Eventim’s Crumb Of Comfort

CTS stockholders who’ve seen the price tumble by a third in the last nine months may get a crumb of comfort from the fact the German company has just announced a euro 0.49 per share dividend.

The main beneficiary will be CTS Eventim chief Klaus-Peter Schulenberg, by far the biggest shareholder, with a shade more than half of the stock. But he’s also been the biggest loser, as the price dropped from a 52-week high of euro 36.98 to level at about euro 25.

The dividend payment will still see him pocket euro 5.8 million.

The damage to CTS shares was done last July when financial analysts from SES Research said the price was way too high. Despite some encouraging figures, the frail state of the German markets has left it unable to recover the ground.

At the May 15 shareholders’ meeting the management and supervisory boards will recommend the dividend. As CTS has 24 million shares, the total payout will come to euro 11.8 million.

In 2007 the company generated euro 384.4 million in revenues and made euro 46.8 million before interest and tax, which was 2.4 percent more profit than it had made when it had the exclusive ticketing deal for the World Cup soccer in 2006.

The annual report was published March 31, although the 2007 figures were released a month ago.