Live Nation posts second quarter profit of $52.2m, exceeds financial market expectations

Live Nation posted a second-quarter profit of US$52.2 million, well exceeding Wall Street expectations.

Its revenue of $2.87 billion in the period ending June 30 also exceeded analyst predictions and marked a rise of 7%.

Concert tickets sold for 2018 shows were nearly 70 million, and three million tickets ahead of last year’s pace.

The company said that this “puts” us on track to have over 90 million fans attend our concerts this year.”

According to Michael Rapino, president and chief executive officer, “In the second quarter, we promoted more than 9,000 shows for over 25 million fans, delivering an 11% increase in operating income, a 13% increase in AOI and 6% revenue growth.”

Revenue from concerts was at $2.38 billion, up 6%, and up 4% in constant currency.

Sponsorship and advertising rose 12% to $139.9 million (up 11% in constant currency).

Says Rapino, “The strength of our platform and our ability to provide direct engagement with our 90 million fans has enabled us to continue building relationships with strategic brands that have driven much of our growth.

“This group accounts for over 75% of our total sponsorship and the number of these sponsors has grown double-digits this year as we have added relationships with companies such as American Eagle, General Mills and Rémy Martin.

“As a result, the committed spend by these strategic sponsors is also up double-digits through mid-July.”

Ticketing division Ticketmaster also experienced growth, up 13% to $351.2 million (and up 12% in constant currency).

The number of events listed on Ticketmaster rose by 16% this year to almost 280,000 events through June.

Globally, gross transaction value was up 11% in the quarter.

Said Rapino, “At its core, Ticketmaster continues to be the most effective ticketing platform in the world, with the technology to service venues, sports teams and artists, and with the marketplace to attract and convert ticket buyers.”

He said digital ticketing roll-out was “proceeding on plan.”

The first phase in 2018 is “focused on deploying our Presence access control systems.

“To date, we have installed Presence systems in 125 venues, with another 75 venues planned in the second half of this year, positioning us to have at least 60 million fans using this system next year.”

Fans continue to shift to mobile.

Mobile fee-bearing ticket sales are up 34% for the year, now accounting for 40% of all fee-bearing ticket sales, with mobile conversion rates up double-digits.

The concert promoter and ticket seller’s shares have risen 21% since the beginning of 2018.