Live Nation Reports Record Quarter
Live Nation beat Wall Street's expectations on Thursday when the company posted revenue increase of 10%, up to $2.76 billion in the third fiscal quarter and an adjusted operating income of $279 Million, up 8% from the same period in 2014. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated that the concert giant would announce revenue of $2.44 billion for the quarter.
Live Nation's earnings were bolstered by strong ticket sales, with the company reporting sales up by 8% through October 26, with 24 million fans attending concerts in the quarter, with almost 54 million tickets sold for the year to date, up 8% from 2014.
The company reported that sponsorship & advertising income is up as well, posting 134.2 million in revenue, up by 16% over the same period in 2014. This included a 39% growth in festival sponsorships for the quarter, at constant currency.
As well, Ticketmaster has seen growth, with revenue of 446.5 million, up 16% from 2014 in constant currency, with the company reporting a lift in both volume and increased fees attributable to secondary market sales for tickets.
Live Nation's artist management operation Artist Nation continued to weigh on the company's results, posting a loss of 1.7 million, a 39% decrease over Q3 2014, despite a 6% growth in revenue for the unit.
"We now have clear visibility into our full year 2015 performance and are confident that we will deliver another year of record top-line and bottom-line results. Our scale businesses of concerts, advertising and ticketing are all showing growth in their key operating metrics and we expect them to operationally deliver record revenue and AOI.
"As we look forward, we see tremendous opportunities to continue consolidating concerts and ticketing on a global basis, with further growth in our advertising and ticketing businesses from the concerts flywheel," said Live Nation President/CEO Michael Rapino.
