Superstruct revenues jumped 26% to $222m in 2023 – the 12 months earlier than it was acquired by KKR in a $1.4bn deal

Stay music occasions organizer and promoter Superstruct Leisure reported a 25.9% YoY improve in income for 2023 – the 12 months earlier than it was acquired by funding large KKR in a $1.4 billion deal.

The London-headquartered firm filed an earnings report for fiscal 2023 (ended December 31, 2023) with the UK’s Firms Home on Monday (March 3), exhibiting income of GBP £178.6 million (USD $222.2 million on the common alternate charge for 2023). That’s up from £141.9 million in 2022.

Nonetheless, the corporate swung to an working lack of £33.26 million ($41.37 million), in comparison with an working revenue of £6.67 million the 12 months earlier than.

Superstruct attributed the rising income to its acquisitions of reside music firms in varied markets, together with the post-pandemic restoration of the reside music market.

It attributed the weaker revenue efficiency to “a rise in value of sale[s] because of normal inflation and operating prices resulting in an total lower in gross revenue.”

Superstruct additionally took a £31.4 million ($39.1 million) impairment cost “to replicate sure festivals which haven’t carried out as anticipated.”

The corporate’s administrators haven’t advisable that dividends be paid presently. The corporate additionally didn’t pay dividends for 2022.

By way of quite a lot of subsidiaries, Superstruct operates greater than 80 music festivals within the UK, Europe, and Australia.

The corporate’s huge competition portfolio contains Boardmasters, Sziget, Sonar, Wacken Open Air, and extra.

The whole variety of attendees at Superstruct festivals reached 1.55 million in 2023, up 14.4% YoY from 1.36 million in 2022.

In 2023, 46.6% of Superstruct’s income got here from UK operations, whereas 30.2% got here from the remainder of Europe, with the remaining coming from elsewhere on this planet.

Ticket gross sales accounted for £118.8 million ($147.8 million) of Superstruct’s income, up 24.3% YoY. Meals, drinks, and merchandise gross sales got here to £40.18 million ($49.98 million), up 29.9% YoY. Sponsorship revenues got here in at £10.33 million ($12.85 million), up 6.7% YoY.

In June 2024, the corporate was acquired by KKR in a £1.3 billion ($1.39 billion) deal. Later within the 12 months, funding agency CVC joined KKR in possession of Superstruct.

The change of possession has not modified Superstruct’s technique of progress via acquisitions. In January, Superstruct acquired music livestreaming platform Boiler Room from ticketing firm DICE. In keeping with its earnings report filed this week, Superstruct paid £25 million ($31.8 million on the present alternate charge) for Boiler Room.

The earnings report listed plenty of acquisitions by Superstruct throughout the course of 2023, together with a 70% stake in SBH Occasions, operator of the annual Snowbombing EDM competition held in Austria, for £3.95 million plus a efficiency bonus.

Superstruct additionally acquired a 70% stake in X The Tracks Ltd., operator of the Cross The Tracks funk, soul and jazz competition in London, for £1.7 million, and 60% of the voting shares of Barcelona-based EDM occasions promoter Centris Occasions, for £3.48 million plus efficiency bonuses.

Superstruct additionally acquired a 67.7% stake – each immediately and not directly – in Mighty Hoopla Ltd., operator of London’s Mighty Hoopla pop music competition, for £4.05 million plus a efficiency bonus.

“We’re nonetheless solely in seven or eight markets so who is aware of, possibly we’ll broaden. However we’d quite go deeper than wider, and have extra companies within the markets we’re already in to get the synergies going.”

James Barton, Superstruct

Based in 2017 by James Barton, the previous head of digital music at Stay Nation, and Roderik Schlösser, a former president at Windfall Fairness, Superstruct’s acquisition technique has made it the world’s second-largest competition promoter in a comparatively brief time span.

In an interview on the Worldwide Stay Music Convention (ILMC) final month, Barton credited Superstruct’s relationship with Windfall Fairness for its capacity to proceed its acquisition technique even throughout the Covid downturn in reside music.

“Windfall was an unbelievable associate. They backed us from the start and thru Covid and so they labored onerous and continued to put money into us as a enterprise but in addition into companies coming into the group,” he stated, as quoted by IQ Magazine.

“However buyers have a shelf life,” he added, referring to KKR’s acquisition of Superstruct.

“Now we’re in a brand new period of our enterprise with KKR and CVC. We’re nonetheless solely in seven or eight markets so who is aware of, possibly we’ll broaden. However we’d quite go deeper than wider, and have extra companies within the markets we’re already in to get the synergies going,” Barton stated.

“We’re not going ‘South America is admittedly sizzling, let’s get on a airplane and determine how one can get in there’. We’re taking a look at the place we are able to do job and whether or not there are good companions we are able to work with,” he added.