DEAG Deutsche Entertainment AG announced record financial results for the 2025 fiscal year, with revenue rising approximately 33% to EUR 490.0 million and EBITDA more than doubling to EUR 32.1 million. The company also sold over 12 million tickets, an all-time high, providing strong visibility for the remainder of the current financial year. These results underscore DEAG's successful execution of its buy-and-build strategy and its ability to capitalize on the recovering live entertainment market.
The EBITDA margin improved significantly from 3.9% to 6.6%, reflecting enhanced profitability. Fourth-quarter revenue alone reached EUR 167.2 million, a 42.9% increase year-over-year. By the end of 2025, DEAG had already sold approximately 3 million tickets for 2026 events, securing EUR 151.5 million in future revenue. This advance sales momentum gives the company a solid foundation and high planning reliability for the coming months.
DEAG continued its buy-and-build strategy, acquiring a majority stake in the ROCKHARZ Festival, the largest rock and metal festival in eastern Germany with over 25,000 annual visitors. Internationally, its Italian subsidiary MC2 Live reported exceptionally strong performance in its first full year post-acquisition. The company also increased its stakes in Fane Productions, a leader in spoken word and literary events, and the UK ticketing platform gigantic.com to 100%, as planned.
In 2025, DEAG organized numerous high-profile concerts and tours, including Ed Sheeran, Iron Maiden, and Till Lindemann, whose European tour sold over 190,000 tickets. The company's event series "An Evening with…" and the lit.COLOGNE literature festival were major successes, as were its Christmas Gardens, which attracted around 1.6 million visitors. The festival season featured events like Indian Spirit, NATURE ONE, and Belladrum Tartan Heart.
The current 2026 financial year is also event-rich, with tours from artists such as Judas Priest, Die Toten Hosen, and Gorillaz, as well as events like "Monster Jam" at Schalke arena and "The Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring in Concert" with the London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. DEAG has continued its M&A activity in early 2026, acquiring remaining minority interests in Wizard Live, LiveGeist Entertainment, and Wizard Communications, plus majority stakes in the Juicy Beats festival and conneccted: EVENTS & LIVE MARKETING GmbH.
DEAG's robust financial structure is supported by a new EUR 75 million corporate bond (2025/2029), strong proprietary ticketing platforms (myticket.de, gigantic.com, and tickets.ie), and a diversified event portfolio. The company expects EBITDA margin to increase further in 2026, though group revenue may temporarily fall below 2025 levels due to industry cyclicality. For subsequent years, DEAG anticipates renewed growth.
Detlef Kornett, Group CEO, stated: “The measures we implemented in the transformation year 2024 to enhance our competitiveness, profitability and efficiency had a clearly positive impact in financial year 2025. DEAG is very well positioned to sustainably continue its organic and inorganic growth strategy.”
