Asia

‘Clear signs of growing confidence’ says CTS Eventim chief 

CTS Eventim chief executive Klaus-Peter Schulenberg has said there are “clear signs of growing confidence within the industry” as the ticketing and live entertainment company posted a 58.8% increase in consolidated revenue for 2021.

In 2021, CTS Eventim’s consolidated revenue amounted to €407.8m (£339m/$448m) compared to the previous year’s €256.8m. This is an almost 60% increase, with a resurgence in ticket sales to thank.

Normalised EBITDA also increased in 2021 to €208m, compared to a previous loss of €2.9m the year prior. This is attributed to improved operating and Government aid programmes in Germany and other countries, which included a €157m grant from the German Government. Around €100m came from the 2020 November/December Assistance from the German Government, to offset some of the losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Consolidated revenue for the fourth quarter of last year amounted to €227.8m compared to €28.1m in 2020. Normalised EBITDA for this quarter was also an improvement at €102.6m, with the same period the year prior amounting to €14.8m.

Revenue for the ticketing segment for 2021 came in at €224.1m, a 77% increase compared to the previous year’s €126.6m. Normalised EBITDA for this section posted at €177.1m, an improvement on the €23.6m loss in 2020. In the fourth quarter for the ticketing segment, revenue rose from €19.5m the year prior to €113.5m, while normalised EBITDA increased to €85.8m compared to a loss of €11m in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Annual revenue for the live entertainment segment improved 39.7% in 2021 to €191.1m, up from €136.8m in the previous year. Normalised EBITDA for this section amounted to €30.9m compared to €20.7m the year prior. In the final financial quarter of 21, revenue amounted to €117m compared to €9.5m in the final quarter of 2020. The live entertainment segment’s normalised EBITDA for the fourth quarter totalled €16.8m, down from €25.8m.

Schulenberg said: “The number of events on offer in our ticketing systems is increasing with each new day, a clear sign of growing confidence within the events industry, and we anticipate that festivals and large-open air events will begin to resume from the second quarter onwards, after an enforced break of two years.

“These financial results provide further evidence of the strength and financial stability of the Group. 2021 was also a year in which key strategic initiatives strengthened our international position.”

Last year witnessed promoter network Eventim Live launch Eventim Live Asia in the autumn, with headquarters based in Singapore. The network will focus on markets in China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia.

CTS Eventim also entered the North American ticketing market in September last year, when it launched its eventim.com platform.

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