-recurring items were confined to the Ticketing segment. The normalised EBITDA was up 27.3% at EUR 34.8 million (HY1/2010: EUR 27.3 million), while normalised EBIT before amortisation from purchase price allocation was up 25.0% at EUR 29.9 million (HY1/2010: EUR 23.9 million). After these non-recurring items, EBITDA was 19.4% higher at EUR 29.0 million (HY1/2010: EUR 24.3 million), while EBIT decreased 3.6% to EUR 18.9 million (HY1/2010: EUR 19.6 million).  
 
As expected, it was not possible in the first half of 2011 to reach the record figures achieved in the Live Entertainment segment in 2010. The main reason – besides the deconsolidation of the FKP Scorpio Group as of 1 July 2010 – was the smaller number of major tours and events compared with the previous year. Revenue in the first half of the year amounted to EUR 162.9 million (HY1/2010: EUR 192.8 million; down 15.5%). EBITDA was 36.6% lower at EUR 12.3 million (HY1/2010: EUR 19.3 million), while EBIT fell 38.3% to EUR 11.3 million (HY1/2010: EUR 18.3 million). After adjustment for deconsolidation effects, the second quarter showed a positive trend – year-on-year increases in both revenue and EBITDA are reported. 
 
In the second half of 2011, the Group will be focusing primarily on continuous growth of Internet ticketing operations, on international expansion and on integrating the companies acquired to date. The first hearing in the ongoing arbitration proceedings against Live Nation London was held in London at the end of July.