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CTS Eventim’s 2021 Financials Driven By ‘Resurgence In Ticket Sales’
CTS Eventim has published its 2021 financial report, showing a 58.8% revenue increase compared to 2020, and placing the live entertainment giant’s leadership in an optimistic mood for 2022.
CTS Eventim CEO Klaus-Peter 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.”
The company’s 2021 financial report states that consolidated group revenue came to €407.8 million ($449 million) in 2021, an increase of 58.8% from the previous year (€256.8 million). The increase “was driven mainly by a resurgence in ticket sales, with top artists such as Ed Sheeran, Genesis and Udo Lindenberg among the bestsellers,” according to the financial statement.
Normalized EBITDA for 2021 rose to €208 million ($229 million) from a loss of €2.9 million ($3.2 million) in the previous year, thanks to “cost savings, an improved operating business and extensive government aid programs introduced in Germany and other countries.”
The financial report reveals that CTS Eventim received around €157 million ($173 million) in government grants.
Looking at the fourth quarter of 2021 only, consolidated group revenue was up to €227.8 million ($251 million), compared to €28.1 million ($31 million) in the equivalent period of 2020. Normalized EBITDA for the quarter amounted to €102.6 million ($113 million), up from €14.8 million ($16.3 million) in the previous year.
CTS Eventim Q3 Results: Major Presales Lead To Ticket Revenue Surge
As usual, CTS Eventim’s financial report breaks down revenues by its two main business segments, ticketing and live entertainment.
In the ticketing segment, revenue for 2021 as a whole improved by 77% from €126.6 million ($139.4 million) in the previous year to €224.1 million ($246.7 million). Normalized EBITDA stood at €177.1 million ($195 million), following a loss of €23.6 million ($26 million) in 2020.
The returning confidence in fans really became apparent in the fourth quarter of 2021, when revenues increased to €113.5 million ($125 million) from €19.5 million ($21.5 million) the previous year – an increase by 83%. Normalized EBITDA in Q4/2021 rose to €85.8 million ($94.5 million) from a loss of €11 million ($12 million) in the previous year’s period.
Annual revenue in the live entertainment segment rose by 39.7% from €136.8 million ($150 million0 in 2020 to €191.1 million ($210.4 million) in 2021. Normalized EBITDA for the segment came to €30.9 million ($34 million), up from €20.7 million ($22.8 million) the year prior.
In the last three months of the reporting year, revenue generated by CTS Eventim’s promotion business improved to €117 million ($129 million), compared with €9.5 million ($10.5 million) in the final quarter of 2020. The segment’s normalized EBITDA for the fourth quarter totaled €16.8 million ($18.5 million) down from last year’s €25.8 million ($28.4 million).
Said Schulenberg, “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.”
Some of these strategic initiatives include the launch of Eventim Live Asia (ELA) last autumn. The new business unit will focus on the growing live entertainment markets in China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines.
See: Eventim Live Asia Appoints Samantha Tzovolos As MD, Mike Galt As SVP Touring
The launch of ELA followed the joint venture EMC Presents, established with U.S. promoter Michael Cohl in 2020. EMC Presents organized the final tour dates of Genesis in the States, the first U.S. tour in CTS Eventim’s history as a promoter.
CTS Eventim also entered “the highly attractive North American ticketing market,” in September 2021, when it launched eventim.com. As stated in the company’s 2021 financial report, “the objective is to establish an alternative to the dominant providers in the United States and Canada. The platform eventim.com puts the company in an ideal position to benefit from the restart of live entertainment in this market.”
The group’s current flagship project is the construction of a multipurpose arena in Milan, which will be “the largest and most innovative of its kind in Italy,” by CTS Eventim’s own admission. Scheduled for completion in autumn 2025, the arena will accommodate up to 16,000 people and have more than 10,000 square meters of outdoor space for open-air events. Construction is set to begin in autumn 2022. If everything goes to plan, the arena’s first event will be the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, which will also be when CTS Eventim takes over operation of the arena.
See: CTS Eventim Acquires Majority Stake In Digital Event Management Experts Simply-X
While the board of CTS Eventim is optimistic about the company’s 2022 prospects for 2022, it does not feel able to give precise guidance for the year. “This is due to ongoing uncertainty about the future trajectory of the coronavirus pandemic and to the unpredictable nature of the current geopolitical situation,” the report summary concludes.