CTS Eventim remains positive for 2021 despite reporting a revenue fall of more than 82 per cent in 2020 to €256.8m (£221m/$305m), which was down from €1.4bn the prior year.
The Berlin-based ticketing and live entertainment company saw normalised EBITDA come in at -€2.9m, down from a positive €286.5m the year prior.
Eventim said its prompt response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including “rigorous” cutbacks, income from insurance compensation and government grants to cover payroll and overhead costs, also and especially in countries outside Germany, acted as a cushion and reportedly saved a “double-digit million figure.”
Klaus-Peter Schulenberg, chief executive of CTS Eventim, said: “With our full-scale cost management from the very beginning of the crisis and thanks to our prudent economic management in the years before, we see ourselves as superbly positioned when live shows return to concert halls and our business revives.
“In view of the increasing availability of vaccines and rapid tests, and the progress of vaccination campaigns, there are good prospects that our industry can start getting back to normal over the next few months.”
In the fourth quarter of 2020, group revenues were 92 per cent lower year-on-year at €28.1m, as normalised EBITDA amounted to €14.8m, down from €109.5m in 2019.
Revenue in the ticketing segment for the whole of 2020 was 73.7 per cent lower year-on-year, at €126.6m, while ticketing’s normalised EBITDA fell year-on-year from €220.4m to -€23.6m. This includes €10m in compensation paid by insurance companies.
In the fourth quarter of 2020, ticketing revenue fell 88.9 per cent from €174.7m to €19.5m, while normalised EBITDA came in at -€11m.
Eventim’s live entertainment segment saw revenue fall by 86.1 per cent year-on-year in 2020, at €136.8m.
The firm said it is safeguarding further liquidity by implementing promoter voucher schemes. Its financial foundations, which remain “very robust even after a year of pandemic”, is manifested by the €741.2m in cash and cash equivalents at the end of 2020.
“Never at any stage did we experience any kind of shock paralysis,” Schulenberg continued. “It was clear to us from the very beginning that, with our outstanding teams, we will emerge from this crisis stronger than before, by continuously extending our core competencies in technology and industry know-how.”
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