Live Nation Entertainment Revenue Climbs

Live Nation Entertainment Inc. posted Tuesday a narrower-than-expected loss for its first quarter, propelled by double-digit revenue growth in its concerts and ticketing businesses.

Revenue in the concerts segment climbed 12% to $695.4 million in constant currency, while ticketing rose 10% to $412.5 million. Sponsorship and advertising posted a 13% climb to $58.8 million, while the Artist Nation segment's revenue dropped 3% to $75.4 million.

Shares of the company, down about 20% for the past year, rose 6% to $23 after hours.

"We continue to be the world's leading promoter with 21 of the top 25 global tours in 2016, including Beyoncé , Coldplay, Guns N' Roses, Rihanna and Drake," the company said in its earnings release.

Over all, Live Nation Entertainment reported a loss of $44.5 million, or 29 cents a share, narrower than the year-ago loss of $58.3 million, or 31 cents a share.

Revenue rose 7.8% to $1.21 billion

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had projected, on average, a loss of 31 cents a share on $1.18 billion in revenue.

Live Nation merged with Ticketmaster in 2010 and acquired promoter and festival operator Hard Events in 2012. In 2014, it bought a controlling stake in C3 Presents, the Texas-based promoter of Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits.

In recent months, Live Nation has grappled with a lawsuit filed by Complete Entertainment Resources LLC and its ticketing platform Songkick. The lawsuit alleged that the country's biggest concert promoter violated antitrust laws by trying to force artists to sell their "presale tickets" on Songkick at prices at least equal to those in the general sale on the Ticketmaster platform.

Write to Ezequiel Minaya at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 03, 2016 18:05 ET (22:05 GMT)

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