Corporate News

DEAG achieves significant increase in revenue and earnings in excellent first half of 2022

• Revenue rises by 109% to EUR 133.4 million compared to the first half of 2019 / EBITDA at EUR 10.1 million
• International expansion course successfully continued
• Very well filled event pipeline and ticket sales at a high level
• Increase in revenue to over EUR 300 million expected for the full year 2022 / Strong start to the year 2023 already foreseeable

Berlin, 30 August 2022 – DEAG Deutsche Entertainment Aktiengesellschaft (“DEAG”) can look back on a very good operating performance for the first half of financial year 2022. Revenue rose significantly by 109% from EUR 63.9 million to EUR 133.4 million compared to the first half of the pre-crisis year 2019. EBITDA, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, increased from EUR 3.1 million to EUR 10.1 million (+226%) and thus exceeded projections. In the meantime, nearly all corona restrictions have been dropped in all of DEAG’s national markets. The companies acquired in recent years as part of DEAG’s acquisition and integration strategy, including Fane Productions, Gigantic.com and C² CONCERTS, as well as catch-up effects in the live entertainment industry after the COVID-19 pandemic declined, have also contributed to the increase in the key financial figures.

DEAG successfully staged a large number of concerts and events in the first half of 2022. These included concerts by Ed Sheeran in the UK and performances by KISS and Zucchero in Germany. In Switzerland, concerts were held with Die Ärzte, Die Toten Hosen and Iron Maiden, among others. The international literature festival “lit.COLOGNE” and Germany’s largest philosophy festival “phil.cologne” were great successes in the “Spoken Word” segment. The successful operational development of the first half-year continued throughout the rest of the year. For example, DEAG had a strong festival summer with the sold-out open-air events “Nature One,” “Belladrum” and “Sion sous les étoiles.” In the meantime, preparations for the successful “Christmas Garden” format are in full swing. The number of locations will be expanded again in the upcoming 2022/2023 season. Christmas Garden locations will be added in the two new national markets of Italy and Poland, among other places.

DEAG continued its international expansion in line with its strategy in 2022. Among other transactions, the electronic music festival “Airbeat One” was acquired. With around 60,000 visitors, “Airbeat One” is the largest electronic music festival in Northern Germany and one of the largest in Germany. Through this acquisition, DEAG is strengthening its Rock/Pop business segment and significantly expanding its business activities in the area of open-air events. DEAG expects synergy effects from the acquisition in the live entertainment and ticketing business, particularly for the DEAG Group company I-Motion, the organiser of the electronic music festival “Nature One.” DEAG plans to continue playing an active role in the consolidation of the live entertainment industry in the future and to drive its growth through M&A. One focus here is on complementary ticketing acquisitions. The company is currently engaged in concrete talks with potential acquisition targets.

DEAG has a strong financial base of over EUR 100 million. Equity amounts to around EUR 30 million. In light of this and based on the strong first half of the year, the company currently expects its revenue to increase to over EUR 300 million for the full year 2022, with a further improvement in EBITDA. The first quarter of 2023 is already characterised by high visibility and will be very strong. DEAG is confident for financial year 2022 and optimistic with regard to its development beyond 2022.

“Live is back! We are very pleased with our operational development in the first half of the year. Our teams have done a great job and held all of the events planned, despite material shortages and a lack of skilled workers in all markets. Our thanks also go to the many fans and guests at our events. After more than two years of the corona pandemic, people are eager to attend concerts and enjoy good entertainment. In some cases, visitors have kept tickets for up to three years in order to be able to be part of the restart of the event industry. With great joy and enthusiasm, we have set off the event fireworks we announced and will continue to delight visitors with top-class events in the coming months. We sold over 3 million tickets between June and August 2022 alone and expect one of the strongest third quarters in the company’s history. Especially in the current environment, we want more than ever to bring “a little happiness” to people. And we will do so many thousands of times in the months ahead,” explained Prof. Peter L.H. Schwenkow, CEO of DEAG.

The full Half-Year Financial Report will be published on 31 August 2022 in the “Investor Relations” section on the company’s website.

About DEAG

DEAG Deutsche Entertainment Aktiengesellschaft (DEAG) is a leading entertainment service company and provider of live entertainment in Europe. DEAG has been present with its Group companies at 15 locations in its core markets of Germany, the UK, Switzerland, Ireland and Denmark. As a live entertainment service provider with an integrated business model, DEAG has extensive expertise in the planning, organisation, marketing and promoting of events.

Founded in Berlin in 1978, DEAG’s core businesses today include Rock/Pop, Classics & Jazz, Family Entertainment, Arts+Exhibitions and Ticketing. Family Entertainment and Arts+Exhibitions are the elementary building blocks for the further development of DEAG’s own content.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, more than 5 million tickets were sold annually for over 4,000 events – a constantly growing share of which were sold via the Group’s own e-commerce platforms "myticket" and "Gigantic.com" for its own and third-party content.

Through its strong partner network, DEAG is excellently positioned in the market.

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