BERMIN, Germany (VIP-NEWS) — German-based CTS Eventim achieved significant growth in revenue and earnings in the first six months of 2018.
Group revenue rose 24.2 percent year-on-year to EUR 606.6 million (HY1/2017: EUR 488.5 million), exceeding the half-billion mark for the first time ever in this reporting period.
Normalised EBITDA climbed 12.5 percent to EUR 94.1 million (HY1/2017: EUR 83.7 million).
CEO Klaus-Peter Schulenberg commented “CTS Eventim has maintained its strong growth in the first half of 2018. In addition to our strong Live Entertainment business, our online ticketing operations played a major role here. Even though also due to the FIFA World Cup, in many countries there were fewer presales for major tours than in 2017, we improved our web ticketing volume by almost ten percent. This is a clear indication that we are well-equipped for further growth – not only in our present markets, but also beyond.”
In the Ticketing segment, revenue rose 3.1 percent to EUR 183.4 million (HY1/2017: EUR 177.8 million), even though there were fewer presales for major tours with higher ticket price levels than the year before. Normalised EBITDA, at EUR 65.6 million, was slightly higher year-on-year (HY1/2017: EUR 65.5 million), despite expenses for implementing the General Data Protection Regulation.
CTS Eventim sold a total of 22.4 million tickets via its own web shops in the first six months of 2018, a growth rate of 9.4 percent year-on-year (HY1/2017: 20.4 million tickets). Hence, the market-induced lower number of tours and events with particularly high margins was more than offset by the growth of CTS Eventim`s digital and mobile ticketing platforms – in terms of both revenue and earnings.
Thanks to strong double-digit growth rates, the Live Entertainment segment achieved record figures for both revenue and earnings. While revenue rose by 36.0 percent to EUR 429.1 million (HY1/2017: EUR 315.5 million), normalised EBITDA improved by no less than 57.4 percent to EUR 28.5 million (HY1/2017: EUR 18.1 million). Both figures were driven, among other factors, by a greater number of tours and events involving large audiences and high sales revenue. The new `Holiday on Ice` tour and acquisitions of concert and festival promoters also had positive impacts.
In the first six months of the year, CTS Eventim continued its international expansion by taking over the promoters D`Alessandro e Galli, Vivo Concerti (both from Italy) and Doctor Music (Spain).
In view of the encouraging growth figures for the first six months of 2018, CTS Eventim continues to expect revenue and normalized EBITDA to be higher for the full year as well.
In 2017 the company achieved record-breaking results, including revenue in excess of one billion Euro for the first time ever.
