Live Nation Entertainment Reports Second Quarter 2019 Financial Results

Highlights (year-over-year):

• Revenue Up 10% for the Quarter to $3.2 Billion
• Operating Income Up 27% for the Quarter to $172 Million
• Adjusted Operating Income Up 23% for the Quarter to $319 Million
• 73 Million Concert Tickets Sold for 2019 Shows, Up Over 4 Million through mid-July
• Sponsorship & Advertising Committed Net Revenue Up 18% Year-to-Date
• Ticketmaster Fee-Bearing GTV Up 11% for the Quarter

LOS ANGELES, July 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: LYV) today released financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2019.

The company delivered strong growth for the quarter, with operating income up 27%, adjusted operating income ("AOI") up 23%, and revenue up 10%. Each of our businesses contributed to these results, with all of them delivering double-digit operating income and AOI growth in the second quarter.

We continue to benefit from a strong tailwind in the live event, experience-based economy of today. The global ticket revenue from our concerts is up 16% for the first half of the year, as we continue to see a strong supply of artists touring matched with global consumer demand. And within this, the ticket revenue from concerts outside our top 100 artists is up 32% so far this year, demonstrating that the demand for live music is strong and growing from the largest stadiums to the local clubs.

We have created the most scalable and unparalleled business model in the industry, building a platform that brings over 570 million fans in 45 countries to live events each year. With our key metrics in concerts, sponsorship and ticketing all pacing well ahead of last year, we are confident that in 2019 the company will again deliver double-digit operating income and AOI growth.

Concerts Growing Fanbase

Starting with our concerts business, through mid-July we have sold over 73 million tickets for shows this year, up 6% or approximately 4.5 million tickets from the same point last year. This puts us on track to have nearly 100 million fans attend approximately 38,000 concerts this year.

In the second quarter, we had 27 million fans attend 10,000 shows, up 7% and 9%, respectively, from last year, and by far our largest second quarter ever. As a result, for the quarter we grew operating income by 45%, AOI by 33% and revenue by 11%. Our international business has been particularly strong through the first half, growing our fan base by 2.5 million fans with the greatest growth coming from our arenas, stadiums and theaters.

Globally, we continue to work with artists to enable them to capture the value from their shows - through optimized pricing and Ticketmaster tools such as Platinum, we have delivered over $500 million in incremental value to artists since the start of 2018. Through this, we have seen no reduction in demand, with global sell-through rates across our stadiums, arenas and amphitheaters as strong as last year.

Further, at our venues we continue to increase average per fan spending by enhancing the fan experience, providing reasons for them to arrive earlier, spending less time in line and improving the quality of food and beverage offerings. As a result, we currently expect our ancillary revenue per fan at our amphitheaters to grow by approximately $2.50 this year.

Overall, we see tremendous opportunity to continue growing our global market share, both organically and via targeted acquisitions. Our just announced acquisition of OCESA in Mexico, one of the top global promoters, continues our mission of building a global fan base to over 125 million fans.

All this gives me confidence that we will again deliver double-digit operating income and AOI growth in our concerts business this year.

Sponsorship & Advertising Connecting Brands With Fans

Our sponsorship business leverages our platform of nearly 100 million fans, providing brands a unique opportunity to connect directly with music fans at scale. By continuing to attract new brand partners and expand relationships with existing ones, we grew operating income by 14%, AOI by 12% and revenue by 8% for the quarter.

Much of our growth continues to come from large strategic partnerships, all of whom utilize a mix of our assets and span multiple years. This group accounts for over 70% of our total sponsorship, and the number of these sponsors has grown double-digits this year as we have added companies such as Adobe, Hyundai and Google. As a result, the committed spend by these strategic sponsors is also up double-digits through mid-July.

Globally, festivals in particular provide an attractive opportunity for sponsors to engage fans at a time when they are receptive to brand messages.  And once again, our festival sponsorship is on track for revenue per fan to be up double-digits this year, thanks in part to a growing portfolio of marquee festivals including Lollapalooza, Rock in Rio and EDC, which are of particular interest to brand partners.

Given the attractiveness of our platform to brands, and the double-digit growth in committed net revenue for the year, we currently expect to deliver sponsorship operating income and AOI growth in the mid-to-high teens for the full year.

Ticketmaster Leading the Market in Digital Transformation

Ticketmaster continues to demonstrate that it is the best global ticketing marketplace for venues, teams, artists and fans, with fee-bearing gross transaction value ("GTV") growth of 13% at constant currency in the quarter, making it our highest second quarter GTV ever. As a result, Ticketmaster's operating income was up 31%, AOI was up 20% and revenue was up 6% for the quarter.

The addition of major clients such as Evenko in Canada, Chase Center in the U.S., the O2 in Prague, and 150 others worldwide further validates that Ticketmaster is content's choice as the most effective ticketing platform in the world, with leading technology to service venues, sports teams and artists, and with an efficient marketplace that attracts and converts ticket buyers. Our industry-leading digital ticketing rollout is ahead of schedule, with Presence now expected to be installed at over 600 venues in the U.S. this year, including over 80% of major sports buildings and Live Nation amphitheaters.

And as the ticket is increasingly digital, we have also focused on ensuring our mobile marketplaces are the easiest place for fans to buy and manage their tickets. Because of that, we have seen a continued shift to mobile ticket buying, up 22% from the second quarter last year and now accounting for 45% of global ticket sales year to date. At the same time, we have been improving the consumer purchase process, which has increased conversion across both mobile and desktop.

As Ticketmaster continues to be an effective and efficient ticketing solution for content and fans alike, we expect to drive growth in GTV and operating results for the full year.

Summary

In summary, 2019 is on track for the company to deliver double-digit operating income and AOI growth along with strong gains in revenue.

Each of our businesses is contributing to this success, starting with concerts as we put on more shows for more fans, then continuing to monetize fans at the concert, sell more tickets to events of all types, and further deliver value to our sponsors from our platform of nearly 100 million fans.

Michael Rapino
President and Chief Executive Officer
Live Nation Entertainment, Inc.

The company will webcast a teleconference today at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time to discuss its financial performance, operational matters and potentially other material developments. Interested parties should visit the "News / Events" section of the company's website at investors.livenationentertainment.com to listen to the webcast.  Supplemental statistical and financial information to be provided on the call, if any, will be posted to the "Financial Info" section of the website. A replay of the webcast will also be available on the Live Nation website.

Notice Regarding Financial Statements

The company has provided certain financial statements at the end of this press release for reference.  These financial statements should be read in conjunction with the full financial statements, and the notes thereto, set forth in the company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission today and available on the SEC's website at sec.gov.

About Live Nation Entertainment:

Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: LYV) is the world's leading live entertainment company comprised of global market leaders: Ticketmaster, Live Nation Concerts, and Live Nation Media & Sponsorship.  For additional information, visit investors.livenationentertainment.com.

• As of June 30, 2019, total cash and cash equivalents were $2.3 billion, which includes $777 million in ticketing client cash and $363 million in free cash.
• Event-related deferred revenue was $1.6 billion at each of June 30, 2019 and 2018.
• For the quarter ended June 30, 2019, net cash used in operating activities was $176 million and free cash flow — adjusted was $220 million.
• We currently expect capital expenditures for the full year to be approximately $310 million, with more than half to be revenue generating capital expenditures.
• We currently expect the amortization of non-recoupable ticketing contract advances for the full year 2019 to be in line with the last few years of expense.

Reconciliation of Certain Non-GAAP Measures to Their Most Directly Comparable GAAP Measures (Unaudited)

Reconciliation of Free Cash Flow — Adjusted to Net Cash Provided by (Used in) Operating Activities

Reconciliation of Free Cash to Cash and Cash Equivalents

Forward-Looking Statements, Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Reconciliations:

Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding anticipated double-digit operating income and adjusted operating income growth with strong gains in revenue for the company in 2019, including double-digit operating income and adjusted operating income growth in the company's concerts business, operating income and adjusted operating income growth in the mid-to-high teens for sponsorship, and growth in gross transaction value and operating results for Ticketmaster; projected attendance at the company's concerts of nearly 100 million fans with approximately 38,000 events in 2019; expectations that ancillary revenue per fan at the company's amphitheaters will grow by approximately $2.50 for the year; the strength of the opportunity for the company to continue growing its global concerts market share, both organically and via targeted acquisitions; anticipated double-digit growth in festival sponsorship revenue per fan for the year; and the expectation that Presence will be installed at over 600 venues in the U.S. in 2019, including over 80% of major sports buildings and Live Nation amphitheaters. Live Nation wishes to caution you that there are some known and unknown factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to operational challenges in achieving strategic objectives and executing on the company's plans, the risk that the company's markets do not evolve as anticipated, the potential impact of any economic slowdown and operational challenges associated with selling tickets and staging events.

Adjusted Operating Income (Loss), or AOI, is a non-GAAP financial measure that the company defines as operating income (loss) before certain stock-based compensation expense, loss (gain) on disposal of operating assets, depreciation and amortization (including goodwill impairment), amortization of non-recoupable ticketing contract advances and acquisition expenses (including transaction costs, changes in the fair value of accrued acquisition-related contingent consideration obligations, and acquisition-related severance and compensation). The company uses AOI to evaluate the performance of our operating segments. The company believes that information about AOI assists investors by allowing them to evaluate changes in the operating results of our portfolio of businesses separate from non-operational factors that affect net income (loss), thus providing insights into both operations and the other factors that affect reported results.  AOI is not calculated or presented in accordance with GAAP.  A limitation of the use of AOI as a performance measure is that it does not reflect the periodic costs of certain amortizing assets used in generating revenue in our business.  Accordingly, AOI should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for, operating income (loss), net income (loss), and other measures of financial performance reported in accordance with GAAP.  Furthermore, this measure may vary among other companies; thus, AOI as presented herein may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies.

Constant Currency is a non-GAAP financial measure. The company calculates currency impacts as the difference between current period activity translated using the current period's currency exchange rates and the comparable prior period's currency exchange rates. The company presents constant currency information to provide a framework for assessing how our underlying businesses performed excluding the effect of foreign currency rate fluctuations.

Free Cash Flow — Adjusted, or FCF, is a non-GAAP financial measure that the company defines as net cash provided by (used in) operating activities less changes in operating assets and liabilities, less maintenance capital expenditures, less distributions to noncontrolling interest partners. The company uses FCF among other measures, to evaluate the ability of its operations to generate cash that is available for purposes other than maintenance capital expenditures.  The company believes that information about FCF provides investors with an important perspective on the cash available to service debt, make acquisitions, and for revenue generating capital expenditures.  FCF is not calculated or presented in accordance with GAAP.  A limitation of the use of FCF as a performance measure is that it does not necessarily represent funds available for operations and is not necessarily a measure of the company's ability to fund its cash needs.  Accordingly, FCF should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for, net cash provided by (used in) operating activities and other measures of financial performance reported in accordance with GAAP.  Furthermore, this measure may vary among other companies; thus, FCF as presented herein may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies.

Free Cash is a non-GAAP financial measure that the company defines as cash and cash equivalents less ticketing-related client funds, less event-related deferred revenue, less accrued expenses due to artists and cash collected on behalf of others, plus event-related prepaids.  The company uses free cash as a proxy for how much cash it has available to, among other things, optionally repay debt balances, make acquisitions and fund revenue generating capital expenditures.  Free cash is not calculated or presented in accordance with GAAP.  A limitation of the use of free cash as a performance measure is that it does not necessarily represent funds available from operations and it is not necessarily a measure of our ability to fund our cash needs. Accordingly, free cash should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for, cash and cash equivalents and other measures of financial performance reported in accordance with GAAP.  Furthermore, this measure may vary among other companies; thus, free cash as presented herein may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies.

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SOURCE Live Nation Entertainment