DEAG: Growth in revenue and earnings in line with plan in Q1 2025 – strong start to financial year 2025

Corporate News

DEAG: Growth in revenue and earnings in line with plan in Q1 2025 – strong start to financial year 2025

• Revenue in the first quarter of 2025 rises significantly year-over-year to EUR 67.0 million
• EBITDA sets a new benchmark for a first-quarter performance at EUR 3.5 million
• Ticket sales reached new all-time highs – solid basis for the rest of the financial year
• Outlook confirmed: strong growth in earnings and a moderate increase in revenue expected for full-year 2025

Berlin, 28 May 2025 – The strategic measures taken during the previous year of transformation are beginning to show initial effects: DEAG Deutsche Entertainment Aktiengesellschaft (“DEAG”) once again significantly increased its revenue in a strong first quarter of 2025, while also achieving significant growth in earnings. Both revenue and EBITDA marked their strongest first-quarter performance to date. This positive development was broadly based and accompanied by a further increase in ticket volume, which rose by 15% compared to the same quarter of the previous year and was largely processed via the Group’s ticketing platforms.

Revenue rose to EUR 67.0 million in the first quarter of the year. This represents an increase of 29.6% compared to EUR 51.7 million in the prior-year period. EBITDA improved by 20.7% to EUR 3.5 million, up from EUR 2.9 million in the previous year.

This positive development was driven by all of DEAG’s business segments. The Group companies acquired in 2023 and 2024 as part of the Buy & Build strategy also made a significant positive contribution to the strong EBITDA. Their integration continues to strengthen DEAG’s market position in the long term and contributes to the further diversification of its business. As part of the company’s ongoing development, the structure of the management board is being realigned to reflect the strategic decisions made during the preceding year of transformation: Christian Diekmann will step down from the Executive Board and leave the Group on 31 May 2025 for personal reasons and by mutual agreement. The Executive Board and Supervisory Board sincerely thank Mr. Diekmann for his many years of dedicated service, particularly during his 19 years on the Executive Board. Going forward, DEAG will be managed by a Executive Board of three members, supported by an experienced team of Executive Vice Presidents driving the company’s ongoing strategic growth.

With more than 5.6 million tickets already sold at the end of the first quarter for events in 2025 in DEAG’s national markets – an increase of over 700,000 tickets compared to the same quarter last year – the company has a strong foundation for the rest of the financial year.

The event pipeline is extremely well filled: Among the attractions for the upcoming quarters of 2025 are tours and stadium concerts by Ed Sheeran, Sam Fender, and the Stereophonics. The arena tours by Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. Live events such as Cirque du Soleil in Geneva, exclusive concerts by the legendary R&B singer Macy Gray, and Spoken Word and Literary Events including formats like “An Evening with...,” featuring prominent guests such as Priscilla Presley, Formula 1 legend Günther Steiner, former Formula 1 drivers Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard, and the astronaut and bestselling author Colonel Chris Hadfield. In addition, the Colombian singer-songwriter and eight-time Latin Grammy Award winner Juan Fernando Fonseca will provide Latin American rhythms, and the GIANNI VERSACE Retrospective at Arches London Bridge will transport visitors into the unique world of the fashion designer.

Summer is once again festival season, with popular events such as Sion sous les Ètoiles, the Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival, the 30th anniversary of NATURE ONE, Indian Spirit, and the Kessel Festival featuring Deichkind, Bosse, and many other artists. Classical music fans will be in their element at concerts by the Berlin Philharmonic, Lang Lang, Hans Zimmer Live, and, for the first time again, at the Classic Open Air on Berlin’s Gendarmenmarkt. The fourth quarter is also packed with concerts and tours by music greats such as Marilyn Manson, Sabaton, Simply Red, Till Lindemann, Böhse Onkelz, and Tream, as well as the Christmas Garden. DEAG plans to sell a total of 12 million tickets to its events in 2025, thereby surpassing the strong previous year by around 1 million tickets.

The excellent start to the year, the strong event pipeline with a large number of tickets already sold, and the positive effects of last year’s package of measures confirm DEAG’s confidence for the year as a whole. Accordingly, the outlook is confirmed, with a strong increase in earnings and a moderate increase in revenue expected for 2025 compared to the previous year.

Detlef Kornett, Group CEO of DEAG: “The first quarter marked a perfect start to the year for DEAG. The first few months of the current year have already demonstrated that we offer an outstanding portfolio of events for our audiences across Europe and that our investments in growth and strategic transformation projects have set the right course. These measures are already delivering initial economic success in the current year. We will continue to focus on this in the future.”

The Group’s quarterly financial statement is available for download on the DEAG website www.deag.de in the “ Investor Relations” section.

About DEAG

DEAG Deutsche Entertainment AG ("DEAG"), founded in Berlin in 1978, is a leading provider of Live Entertainment, Ticketing, and Entertainment Services in Europe.

With group companies at 24 locations, DEAG is present in its core markets of Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Switzerland, Denmark, Spain, and Italy. As a Live Entertainment service provider with an integrated business model and a strong international partner network, DEAG has extensive expertise in the conception, organisation, promotion, and production of live events of all genres and sizes.

The Live Entertainment segment includes the core business areas of Music – covering Rock/Pop, including Urban and Electronic Dance Music, Classics & Jazz – and Non-Music, such as Spoken Word & Literary Events and Family Entertainment. Every year, DEAG organises over 6,000 live events and sells more than 10 million tickets, a steadily growing share of which are sold via the DEAG Group's ticketing platforms: myticket.de, myticket.at, myticket.co.uk, gigantic.com and tickets.ie.

Live Entertainment for all generations and target groups, the development of international markets, and the strengthening of the ticketing area are central building blocks of DEAG’s ongoing development.

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