DEAG Deutsche Entertainment has witnessed positive business growth over the course of 2022, thanks to a summer of record ticket sales.
Revenue in the third quarter rose to €101.7m (£87.5m/$106m) in 2022, a 72% increase compared to the same period in pre-pandemic 2019, and a significant improvement on €16.7m in the same period the year prior.
EBITDA increased to €10.2m in the third quarter compared to €4.3m in the same period last year, and is also a 110% increase on the third quarter figure in 2019.
From a nine-month perspective, revenue amounted to €235.1m, a 91% increase compared to the same period in 2019. It is a significant rise compared to €24.1m in the same nine months last year. EBITDA for the nine months of 2022 increased to €20.3m, a 155% increase compared to the same period in 2019, and a boost compared to €13.3m in 2021.
Following the entertainment company’s positive third quarter, DEAG expects its revenue to grow to more than €300m for the full year in 2022.
DEAG’s continued M&A strategy has had a positive impact on its quarterly trading results, with the acquisition of festivals and ticketing platform, Tickets.ie, through its UK subsidiary MyTicket.
Earlier in July, DEAG boosted its festival portfolio through the acquisition of Airbeat One, a German electronic music event.
In September, DEAG acquired 85% of the shares in Berlin-based classical music festival, Classic Open Air at Gendarmenmarkt.
October saw DEAG acquire a majority stake in Psytrance/Goa festival, Indian Spirit. The festival has been held in Eldena, Germany since 1999 and is one of the largest Psytrance festivals in Europe.
DEAG’s financial results have also been boosted by the return of uninterrupted events, including ‘Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival in the UK and ‘Sion sous les étoiles’ in Switzerland. In Germany, electro music festivals ‘Nature One’, ‘Ruhr-in-Love’ and ‘Mayday’ drew around 100,000 visitors.
Professor Peter Schwenkow, chief executive of DEAG, said: “We are extremely satisfied with our performance in the third quarter. Despite a challenging economic environment overall, the excellent development in the first six months of 2022 continued with high momentum in the third quarter. We successfully staged countless concerts and events and recorded a record summer in ticketing with three million tickets sold between June and August alone.
“We are experiencing unabated high demand for tickets to events and concerts. 2022 will be a record year for DEAG. The first quarter of 2023 is already characterised by high visibility. We expect our dynamic growth to continue beyond 2022.”