MyTicket owner Deutsche Entertainment AG (DEAG) has seen its sales revenue halve in the first six months of 2020 to €31.7m (£28.4m/$37.7m) from €63.9m in the same period last year.
In the second quarter, sales revenue fell to €5.6m, down from €38.4m in 2019. EBITDA was nearly balanced in the first half of the year and was negative €1.5m in the second quarter, compared to €2.1m in the year prior.
DEAG claims its insurance coverage and cost savings of more than 30 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2020 were the basis for its ability to withstand the effects of the COVID-19 crisis and the related slump in sales.
At the end of the first half of the year, DEAG had sold a total of around 2.5 million tickets in Germany, Switzerland and the UK, with a significant share of the tickets distributed via the group’s own ticketing platforms, MyTicket and Gigantic.com.
In recent months, the firm has also been developing new events and digital content such as the electronic festival NATURE ONE, which took place virtually in August for the first time with 4.5 million users following the livestream.
Following the high visitor turnout at its drive-in event, BW-Bank Kulturwasen in Stuttgart is now extended until the end of September, when it is projected to have drawn around 100,000 visitors. With Stage Drive in Frankfurt, DEAG also used the virtual reality format with an adapted distance and hygiene concept.
The group’s liquid funds at the end of June totalled around €50m, with significant inflows of funds ensured by the settlement of claims by the insurance company for events cancelled or postponed by force majeure.
In recent months, DEAG has already received €9m in insurance benefits, with another €5.1m in the settlement process. The insurance coverage will continue to apply without restriction for events that have already been postponed.
For future events, DEAG has good visibility of a revenue base of over €100m already after the first half of 2020. It claims nearly 90 per cent of customers have indicated that they will keep their tickets for postponed events.
Peter L.H. Schwenkow, chief executive of DEAG, said: “We are satisfied with the economic result in the first half of 2020 against the backdrop of the drastic restrictions imposed by COVID-19 on us.
“Above all, we are demonstrating operationally that DEAG can develop and implement successful events in any market environment, provided the regulatory framework allows it. I am extremely grateful to all our employees not only for their ideas, but also for their motivation and commitment to our cost reduction and efficiency programmes. Our enormous efforts are proving to be a great success.
“Due to DEAG’s strong financial resources, the time scale of the crisis is not the main focus of our considerations. On the contrary, our dense calendar of events for 2021, many millions of tickets sold and already more than €100m in contracted revenues at the end of the first half of the year make us very optimistic. For the vast majority of these revenues in the coming year, we also have full insurance coverage again, including cancellation due to force majeure.”
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