CTS EVENTIM reports significant increase in revenue and earnings in first nine months

Munich, 12 November 2018. CTS EVENTIM, one of the leading international providers of ticketing and live entertainment, achieved significant growth in revenue and earnings in the first nine months of this year. Group revenue rose year-on-year by 23.9 percent to EUR 922.5 million (Q1-3/2017: EUR 744.8 million), while normalised EBITDA advanced 17.1 percent to EUR 140.0 million (Q1-3/2017: EUR 119.6 million). Both segments, Ticketing and Live Entertainment, contributed to these growth rates.

Klaus-Peter Schulenberg, CEO of CTS EVENTIM, commented that ‘CTS EVENTIM is on course for another record year. We improved our online ticketing volume by almost nine percent, even though in many countries, also due to the Football World Championship, fewer highly profitable tours commanding higher price levels went on sale than the year before. The fact that we have ramped up our dynamic growth in recent months shows that we can be confident about the fourth quarter. We are looking forward to our Christmas business which has been and will be featuring a lot of presales for many attractive events.’

In the Ticketing segment, revenue increased purely organically by 4.0 percent in the first nine months to reach EUR 276.5 million (Q1-3/2017: EUR 265.9 million). This was mainly attributable to a significant increase in online ticketing volume: no fewer than 33.7 million tickets were sold on CTS EVENTIM’s webshops – a year-on-year growth rate of 8.7 percent (Q1-3/2017: 31.0 million). Normalised EBITDA exceeded the 100 million Euro mark for the first time after nine months and was up 3.8 percent at EUR 102.1 million (Q1-3/2017: EUR 98.4 million). This encouraging growth in earnings was negatively affected by expenses incurred in implementing the General Data Protection Regulation.

Strong 34.9 percent growth in the Live Entertainment segment brought revenue to EUR 656.6 million (Q1-3/2017: EUR 486.8 million). Normalised EBITDA climbed significantly by 78.8 percent to EUR 37.9 million (Q1-3/2017: EUR 21.2 million), which meant that revenue and earnings in the segment had already exceeded the totals for 2017 after nine months. This was due to many promoters in CTS EVENTIM’s portfolio organising a greater number of tours with particularly large audiences and high sales revenue. Positive impacts were also created by the new ‘Holiday on Ice’ tour, by various music festivals – including the second ‘New Horizons’ festival which attracted 30% more visitors to the Nürburgring than at its début last year – and by yet another successful season for the LANXESS arena in Cologne.

In 2018, CTS EVENTIM has also been continuing its international expansion with takeovers of D’Alessandro e Galli and Vivo Concerti (two Italian promoters) and Doctor Music (a Spanish promoter).

In view of the encouraging growth figures for the first nine months of 2018, CTS EVENTIM also expects revenue and earnings to be higher for the full year 2018 than in the record year 2017.

The quarterly Group Statement as of 30 September 2018 will be available in German and English on the www.eventim.de website as from 20 November 2018.
 
 
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.