German ticketer and concert promoter CTS Eventim generated revenue of 407.8 million euros ($449 million) in 2021 – half of which came from government COVID-19-related economic aid, the company announced Thursday (March 24). That was up 58.8% from 256.8 million euros ($283 million) in 2020 but less than one-third of its revenues of 1.44 billion euros ($1.54 billion) in 2019 and less than half of the 1 billion-plus euros it achieved in both 2017 and 2018.
Ticketing revenue of 224.1 million euros was 39.7% above 126.6 million euros in 2020 but less than half of pre-pandemic levels in 2018 (447.1 million euros, $492 million) and 2019 (481.6 million euros, $530 million). The segment’s revenues were helped by 112.2 million euros ($124 million) of COVID-19 economic aid from Germany and other governments. Ticketing’s normalized EBITDA was 177.1 million euros ($194 million), up from roughly 200 million euros in 2020. The number of tickets sold improved 84% to 32 million, up from 17.4 million in 2020.
CTS Eventim’s live music segment revenue of 191.1 million was up 39.7% from 136.8 million in 2020 but far below 2018 (812.5 million) and 2019 (985.8 million). The improvement was attributable to 80.8 million euros of COVID-19 economic aid compared to 19.2 million euros of aid received in 2020. The segment’s normalized EBITDA rose 49.4% to 30.9 million euros.
“Today, we look to the future with optimism. The number of events in our ticketing systems is growing day by day – clear evidence of rising optimism in the event industry,” CEO Klaus-Peter Schulenberg wrote in the annual report’s opening remarks.
CTS Eventim is increasingly looking for growth outside of Europe. In 2020, CTS Eventim founded EMC Presents, a joint venture with U.S. promoter Michael Cohl, who organized the company’s first U.S. tour by the group Genesis at the end of 2021. Also last year, it ticketed its first big U.S. client, the Big Apple Circus, which helped bring in 47.8 million euros in revenue in the U.S. during the year. CTS Eventim launched Eventim Live Asia in 2021, with a business headquartered in Singapore that will focus on Asian markets. It also acquired a majority stake in software and hardware developer simply-X and two German ticketing companies, Kölnticket and Bonnticket. It will debut a new arena in Milan, Italy in 2025 in time for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.
The company is cautious about its future, however. Despite the widespread availability of vaccines and loosening health policies, “it remains unclear to what extent live events will be permitted by the authorities in the future, and above all when major events can once again be held profitably,” the annual report reads. Germany, where CTS Eventim received over 46% of its 2021 revenue, is currently experiencing record numbers of daily COVID-19 infections. The company also sees “significant uncertainty concerning the effects of the Russia-Ukrainian war.”
2021 financial metrics
- Revenue: 407.8 million euros, up 58.8% y/y
- Ticketing revenue: 224.1 million euros, up 77.0% y/y
- Live revenue: 191.1 million euros, up 39.7% y/y
- Net income: 74.5 million euros, up 95.8 million euros y/y
Additional metrics
- Debt: 628.8 million euros, down from 641.5 million euros at Dec. 31, 2020
- Cash and cash equivalents: 289 million euros, down from 302.8 million euros at Dec. 31, 2020
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Tagged: business, CTS Eventim, Earnings, entertainment blog, Europe, music blog, Ticketing, Touring