DEAG garners €132.7m in H1 to buck European trend

DEAG has delivered a positive financial report for the first half of 2024, with revenue up to €132.7 million despite a challenging economic environment in Europe.

Revenue in the reporting period rose by 8.2% from €122.7m in the same period last year, while EBITDA of €3.1m was down from the previous year’s €5.1m but in line with planning. The dip has been attributed to expenses in connection with the reorganisation of the executive board and integration costs for companies acquired, plus investments in its IT infrastructure related to ticketing.

“DEAG increased its revenue, further expanded its own event formats, successfully continued its Buy & Build strategy and recorded strong ticketing business,” it says in a statement. “The company is therefore optimistic for the second half of 2024 with a high density of events. With a high level of available liquidity of €97 million at the end of the first half of 2024, DEAG has a solid financial basis for a successful, expansive development.”

The company notes that the results come amid a reporting period in Germany characterised by “a decline in economic output and restrained private consumer spending”. It adds that the Euro 2024 football tournament, hosted by the country in June and July, also led to a decline in demand for other leisure and entertainment events.

However, DEAG says its festivals – particularly those in the EDM segment – have held up well in the face of a tough market, which has suffered further from extreme weather. Festival brands under its umbrella include NATURE ONE, Airbeat One, Ruhr-in-Love, Sion sous les étoiles and Belladrum Tartan Heart, which have drawn a combined 800,000 fans this summer.

It has also staged successful concerts and tours by artists such as AC/DC, Andreas Gabalier, Alice Cooper and UB 40, as well as family events including Disney on Ice and the Harlem Globetrotters.

“We defied the difficult market environment in the first half of the year,” says DEAG Group CEO Detlef Kornett. “Unfortunately, the bad weather affected some of our events, which is also reflected in our key financial figures. However, we remain confident for the second half of the year and for 2024 as a whole.”

“Despite the challenges mentioned, we expect revenue to continue to rise and EBITDA to at least the previous year’s level for the year as a whole”

Former co-CEO Kornett took sole leadership of the Berlin-headquartered firm in the spring after founder Peter Schwenkow moved to an advisory role. DEAG has a busy slate of concerts by the likes of Craig David, Lenny Kravitz, James Blunt, Slipknot, Fontaines D.C. and Böhse Onkelz lined up for the second half of 2024.

“DEAG’s second half of the year will be strong, as expected, our event programme is diversified and our calendar of events is tightly packed. Visitors can look forward to hundreds of great events of all genres and sizes. We are also investing heavily in staff, new technologies and our platforms in order to further improve the customer experience and offer our customers first-class entertainment.

“Despite the challenges mentioned, we expect revenue to continue to rise and EBITDA to at least the previous year’s level for the year as a whole.”

DEAG entered the Spanish market in late 2023 with the launch of subsidiary Get Rock Live (GRL), and continued its international expansion by acquiring three companies in the first six months of 2024 and acquired three companies, starting with Black Mamba Event & Marketing – organiser of longstanding electronic music festival Sputnik Spring Break.

In the UK, it enhanced its presence in the spoken word and literary sphere with the acquisition of How to Academy, and l also took a majority stake in live promoter and producer ShowPlanr.” It also spun off its hip-hop booking division into a standalone brand called District Live.

DEAG says it intends to further grow its M&A activities and is currently in “promising talks” with a number of companies, with a particular focus on ticketing and further expansion into other European countries. At last count, the number of tickets to concerts and events it has sold in 2024 and 2025 was up 18% to 5.8 million, with an increase to around 11m expected for the year as a whole.

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