Takeover of Ticketstream signals shakeup of Czech tickets market
A shakeup is taking place on the Czech market for tickets for concerts, sports and other events with the takeover of one of the biggest players Ticketstream by a smaller competitor, the news website iHned.cz reported.
Neither side in the transaction has been willing to reveal the price, iHned.cz said. Minority shareholder Andrej Konstantinov will retain his part of the company while the owner of Six Dots, Viktor Mastník, has become executive director of Ticketstream.
Speaking to iHned.cz, Mr. Mastník said Six Dots regarded Ticketstream as highly innovative, adding that it gave the group access to parts of the market in which it had not previously been active.
Its Ticketon, launched in 2012, has focused on online sales of tickets for relatively small events. Bohemia Ticket, added to the groups’ roster in 2014, specialises in theatre and classical music tickets, working with among others the National Theatre.
Ticketstream is regarded as one of the “big three” in the business in the Czech Republic, alongside the online agencies Ticketpro and Ticketportal.
Operators in the field refuse to comment on their earnings. However, the business register shows that in 2013 Ticketportal, owned by Martin Lokaj and Lucie Bočánková, had a turnover of CZK 45 million. Serge Grimaux’s Ticketpro had revenues of CZK 37 million.
Results for Ticketstream – regarded as the third biggest player – were last published in 2009 and since then the company’s earnings are estimated to have doubled, iHned.cz said. Mr. Mastník said Six Dots aims to become the number one on the Czech market by 2019.
In recent years the brokering agency has specialised in music festivals, handling tickets for events such as Kryštof Kempy and Votvírák. Ticketstream also had exclusive rights to sell tickets to the London Olympics in the Czech Republic.
As regards the sector in general, smaller players have been undermining the dominance of traditional market leaders in recent years with more and more online operators running small-scale, cheaper ticketing services.
At the same time international companies such as Germany’s Eventim have been making inroads in the Czech Republic.
Petr Kříž of EY’s mergers and acquisitions department told iHned that the market was likely to see further consolidation. Firms in the sector don’t enjoy high profit margins; however, the large numbers of visitors to ticket agencies’ websites can also be used in other projects, he said.
