LOS ANGELES, Feb. 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE: LYV) today released financial results for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2013. 

2013 Results

We had a record year in 2013 and are well positioned for continued growth in 2014.  During 2013, we further grew our unmatched concerts global fan base by 10 million fans, attracting almost 60 million fans to our concerts.  This tremendous growth fueled our sponsorship and ticketing businesses with Ticketmaster managing nearly 400 million total tickets in 2013.  Combined, we delivered a record year for revenue, AOI and free cash flow.  Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of our business model, establishing Live Nation as what we believe to be the number one player in each of our businesses, with concerts driving our flywheel, which is then monetized across our high margin on-site, sponsorship and ticketing businesses.

Strong Fan Demand for Live Events

We continue to see the tremendous power of live events, with strong global consumer demand.  Research shows that live events are a high priority for discretionary spending, and over 80% of our fans surveyed indicate that they plan on attending the same or more events in 2014 as in 2013.

Another sign of the strength of our business is that 85% of Live Nation’s fan growth came organically, from our promoting more shows in amphitheaters, arenas and stadiums; from launching new festivals; and from establishing operations in new markets.  We believe the live business will continue to have strong global growth for years to come as fan demand, artist supply and new markets come together.

Technology Making Live Music Global

Another reason for the strength of live events is that technology has rapidly transformed the business in a positive fashion; live is not duplicable, and new social platforms have enabled fans around the globe to get close to their favorite artists.  Fans in every corner of the globe can discover, follow, share and embrace artists, translating into greater demand for tours in all markets.

And as music has gone global, technology is enabling a similar transformation of ticketing.  Today the vast majority of ticketing transactions are online or via mobile.  Ticket sales are continuing their rapid shift to mobile, almost doubling again in 2013 to 14% of total ticket sales.

Today fans are hearing about concerts either from friends or by some digital means 70% of the time.  As Ticketmaster continues to improve its products for fans to buy and manage tickets digitally, more fans will be able to find out about shows, coordinate with their friends, and go to more concerts or other live events.  As a result, we believe that Ticketmaster will sell more tickets, Ticketmaster’s clients will benefit from increased sales and Live Nation concerts will increase its attendance per show.

Concerts Division Delivers Record Setting Performance

We continue to build share across our businesses, starting by growing our concert business well above industry growth rates, as we were the lead or exclusive promoter on 21 of the top 25 grossing tours in North America.  In addition, we built our festival portfolio, adding a million fans, and we expanded further into emerging markets with nearly one million more fans there as well, now reaching fans in 33 countries.

As we grew the business, we did so consistently across markets and venue types – we increased both attendance and attendance per show at every type of venue, from theaters and clubs to amphitheaters to arenas and stadiums, showing the consistent strength of our business.

We are also seeing this growth across all genres of music, with country music delivering the greatest fan growth, up 2.3 million fans to nearly 7 million, increasing 50% from last year.  Newer artists and genres also contributed to our growth, with 7 of our top 10 tours led by young artists and EDM as our fastest growing genre.

Artist Nation Directly Supports Concert Business

Our concerts growth was supported by greater alignment with our artist management business, as we increased the number of shows we promoted with top Artist Nation acts by 50%.  This delivered increased value of approximately $20 million to our concerts and ticketing businesses, while also providing additional opportunities for our sponsors.  2013 was a year of rebuilding for this business, and we now feel confident that with new leadership we will grow our artist management business in 2014 and it will continue to be a valuable pipeline into our concerts flywheel.

Sponsorship & Advertising Continue Double-Digit Growth

Our sponsorship & advertising business has now reached almost $300 million in revenue, connecting over 750 sponsors with 900 million visitors to our online and mobile sites globally and our 60 million concert-going fans.  We now have the scale to attract a broad advertising base, which drove a 26% increase in ad units sold in 2013.

At the same time our traditional sponsorship business continues to show strength, growing 11% last year.  This was led by a 29% increase in festival sponsorship, where we continue averaging almost $10 revenue per fan across our 4.5 million fans attending 62 festivals.

Ticketmaster Focus on Products Driving Growth

Ticketmaster also continues to build upon its strength, with nearly 400 million tickets issued and managed, generating over $17 billion in gross transaction value, making Ticketmaster one of the top ecommerce sites in the world.  And with a 106% client net renewal rate in 2013, our platforms and products are demonstrating their value to clients.

With the first new product launch enabled by our new platform, Ticketmaster resale delivered a 26% growth in GTV of tickets sold through our secondary business.  This innovative fan-oriented product gives all options – primary and secondary – together in one place for full transparency for the fans.  We believe the $9 billion secondary market that has historically not benefitted content owners will start to be captured by teams and artists, and Ticketmaster resale will be at the forefront of empowering this.  To date we have partnered with two-thirds of the NFL, NBA and NHL teams and over 1,000 concerts in launching this product.

Our team of over 500 engineers continues to work on new mobile products, improving the online experience, and building a new ticketing platform to enable Ticketmaster to substantially upgrade its commerce suite of features for both fans and its B2B clients over the next two years.

2014 Growth Drivers

As we head into 2014, we are more optimistic than ever on the growth potential of our business and our ability to deliver our 3-year plan as laid out for 2014 and 2015.

While we had tremendous success building our concert fan base in 2013, we believe there is more runway ahead that will allow us to continue to build share, add festivals to our global portfolio and enter more emerging markets.  Early indicators show we are off to a strong start, with event-related deferred revenue up 19% year on year to $434 million as of December 31^st, 2013 and concert ticket sales for shows in 2014 up 12% as of February 15^th, 2014 as compared to this time last year.

We expect sponsorship & advertising to continue dependable growth at recent historical rates, further building our global sponsor base and expanding our online ad units as we grow and extend our online and mobile presence.

At Ticketmaster, we plan on delivering a client net renewal rate of over 100% as we further distinguish ourselves as the best ticketing partner to help clients market and sell their events, and see continued opportunity in 2014 to further build our Ticketmaster resale platform.  We have had a strong start to the year, with overall ticket sales up 8% through February 15^th this year as compared to last year.

Michael Rapino

The company will webcast a teleconference today at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time to discuss its financial performance. Interested parties should visit the Events & Webcasts 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 available under the Quarterly & Financial Reports portion of the Reports section at the same link. A replay of the webcast will also be available on the Live Nation website.

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(Photo credit: Justin Timberlake: Frank Micelotta, Beyonce: Frank Micelotta)

About Live Nation Entertainment:

Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE: LYV) is the world’s leading live entertainment company comprised of four market leaders: Ticketmaster, Live Nation Concerts, Artist Nation Management and Live Nation Media/Sponsorship. For additional information, visit investors.livenationentertainment.com.

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** percentages are not meaningful

As of December 31, 2013, total cash and cash equivalents were $1.3 billion, which includes $538 million in ticketing client cash and $445 million in free cash. Event-related deferred revenue was $434 million as of December 31, 2013, compared to $364 million as of the same date in 2012. Free cash flow was $17 million for the fourth quarter of 2013 as compared to $1 million in the fourth quarter of 2012, and $300 million for the full year 2013 versus $276 million for 2012 (including $26 million of tax refunds received in 2012).

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 the company’s positioning for growth in 2014 and beyond, as well as its ability to deliver its 3-year plan as laid out for 2014 and 2015; its anticipated addition of festivals and entry into new emerging markets; its expectation that its sponsorship & advertising business will continue to grow in 2014 at recent historical rates; its expectations regarding strong client net renewal rates for Ticketmaster, as well as regarding increased ticket sales and related attendance, and the anticipated impacts of the company’s new resale platform and other technological upgrades; and anticipated growth in the company’s artist management business in 2014. 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.

Live Nation refers you to the documents it files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, specifically the section titled “Item 1A. Risk Factors” of the company’s most recent Annual Report filed on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and its Current Reports on Form 8-K, which contain and identify other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the company’s projections or forward-looking statements. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements which speak only as of the date on which they are made. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements by or concerning Live Nation are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements above. Live Nation does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements because of new information, future events or otherwise.

This press release contains certain non-GAAP financial measures as defined by SEC Regulation G. A reconciliation of each such measure to its most directly comparable GAAP financial measure, together with an explanation of why management believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information to investors, is provided below.

Adjusted Operating Income (Loss), or AOI, is a non-GAAP financial measure that the company defines as operating income (loss) before acquisition expenses (including transaction costs, changes in the fair value of accrued acquisition-related contingent consideration arrangements, payments under the Trust Note and acquisition-related severance), depreciation and amortization (including goodwill impairment), loss (gain) on disposal of operating assets and non-cash and certain stock-based compensation expense (including expense associated with grants of certain stock-based awards which were classified as liabilities). The company uses AOI to evaluate the performance of its operating segments. The company believes that information about AOI assists investors by allowing them to evaluate changes in the operating results of the portfolio of the businesses separate from non-operational factors that affect net income, 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 the company’s 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.

Free Cash Flow is a non-GAAP financial measure that the company defines as Adjusted Operating Income (Loss) less maintenance capital expenditures, less net cash interest expense, less cash taxes, less net distributions to noncontrolling interest partners, plus distributions from investments in nonconsolidated affiliates net of contributions to investments in nonconsolidated affiliates. The company uses free cash flow, 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 free cash flow provides investors with an important perspective on the cash available to service debt and make acquisitions. Free cash flow is not calculated or presented in accordance with GAAP. A limitation of the use of free cash flow 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, free cash flow should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for, operating income (loss) and other measures of financial performance reported in accordance with GAAP. Furthermore, this measure may vary among other companies; thus, free cash flow 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 for ticket sales, 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.

Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted EPS are non-GAAP financial measures that the company defines as net income (loss) attributable to common stockholders of Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. less loss on extinguishment of debt on both a total and per share basis. The company uses adjusted net income and adjusted EPS to evaluate the performance of its operations without the impact of debt financing costs. The company believes that information about adjusted net income and adjusted EPS assists investors by allowing them to evaluate changes in the results of the business separate from financing transaction costs that affect net income. Adjusted net income and adjusted EPS are not calculated or presented in accordance with GAAP. A limitation of the use of adjusted net income and adjusted EPS as performance measures is that they do not reflect the costs of financing transactions. Accordingly, adjusted net income and adjusted EPS should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for, net income (loss) and net income (loss) per common share attributable to common stockholders of Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. and other measures of financial performance reported in accordance with GAAP. Furthermore, these measures may vary among other companies; thus, adjusted net income and adjusted EPS as presented herein may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies.

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SOURCE Live Nation Entertainment