Despite the German promoter's return to profit, income is 85% less than this time last year, although there are positive signs for ticketing business myticket.de
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DEAG stays on course as revenue jumps 55% in Q1
The German-headquartered live entertainment group reported revenues of €48 million for the quarter, with ticket sales of 4m
By James Hanley on 26 May 2023
Peter Schwenkow
DEAG boss Peter Schwenkow says demand for event tickets is at “an extremely high level” after the business revealed a 55% jump in revenue for the first three months of 2023.
The German-headquartered live entertainment group reported revenues of €48 million for Q1, compared to €31m in the same period last year and €25.5m in the pre-corona year of 2019. The firm says that EBITDA of €3.1m represents almost a doubling of operating profitability, as 2022’s Q1 figure of €2.8m included significant funds from subsidy programmes.
It credited the expansion of its event formats and a diversified event pipeline for the results, as well, in addition to the companies it has acquired over the past four years. DEAG purchases in that time have included CSB Island Entertainment, Fane Productions, Gigantic.com, C² Concerts, Scottish promoter Regular Music, Ireland’s tickets.ie. platform, and German festivals Indian Spirit, Classic Open Air and Airbeat One.
The group also includes Kilimanjaro Group (UK), Wizard Promotions (DE), UK Live, My Ticket (DE, AT, UK) and Belladrum Tartan Heart festival (UK).
“Growth of more than 50% is above our plan and indicates that we are on track for a strong financial year”
“We are very pleased with the start to 2023,” says Schwenkow. “Growth of more than 50% is above our plan and indicates that we are on track for a strong financial year 2023. After the first quarter, we see ourselves on the way to achieving our annual targets of more than €300 million in revenue with a further improvement in EBITDA.”
Ticket sales reached four million, with successful productions including sold-out concerts with Ed Sheeran and Limp Bizkit, hit productions Riverdance and Disney on Ice, plus the “Christmas Gardens,” which drew two million visitors across 19 locations, and international literature festival Lit.Cologne, which pulled in 105,000 attendees.
Tens of thousands of tickets were also sold for Rammstein singer Till Lindemann’s winter 2023 European tour within the first 48 hours. DEAG has also reported strong demand for tickets for concerts in its new hip-hop and rap music segment, with 25,000 tickets sold for concerts by the likes of Samra, Tream and Jazeek – a double-digit percentage increase year-on-year.
“We have again seen demand for tickets at an extremely high level in the first three months,” notes Schwenkow. “We intend to continue developing our ticketing platforms and expand into new markets. We are in advanced discussions with potential companies and are confident that we will soon be able to announce further partners to the DEAG family. Together, we will grow, expand our event formats and bring enjoyment to visitors beyond their everyday lives.”
“One focus will be on the area of ticketing and expansion into new European markets”
DEAG is aiming to sell more than 10m tickets for around 6,000 events in 2023, with upcoming concerts including Iron Maiden, Kiss, the Scorpions, Rod Stewart, The Who and Sam Fender. More than 500,000 tickets have already been sold for its open-air festivals.
The company adds that its growth strategy continues to include the implementation of further acquisitions in the second half of the year, with several deals currently in the pipeline.
“One focus will be on the area of ticketing and expansion into new European markets,” states the report. “Due to its good operating performance and very solid financial basis, DEAG has already been able to arrange attractive financial terms for financing further business expansion in recent months.”
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