DEAG plans further EU expansion for strong H2

German live event powerhouse Deutsche Entertainment AG (DEAG) forges on with its buy-and-build strategy, after reporting a decline in sales for the first half (H1) of 2019.

Despite reporting a strong start to 2019, sales in the first half of the year are down, with operating earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation (EBITDA) also decreasing, from €4.2 million in 2018 to €3.1m.

In its 2019 H1 financial report, DEAG attributes the decline in sales of almost 46%, from €118m in H1 2018 to €63.9m, to the “’seasonal postponement’ of certain events”. For example, DEAG organised twelve high revenue-generating Ed Sheeran shows in the second quarter of last year, whereas the company’s six Sheeran concerts in 2019 fall in the third quarter.

DEAG attributes the decline in sales to the “seasonal postponement of certain events”

Q3 2019 is forecast to be successful all round, with concerts by Böhse Onkelz, Foreigner, Stereophonics, Limp Bizkit and Toto expected to contribute to revenues of €55m, 60% more than the same period last year.

DEAG also says it plans to continue its 2019 buying spree, adding to recently acquired controlling stakes in Stuttgart-based C2 Concerts, Swiss concert organisers LMP and LME, LiveStyle’s German arm I-Motion and Schlager powerhouse Mewes Entertainment.

Finally, the use of the DEAG-owned MyTicket platform to distribute more than half a million tickets will also contribute to “one of the strongest fourth quarters in company history”.

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DEAG acquires Schlager powerhouse Mewes Entertainment

Deutsche Entertainment AG (DEAG) has acquired a majority stake in Mewes Entertainment Group, a booking agency and artist management company representing some of Germany’s best-known Schlager and folk music (Volksmusik) artists.

Among the acts Mewes Entertainment represents are septuagenarian pop singer-actress Mary Roos, lion-taming Vegas mainstays Siegfried and Roy, and Heino, one of Germany’s most popular Schlager performers, who has sold more than 50 million records since the 1960s. (For the uninitiated, Schlager – literally “hit” – is a genre of sentimental, traditional German pop, whose practitioners are sometimes compared to English-speaker crooners like Tom Jones, “although it is hard to imagine Heino ever having been showered with women’s panties on stage”, notes Der Spiegel).

The company, now 51% owned by DEAG, also offers event planning and production services for music and comedy, including conception, sound and light, catering and marketing.

Mewes Entertainment founder Jan Mewes says: “In DEAG, I have a strong partner at my side. Many of my network contacts have had very good experiences with DEAG and [CEO] Peter Schwenkow in the past. So, it was only a matter of time until I jumped on board the train.

“I would like to thank the company for its trust. I look forward to working with them and am convinced that we can benefit from each other in the long term.”

“I am convinced that we can benefit from each other in the long term”

Mewes is a multiple German Live Entertainment Award (LEA) winner, having picked up manager of the year in 2014 and show of the year in 2017, for Nutten Koks und Frische Erdbeeren with Mary Roos and Wolfgang Trepper. He also books German shows for artists including Robbie Williams, Mark Forster and Revolverheld.

DEAG is already active in the Schlager/Volksmusik sector, and took full control of Schlager promoter Gold Entertainment in 2017.

“Jan Mewes brings along very good and long-standing expertise in the area of pop and Volksmusik,” says Schwenkow. “I look forward to working with him.

“With his broad network and our structural resources, we will create additional synergies for DEAG. The joint content will be [ticketed via DEAG-owned] MyTicket, so our ticketing business will also benefit from this investment.”

Berlin-based DEAG revealed earlier this month it had sold 110,000 tickets for its open-air events this summer, bolstered by other recent acquisitions.

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