DEAG continues to invest in sustainable business development and structural change in the first nine months of 2024

Corporate News

DEAG continues to invest in sustainable business development and structural change in the first nine months of 2024

• Revenue up around 19% to EUR 252.8 million
• Very strong demand for upcoming events
• Buy & Build strategy successfully on track: good market position in the UK and in the EDM events segment in Germany further strengthened in the first nine months
• International expansion course continued as planned with market entry in Italy after the end of the reporting period
• Investment programme to expand the IT infrastructure, particularly in Ticketing, successfully implemented
• Very high event density in Q4 2024, strong revenue for full year 2024 expected

Berlin, 29 November 2024 - DEAG Deutsche Entertainment Aktiengesellschaft (“DEAG”) continued on its growth trajectory in the first three quarters of financial year 2024 despite a persistently weak macroeconomic environment. DEAG set a new historic record in terms of revenue for the first nine months of a financial year. Revenue rose by around 19% from EUR 213.3 million to EUR 252.8 million. Revenue in the third quarter rose by 33% to EUR 120.1 million (previous year: EUR 90.7 million). The company continues to expect a year-on-year increase in revenue for the full year 2024.

The reporting period was characterised by significantly higher production costs for events, which could not be fully offset by the rise in ticket prices. Storms and heavy rainfall in the summer months prevented a few open-air concerts and festivals from being held and burdened the margin. Major sports events such as the European Football Championships and the Summer Olympics were also strong competitors and had a noticeable negative impact on the live entertainment business.

DEAG invested in the company’s long-term growth strategy and future viability and forged ahead with important projects within the Group. For instance, an initial comprehensive digitalisation project has already been successfully implemented and a comprehensive investment programme has been launched to further digitalise and modernise the IT infrastructure. The focus here is on ticketing in particular. DEAG plans to interlink its ticketing platforms even more efficiently and open up new revenue channels in order to drive its organic growth.

The investments were mainly recognised as expenses in the reporting period. Expenses for the restructuring of the Executive Board and the finance department, additional funds for the ESG reporting required by regulations in the future and investments in the company’s further expansion in European growth markets such as Spain and Italy with 100% shareholdings and extraordinary expenses for the originally planned re-listing of the DEAG share led to one-off burdens on profitability. EBITDA totalled EUR 5.3 million in the reporting period after EUR 13.8 million in the same period of the previous year.

DEAG’s operational potential is reflected in the fact that, despite the challenging environment, many concerts and events were successfully organised in the reporting period and the Buy & Build strategy continued as planned. The company made a total of three acquisitions between January and September. These acquisitions strengthen DEAG’s good market position in Europe and further expand its activities in the Live Entertainment and Spoken Word & Literary Events segments. DEAG continued to implement its Buy & Build strategy after the end of the reporting period. In October, the company acquired the Italian live entertainment organiser “MC² Live S.p.A.,” thereby forging ahead with its international expansion strategy. These acquisitions will enable DEAG to realise considerable synergies in the areas of live entertainment and ticketing, as well as in the development of new locations and formats and the acquisition of artists, and reduce costs in the long term.

DEAG successfully organised more than 6,000 concerts, festivals and live events of all sizes and genres in the first nine months of the year. These included concerts and tours by AC/DC, Andreas Gabalier, UB40, Simply Red, Deep Purple, Judas Priest, Scorpions, TOTO and shows such as “Disney on Ice,” the successful large-scale arena production “Monstertruck” as well as open-air and EDM events like MAYDAY, Indian Spirit, NATURE ONE and Airbeat One, where DEAG presented artists such as Charlotte de Witte, Armin van Buren and Dimitri Vegas. In Spain, the Barcelona Rock Fest featuring Pantera and others, in Switzerland the Beatsteaks and in the UK the concerts of The Teskey Brothers and Julia Jacklin rounded off the event portfolio. David Sedaris, Yotam Ottolenghi, Miriam Margolyes and Tim Peake also impressed in the areas of Arts+ Exhibitions and the Spoken Word.

The event density in the current fourth quarter of 2024 and in the coming quarters of 2025 is high. DEAG will be organising concerts and tours in Germany and other European countries with Slipknot, The Cult, Marilyn Manson and Tream, as well as shows such as “Disney on Ice,” the children’s musical “Anouk” and the successful “An Evening with...” Spoken Word & Literary event format, which will feature the singer and acting legend Cher as a guest in an exclusive live and streaming event in the UK. This year, DEAG is also expecting the 9 millionth visitor to its 15 Christmas Garden locations since the German premiere in 2016.

Big names in the concert and touring sector in 2025 will include Stereophonics, Andrea Bocelli and Iron Maiden. DEAG also organises the tours of Till Lindemann and Böhse Onkelz, whose tickets are sold exclusively via the DEAG ticketing platform myticket. Current highlights in the Spoken Word segment in 2025 include the international literature festival lit.COLOGNE with Angela Merkel, among others, as well as readings and events with Guenther Steiner and Frank Schätzing. In the Arts+Exhibitions segment, visitors can look forward to the premiere of ‘Marilyn: The Exhibition’.

As at the end of September 2024, DEAG has sold around 8.5 million tickets for current and upcoming events, an increase of 35% compared to the previous year.

“2024 is an important year of transformation for DEAG. We have initiated and already implemented several investment programmes and continued our Buy & Build strategy despite a challenging environment for the entire industry. We made a clear commitment to these extensive investments and therefore also accepted a decline in EBITDA. We are investing heavily to sustainably drive our company’s development and offer our visitors even more unforgettable live experiences, both digitally and on site. Thanks to our strong financial structure, a diverse and high-calibre event portfolio and strong ticket sales, we are already bullish about 2025,” commented Detlef Kornett, Group CEO of DEAG.

The full Group Quarterly Financial Statement will be published on 29 November 2024 during the course of the day on the company website in the “Investor Relations” section.

About DEAG

DEAG Deutsche Entertainment Aktiengesellschaft (DEAG), a leading entertainment service company and live entertainment provider, produces and promotes live events of all genres and sizes in Europe. With its Group companies, DEAG is present at 24 locations in its core markets of Germany, the UK, Switzerland, Ireland, Denmark, Spain and Italy. As a live entertainment service provider with an integrated business model, DEAG has extensive expertise in the conceptualisation, organisation, promotion and production of live events.

Founded in Berlin in 1978, DEAG‘s core business areas today comprise Rock/Pop, including Urban and Electronic Dance Music, Classics & Jazz, Family Entertainment, the Spoken Word & Literary Events, Arts+Exhibitions, Ticketing and Entertainment Services. Live Entertainment for all generations and Arts+Exhibitions are important building blocks for the further development of DEAG‘s own content.

More than 10 million tickets for DEAG’s own and third-party content to around 6,000 events are sold each year – a steadily growing share of these are sold via the Group’s own ticketing platforms myticket.de, myticket.at, myticket.co.uk, gigantic.com and tickets.ie.

Investor & Public Relations
Axel Mühlhaus, edicto GmbH
Eschersheimer Landstraße 42
60322 Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Phone: 0049 69 905505-52
Email: deag@edicto.de