Press Release 

CTS EVENTIM: strong growth thanks to megastars and the intelligent linking of all areas of business

• The first nine months of the year saw further strong growth of consolidated revenue (up by 23%) and normalised EBITDA (up by 34%) compared with the prior-year period.
• Having achieved revenue of EUR 1.75 billion and normalised EBITDA of EUR 343.3 million in the first three quarters of 2023, CTS EVENTIM is confirming its current outlook for the year as a whole.
• CEO Klaus-Peter Schulenberg: “CTS EVENTIM offers extremely attractive content in almost all live entertainment segments and has unparalleled reach among fans of music, sport, edutainment and other live formats in Europe and beyond. Thanks to the global integration of our technologies and marketing platforms, we’re ideally positioned to monetise both our content and our reach.”

Munich, 16 November 2023 – CTS EVENTIM remained on course for success in terms of revenue and profit in the first three quarters of 2023. Once again, it comfortably surpassed the figures for the corresponding period of 2022, which had been a record year. CTS EVENTIM, a leading international provider of ticketing services and live entertainment, is sharply increasing its rate of growth despite economic headwinds. Prudent cost management and significant agility also contributed to the excellent results.

The Group’s growth was driven by strong underlying growth stemming from the many different live entertainment and sports events and, in particular, the tours featuring stars and superstars such as Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney, Coldplay and Apache 207 and the expansion of the global ticketing and live entertainment network.

CTS EVENTIM’s online ticket sales in the period January to September 2023 were up by 27% on the prior-year period.

Group: consistent growth thanks to close links between business areas

Consolidated revenue for the first nine months of 2023 came to EUR 1.750 billion, a 23% increase compared with the prior-year period.

The Group’s normalised EBITDA advanced substantially again too, reaching EUR 343.3 million for the first three quarters of 2023 (up by 34%) and EUR 172.5 million for the third quarter of 2023 (up by 29%).

These figures include income of EUR 37.4 million from the joint venture autoTicket GmbH, Berlin, to which the CTS group companies are directly entitled. The income stems from compensation payments from the German government. As the prior-year figures contained income received under pandemic-related economic aid programmes, the year-on-year growth rates shown here essentially reflect the success of the operating business.

The normalised EBITDA margin is now around the 20% mark.

The individual areas of business are benefiting from close links, joint access to centralised resources and extensive knowledge sharing.

Ticketing: sustained growth in Germany and internationally

In the period January to September 2023, revenue in the Ticketing segment climbed by 36% year on year to EUR 459.3 million. The number of online tickets sold was up by 11.6 million compared with the prior-year period. This increase was driven both by events featuring megastars and, once again, by the sheer variety of events on offer. The figures do not yet include the revenue of the French market leader France Billet, which is due to be fully consolidated at the start of 2024.

Normalised EBITDA rose by 59% to EUR 242.3 million in the first nine months of 2023. Again, this includes the non-recurring item of income in respect of autoTicket GmbH.

Live Entertainment: growth despite higher costs

The Live Entertainment segment’s revenue also jumped year on year, increasing by 19% to EUR 1.315 billion in the first three quarters of 2023. Normalised EBITDA was almost unchanged, dropping by just 3% to EUR 101.0 million despite substantially higher costs. The normalised EBITDA margin stood at 8%, which was almost level with the 9% achieved in the corresponding period of the record previous year.

This is a particular success as the figures for the first nine months of the previous year had been boosted by government subsidies running into the mid-double-digit millions.

The appeal of the content on offer continued to attract millions of fans worldwide to festivals and concerts despite higher ticket prices. The segment’s prudent management of costs also made an important contribution to the impressive result, which was achieved under difficult economic conditions. The segment will continue to benefit from these strengths in the long term.

Outlook

CTS EVENTIM has an excellent line-up of concerts and events for the fourth quarter, which will again generate a healthy level of revenue, especially in the context of Christmas trade.

The Executive Board therefore still expects the Group’s revenue for 2023 as a whole to be significantly higher than EUR 2 billion, with normalised EBITDA at well above EUR 400 million.

CEO Klaus-Peter Schulenberg: “CTS EVENTIM offers extremely attractive content in almost all live entertainment segments and has unparalleled reach among fans of music, sport, edutainment and other live formats in Europe and beyond. Thanks to the global integration of our technologies and marketing platforms, we’re ideally positioned to monetise both our content and reach while offering fans a unique live experience that starts with their ticket purchase. As part of our strategy of international expansion, we have already integrated the French market leader, France Billet, into our operations. France Billet is a strong player and once it has been fully consolidated, we expect that it will provide another boost to our business. And once again, Christmas trade will also have a positive impact on our net profit for the year.”

For more information

Christian Colmorgen
Head of Corporate Communications
[email protected]

Investor Relations

Marco Haeckermann
Vice President Corporate Development & Strategy
Tel.: +49.421.3666.270
[email protected]