CTS Eventim ‘Still Superbly Positioned’ After 82% YOY Revenue Drop

Group revenue in 2020 fell 82.2% to €256.8 million ($306 million), compared to €1.44 billion ($1.63 billion) generated in the record year 2019. Normalized EBITDA came in at €-2.9 million down from the staggering €286.5 million ($325 million) in 2019.

According to the earnings statement, the fall in revenues and earnings was cushioned by “rigorous cutbacks, income from insurance compensation and government grants to cover payroll and overhead costs, also and especially in countries outside Germany.”

Group revenues in the fourth quarter of 2020 stood at €28.1 million ($33.5 million), a 92.4% decline compared to Q4/2019, when revenues were €368.6 million ($460 million). Normalized EBITDA amounted to €14.8 million (Q4/2019: €109.5 million).

Looking at ticketing only, CTS Eventim turned over €126.6 million ($150 million) in 2020, compared to €481.6 million ($573 million) in 2019, which marks a 73.7% drop. Normalized EBITDA fell from €220.4 million to €-23.6 million. According to the company’s earnings report, “this includes €10 million in compensation paid by insurance companies.”

In the fourth quarter of 2020, ticketing revenue dropped 88.9% from €174.7 million ($208 million) to €19.5 million ($23.2 million), while normalized EBITDA came in at €-11.0 million, compared to €101.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Looking at CTS Eventim’s promotion business, revenues in 2020 stood at €136.8 million ($163 million), a 86.1% drop, compared to the €985.8 million ($1.17 billion) generated in then record year 2019.

Q4/2020 showed revenues of €9.5 million ($11 million), a 95.4% decline from €204.4 million ($243.5 million) in Q4/2019. Normalized EBITDA in the live entertainment segment even increased to €25.8 million, compared to €8.3 million in Q4/2019.

According to the earnings report, “CTS Eventim responded promptly to the pandemic by adjusting its cost structure and boosting its efficiency even further, thus saving a double-digit million figure. Investments were also reduced to a minimum. 

“In key European markets, furthermore, CTS Eventim is safeguarding further liquidity by implementing promoter voucher schemes. The company’s financial foundations, which remain very robust even after a year of pandemic, is manifested by the €741.2 million in cash and cash equivalents at the end of 2020.”

The company is focusing on culture and live events restarting in 2021. CTS Eventim CEO Klaus-Peter Schulenberg commented, “With our full-scale cost management from the very beginning of the crisis and thanks to our prudent economic management in the years before, we see ourselves as superbly positioned when live shows return to concert halls and our business revives.

“In view of the increasing availability of vaccines and rapid tests, and the progress of vaccination campaigns, there are good prospects that our industry can start getting back to normal over the next few months,” he said, reiterating the points he made in a recent interview with Pollstar.

“Our finances have always been solid, we always made sure not to enter into incalculable deals and avoided the accumulation of debt to the greatest extent possible. It is the reason we’ve been able to lead our staff through this crisis. We haven’t laid off one employee in the context of corona,” he told us when interviewed for a big CTS Eventim special in Pollstar’s Magna Charta Special Issue, where Eventim Live ranked second worldwide and first in Europe in 2020 on Pollstar’s top promoters charts.

In it, Schulenberg also talked about his company’s software solutions developed to give audience, artists and staff “a high level of safety.” The list of software tools includes algorithms that control the allocation of seats, making sure distances are maintained, Eventim CheckIn, where visitors can enter their details prior to an event or at the gate, as well as technology to support the allocation of vaccination appointments.

“We’re doing all we can to leave this pandemic behind us as fast as possible,” said Schulenberg.

CTS Eventim has been expanding its promoter network throughout the crisis. In 2020 the company established the Gadget abc Entertainment Group in Switzerland, signed a partnership deal with legendary U.S. promoter Michael Cohl, and acquired a majority stake in the Barracuda Group in Austria. 

In 2021, CTS Eventim added the newly formed DreamHaus concert agency headed by Matt Schwarz, bringing the total number of promoters united under Eventim Live to 36, spread out across 15 countries in Europe and the UK.

New ticketing partnership include the European Handball Championships in 2022 and 2024, and next year’s European Basketball Championships. What is more, Eventim Sports has signed “long-term partnership agreements for ticketing and other services” with German Bundesliga soccer clubs Werder Bremen and Hannover 96.

Said company CEO Klaus-Peter Schulenberg: “Never at any stage did we experience any kind of shock paralysis. It was clear to us from the very beginning that, with our outstanding teams, we will emerge from this crisis stronger than before, by continuously extending our core competencies in technology and industry know-how.’