DGAP-News: DEAG Deutsche Entertainment Aktiengesellschaft: DEAG: Sales soar in first quarter of 2022 - positive EBITDA and already profitable Ticketing segment in the traditionally weaker first quarter

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DEAG: Sales soar in first quarter of 2022 - positive EBITDA and already profitable Ticketing segment in the traditionally weaker first quarter

- Sales leap from EUR 1.1 million to EUR 31 million

- Strong financial position with around EUR 122 million in available liquidity

- 2022 sales set to massively exceed pre-corona level and EBITDA to rise sharply

- Strong start to 2023 also already foreseeable

Berlin, 16 May 2022 – DEAG Deutsche Entertainment Aktiengesellschaft (“DEAG”) reports on the basis of preliminary results and also announces its return back operationally with a large number of events and thus strong figures in the first quarter of 2022: In the first three months of 2022, sales of around EUR 31 million were generated. Operating sales in the same period of last year were EUR 1.1 million and reported sales EUR 4.0 million. Sales returned to pre-Corona levels in the first quarter 2022 and even increased compared to the first quarter 2018 (EUR 27 million) and 2019 (EUR 25.5 million). The increase in operating sales of around 2,700 percent compared to the previous year is the result of the rapidly progressing normalisation and thus a large number of events in all of DEAG’s national markets. Ticket sales for future events are also developing very positively. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in the first quarter of 2022 were around EUR 2.8 million (previous year: EUR 2.4 million) and thus considerably higher than planned. For the first time in DEAG’s history, the Ticketing segment was profitable in the traditionally weaker first quarter. This confirms the high potential of this segment and supports the strong growth envisaged in the current year. Overall, this is set to continue in financial year 2022: Sales for the full year are expected to multiply year-on-year and significantly exceed pre-corona levels. In terms of EBITDA, a clear growth trend is also emerging for 2022.

DEAG held its successful Christmas Garden format, among other events, in the first quarter of 2022. In the 2021/2022 season, which lasted until mid-January 2022, a total of around 1.9 million visitors were counted at 18 locations in Germany, the UK, Spain and France. Due to high demand and good capacity utilisation, the Christmas Garden was extended into the first quarter of 2022 at several venues. The international literature festival lit.COLOGNE counted more than 150 individual events, attracting over 70,000 visitors. In addition, DEAG organised very successful concerts by Simply Red and Texas in the UK and Bonnie Tyler in Switzerland, among other events, from January to the end of March 2022. The coming months will be characterised by the strong concert business and ticket sales at an extremely high level, a large share of which will be handled via DEAG’s own Group ticketing platforms, “MyTicket” and “Gigantic.com.” The electronic festival “Mayday – 30 Years” took place at the Westfalenhallen in Dortmund in April 2022. With over 15,000 visitors, this event was the first major German event since the pandemic. Dita von Teese's most elaborate burlesque show to date, "Glamonatrix," which toured the UK, was also a resounding success. DEAG has already sold more than 6.3 million tickets for events in its core markets for the coming quarters. On the basis of ticket sales and the bulging event pipeline, a continuation of the successful course is already in sight for the start of 2023.

DEAG took advantage of the serious interruption in the live entertainment business in recent years to drive its international expansion strategy further. This process will continue in 2022: The internationally active concert promoter A.C.T. Artist Agency GmbH was fully acquired in April 2022. DEAG expects this to generate synergy effects in the live entertainment sector and for the ticketing business. In addition, the “Spoken Word” segment, which includes author readings, theatre performances and poetry slams, was strengthened further: DEAG subsidiary Fane Productions took over the English subscriber service LoveMyRead in April, thus expanding its direct sales offering. In the future, DEAG plans to play an active role in the consolidation of the live entertainment industry in Europe and to continue to drive its growth through M&A. A focus will be on complementary acquisitions in the ticketing sector as well as expansion into new European markets.

“Finally! Following the paralysis of the entire live entertainment industry caused by corona, we can shift into forward gear operationally once again and do what we burn for: to host exciting events. The audience reactions and our first quarter figures show that we are extremely successful with this. We increased our operating sales by a factor of twenty-eight, a result that we owe entirely to our operational strength. Our EBITDA is also clearly positive. The COVID-19-related conditions have since eased further, so we will be burning off event fireworks in the coming quarters. For example, we will stage concerts with stars such as KISS, Ed Sheeran in the UK, Iron Maiden, Zucchero, Die Toten Hosen, Anna Netrebko and Die Ärzte, as well as open-air festivals such as NATURE ONE, Belladrum and “Sion sous les étoiles.” We are excellently positioned for the restart of the industry. In 2022 as a whole, we will massively increase our sales and even significantly exceed the pre-corona level,” commented Prof. Peter L.H. Schwenkow, CEO of DEAG.

The Quarterly Statement as of 31 March 2022 will be available for download on the company’s website in the “Investor Relations” section as of 18 May 2022.

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.

Up until 2019 – 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 as an internationally active Live Entertainment service provider.

Investor & Public Relations

Axel Mühlhaus, edicto GmbH

Eschersheimer Landstraße 42

60322 Frankfurt am Main

Phone: 0049 69 905505-52

email: [email protected]