By Joe Stonor
Shares in CTS Eventim popped after the German group posted market-beating first-quarter revenue, as high-profile tours and Winter Olympics ticket sales helped boost earnings.
Eventim jumped more than 11% to 62.40 euros in early afternoon European trade Friday. The stock was the sharpest riser in the Europe-wide Stoxx 600 index, though shares remain down more than 20% so far this year.
Group revenue for the quarter was 613.5 million euros ($714.8 million) compared with 498.585 million euros for the comparable period a year earlier, beating a FactSet consensus of 515.2 million euros.
Revenue in its live entertainment division rose 38% on year in the first quarter to 403.6 million euros, driven by a spate of successful tours in the U.S. and popular events in Germany. Group adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization jumped 18.5% to 118.9 million euros ($138.5 million).
A concert by film-score composer Hans Zimmer in Germany was a particularly strong driver of live entertainment earnings, Eventim's chief executive officer Klaus-Peter Schulenberg told an investor call.
The Bremen-based group handles ticketing and events for a clutch of world-famous artists. The company's share price ballooned in the glow of Taylor Swift's Eras tour, before falling back in recent months on concerns over the company's earnings outlook.
As well as ticketing and events, Eventim manages a range of European venues, including London's Apollo. The group's Unipol Dome in Milan hosted Olympic and Paralympic ice hockey for this year's winter games and drew in around 400,000 visitors, boosting the high-margin venues division, the group said.
Looking ahead, the group said the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics would generate revenue in the low-triple-digit million euros over three years.
The group reiterated its previous guidance for earnings for this year. It said in March alongside 2025 earnings that the board expected an increase in revenue and adjusted Ebitda for this year. Revenue in 2025 was 3.08 billion euros, while adjusted Ebitda was 584 million euros.
Uncertainty around demand in the event of an extended U.S.-Iran conflict is likely prompting the company to keep its guidance conservative, Baader Europe analyst Alexandre Desprez wrote in a note to clients.
Write to Joe Stonor at josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 29, 2026 07:19 ET (11:19 GMT)
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