EQS-News: CTS EVENTIM: revenue breaks through the EUR 2 billion barrier for the first time in a nine-month period

Press Release 

CTS EVENTIM: revenue breaks through the EUR 2 billion barrier for the first time in a nine-month period

• Strong growth in the first three quarters of 2024: consolidated revenue rises by 15.8% to EUR 2.027 billion and adjusted EBITDA by 12.1% to EUR 322.7 million.
• Total revenue and adjusted EBITDA once again hit record highs in the first nine months.
• The outlook remains unchanged, with adjusted EBITDA for 2024 as a whole expected to increase significantly year on year.
• CEO Klaus-Peter Schulenberg: “CTS EVENTIM is continuing to deliver stable growth in an increasingly volatile political and economic environment. The strategy of boosting rapid expansion and making the portfolio more financially resilient has proved to be key to our Group’s long-term performance.”

Munich, 21 November 2024 – CTS EVENTIM remains on a rapid course of growth and has once again reported record results for the first three quarters of 2024, with revenue of EUR 2.027 billion and adjusted EBITDA of EUR 322.7 million. Consequently, the adjusted EBITDA margin was virtually unchanged at the high level of 15.9% (2023: 16.4%). Although economic conditions are becoming increasingly challenging and upward pressure on costs is still stubbornly high, the Group is continuing on its stable growth trajectory.

The long-term corporate strategy is focused on organic growth, the establishment and expansion of lucrative lines of business, strategic acquisitions and, not least, the development of the venue business. As a result, CTS EVENTIM is demonstrating rapid and resilient growth.

Group

Consolidated revenue for the first nine months of 2024 came to EUR 2.027 billion, a 15.8% increase compared with the same period of 2023. Adjusted EBITDA rose by 12.1% to EUR 322.7 million.

Besides organic growth in Germany and the other core European markets, revenue also received a long-term boost from the recent acquisitions. The third quarter was the first time that See Tickets, a ticketing company with a strong position in the UK, USA and other countries, was fully consolidated for the full three-month period. The ticketing businesses acquired in Chile (Punto Ticket) and Peru (Teleticket) at the end of 2023 also performed extremely well.

Integration expenses were in line with expectations and will not affect long-term business performance. The full impact of positive synergies will be felt in future reporting periods.

Ticketing

In the period January to September 2024, revenue in the Ticketing segment climbed by 22.9% year on year to EUR 564.6 million. Adjusted EBITDA rose by 18.4% to EUR 240.7 million in the first nine months of 2024.

The rapid growth of the Ticketing segment was primarily attributable to a diverse content portfolio encompassing an eclectic mix of artists, genres and events. Another important factor was the wide geographical area covered. In terms of revenue drivers, the biggest artists in the third quarter included Ed Sheeran, Iron Maiden, Gilberto Gil and Vasco Rossi.

Yet another major sport ticketing project was brought to a successful conclusion thanks to the seamless handling of on-site ticketing at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris. Almost simultaneously, the Group’s TicketOne subsidiary won the ticketing contract for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milano Cortina, providing further confirmation of the reliability and capabilities of the team and the technological infrastructure.

The projects to integrate See Tickets’ national companies are already well underway, which will enable synergies to be leveraged as soon as possible. After the competition authorities gave the go-ahead for the acquisition of a majority stake in the leading French ticketing company France Billet, the option to purchase a further 17% of the shares will be exercised at the end of November and consolidation will then start in December of this year.

Live Entertainment

The Live Entertainment segment’s revenue also rose year on year, advancing by 13.6% to EUR 1.494 billion in the first three quarters of 2024. Adjusted EBITDA edged down by 3.0% to EUR 82.1 million.

The reasons for this included persistently high cost pressures for promoters and integration expenses for the live entertainment activities that were acquired as part of the See Tickets deal.

Presales for the anniversary editions of the two signature festivals Rock am Ring and Rock im Park in 2025 made an exceptionally strong start. The expansion of the EVENTIM LIVE Group in Asia is continuing to progress, offering fresh potential for both international and local acts in the region and beyond. The merger of Peter Rieger Konzertagentur with DreamHaus brings together the expertise and the strengths of two major players of the German event business and will create substantial synergies.

The construction and subsequent operation of Italy’s largest, most innovative and most sustainable indoor arena, which will be located in Milan, is on track. And a week ago, Wien Holding picked CTS EVENTIM to build and operate a further large-scale arena.

Outlook

Given the healthy results for the first nine months of 2024, the Executive Board is adhering to its full-year outlook and expects adjusted EBITDA to increase significantly year on year.

Klaus-Peter Schulenberg, CEO of CTS EVENTIM: “CTS EVENTIM is continuing to deliver stable growth in an increasingly volatile political and economic environment. The strategy of boosting rapid expansion and making the portfolio more financially resilient has proved to be key to our Group’s long-term performance. In the third quarter, factors such as the acquisition of See Tickets, the merger of two strong event companies and the performance of both our EVENTIM LIVE Group and our venue activities enabled us to lay strong foundations for our Group’s long-term success.”

Press contact

Christian Colmorgen
Vice President Corporate Communications
christian.colmorgen@eventim.de

Investor relations

Marco Haeckermann
Vice President Corporate Development & Strategy
marco.haeckermann@eventim.de