Features
DEAG Headed Towards Record Year
Deutsche Entertainment Aktiengesellschaft (DEAG) continued what it describes as
“very good business growth” over the course of 2022, and the third quarter is no exception.
Revenue rose to €101.7 million ($105.6 million) in the third quarter, which represents an increase of 72% compared to the same period in 2019 and a six-fold increase compared to Q3/2021, when revenue was €16.7 million ($17.3 million).
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased significantly to €10.2 million ($10.6 million) in the third quarter. “This equates to an increase of 110% compared to the figure for 2019, or an increase of 134% compared to EBITDA of EUR 4.3 million in the same period of the previous year,” according to the earnings statement.
Taking a nine-month perspective, DEAG revenue amounts to €235.1 million ($244.2 million), which mark an increase of 91% compared to the period in 2019 and a multiple compared to the nine-month revenue of €24.1 million ($25 million) in the previous year.
EBITDA in the nine-month period increased to €20.3 million ($21 million), an increase of 155% compared to the same period in 2019 and an even bigger increase compared to EBITDA of €13.3 million ($13.8 million) in the previous year.
See: DEAG Acquires Indian Spirit
As DEAG states, “the main reason for the good development of the key financial figures was the significant upturn in operating activities as a consequence of lifting most of the corona restrictions in DEAG’s national markets.
“In addition, the companies acquired by DEAG since 2019 also made a significant contribution to the good performance for the first full year.
“Furthermore, DEAG’s consistent strategic focus on its own high-margin event formats in recent years, especially in the Family Entertainment segment, and the expansion of the Group’s own ticketing platforms myticket and Gigantic Tickets for its own and third-party content, through which a large share of ticket sales is processed, have also paid off.”
In light of the positive performance to date and what DEAG describes as “strong operating development in the fourth quarter,” the live entertainment giant confirms its expectations for revenue growth to more than €300 million ($312 million) with a further improvement in EBITDA for the full year 2022.
Amongst DEAG’s recent mergers and acquisitions are the electronic music festival Airbeat One and the Classic Open Air am Gendarmenmarkt, one of the most renowned classical and crossover events in Germany, expanding DEAG’s range of events in the rock, pop, classical and jazz divisions with all the expected synergy effects in the live entertainment and ticketing business segments from next year on.
Among DEAG’s many successful events and concerts in the reporting period, are the sold-out Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival in the UK, and Sion sous les étoiles in Switzerland. In Germany, the electronic music festivals Nature One, Ruhr-in-Love and Mayday were revenue generators, drawing around 100,000 visitors combined.
DEAG’s portfolio currently comprises more than 30 annual festivals lasting either one or more days, and attracting more than 580,000 visitors in Germany, the UK, Switzerland, and Ireland combined.
See: DEAG Acquires Irish Ticketing Platform
The current fourth quarter is dominated by the Christmas business, one of DEAG’s strong suits, including event formats such as its Christmas Circuses, Christmas Markets, as well as the highly successful “Christmas Garden” format, which now takes place across 19 locations, ten in Germany and nine in other European countries.
Prof. Peter L.H. Schwenkow, CEO of DEAG, commented, “We are extremely satisfied with our performance in the third quarter. Despite a challenging economic environment overall, the excellent development in the first six months of 2022 continued with high momentum in the third quarter. We successfully staged countless concerts and events and recorded a record summer in ticketing with three million tickets sold between June and August alone.
“We are experiencing unabated high demand for tickets to events and concerts. 2022 will be a record year for DEAG. The first quarter of 2023 is already characterized by high visibility. We expect our dynamic growth to continue beyond 2022.”