(VIP-NEWS) — DEAG recorded strong financial performance for the financial year 2023 and – as announced previously – affirmed its position at a post-pandemic revenue level surpassing EUR 300 million.
The company’s growth trajectory has been marked by sustained high profitability, resembling levels seen in the previous year.
The positive business performance was achieved organically and without any significant catch-up effects as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, as in the previous year. This development was primarily driven by a strong ticketing business with an increasing share of recurring, predictable revenue as well as the expansion of DEAG’s event formats and the successful implementation of the buy-and-build strategy.
Preliminary figures for the financial year 2023 indicate revenue of approximately EUR 313 million, compared to EUR 324.8 million in the preceding year and EUR 185.2 million in the pre-pandemic year of 2019.
Consolidated revenue before consolidation amounted to approx. EUR 334 million in the financial year 2023, compared to approx. EUR 352 million the previous year and around EUR 197 million in financial year 2019.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) adjusted for non-recurring expenses amounted to around EUR 31 million.
These non-recurring expenses of around EUR 5 million consist of expenses for the EBITDA bonus program for DEAG executives and employees, which expired at the end of 2023, certain expenses for the successful placement of the new corporate bond 2023/2026, individual items for the preparation of the planned re-listing as well as expenses in connection with the reorganization of DEAG’s Executive Board.
The EBITDA figure of EUR 31 million mirrors that of the previous year, with both years displaying significant improvement over the 2019 figure of EUR 14.1 million.
Notably, the key financial figures for 2022 were still affected by catch-up effects from the coronavirus pandemic and funding from coronavirus aid programs.
Looking ahead to the financial year 2024, DEAG expects revenue to continue to develop positively, exceeding the forecasts for the growth in percent of the global live entertainment market and a disproportionately high improvement in EBITDA.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, DEAG generated revenue of around EUR 100 million and EBITDA was around EUR 13 million, compared to around EUR 90 million and approx. EUR 11.0 million the previous year. The good performance in the fourth quarter was driven in particular by a strong ticketing and Christmas business as well as successful in-house productions. The service business, which includes various services such as production set-up, security, and catering, also developed very well as an addition to the value chain in Live Entertainment.
DEAG now generates approx. half of its consolidated revenue with its own event formats, for which the majority of tickets are sold via the Group’s own ticketing platforms myticket.de, myticket.at, myticket.co.uk, gigantic.com, and tickets.ie. DEAG also achieved its forecast target of over 10 million tickets sold in 2023, after 9 million in 2022. For the current financial year 2024, DEAG expects an increase in tickets sold to around 11.5 million. Ticketing is one of DEAG’s growth drivers and is already making a significant contribution to the overall result. At the same time, it is increasingly profitable itself.
DEAG successfully continued its buy-and-build strategy in the reporting period and increased its stake in its subsidiary I-Motion from 50.1% to 100%. The objective of this strategy is to systematically reduce minority interests following the successful business development of its investments. DEAG also continued its international expansion and entered the Spanish Rock/Pop market. The company has also further strengthened its good market position in the UK by opening a new office in Wales.
DEAG is also reorganizing its Executive Board: The company founder and CEO of DEAG, Prof. Peter L.H. Schwenkow, has informed the Supervisory Board of DEAG that he will step down as Chairman of the Executive Board on 31 March 2024. After 46 years as CEO, Prof. Schwenkow is thus handing over the leadership role in the Group to Detlef Kornett as planned on his 70th birthday. The former co-CEO and long-standing member of the DEAG Executive Board will then lead the company as sole CEO with the existing well-established Executive Board team. Peter Schwenkow will be available to the company as “Founder & Senior Advisor” from 1 April 2024 and will continue to be linked with DEAG as a shareholder.
With Detlef Kornett (CEO), Christian Diekmann (COO), Moritz Schwenkow (CTTO), and David Reinecke (CFO), DEAG has an experienced Executive Board that will be able to draw on the expertise and network of Prof. Schwenkow as an advisor even after he has stepped down from the Board.
Prof. Peter L.H. Schwenkow, CEO and founder of DEAG: “We are once again very pleased with our development in 2023. DEAG has grown into a new dimension over the past two years and will continue on its successful path in an exciting and attractive market. I am proud to be able to continue to accompany its development as a relevant shareholder and advisor in the coming years. The captain is leaving the bridge, but not the ship!”
Detlef Kornett, future CEO of DEAG: “We are growing organically and with our buy and build strategy, the success of which we have already impressively demonstrated in recent years. Our ticketing is a dynamic driver of our growth. We are selling a steadily increasing number of tickets via our strong platforms and generating high margins. Accordingly, further sales growth and high profitability are our declared goals.”
DEAG plans to publish its Annual Financial Report for 2023 on 8 April 2024.
