Multipurpose O2 arena generated a profit in 2009

For BESTSPORT, the joint-stock company that owns and operates the multipurpose O2 arena, 2009 was a very successful year, operationally as well as economically. Profit after tax was, according to preliminary figures, approximately CZK 20 million, representing a year-on-year growth. Similarly, EBITDA exceeded CZK 960 million. “The success of 2009 was due to several factors, including HC Slavia Prague reaching the finals of the Czech Extraliga Hockey League, and the hosting of popular concerts such as AC/DC, Tina Turner or Leonard Cohen. Another factor having a positive influence on the profit generated was the high long-term occupancy rate of the VIP floors,“ says Jan Tuna, BESTSPORT‘s spokesperson.

The multipurpose O2 arena hosted 120 large sporting, cultural and social events in the elapsed 12 months and several tens of smaller events. This made 2009 a year with the richest programme schedule and the highest number of events hosted by the arena in its history. Besides the traditional hockey matches and other sporting events, such as the athletics Meeting of World Record Holders or the volleyball Final Four, the O2 arena also hosted a number of the biggest world tours, mainly organised in Prague by the Live Nation Czech Republic agency (AC/DC, Pink, Tina Turner…), as well as concerts by Tom Jones or the rock group Rammstein. Tickets worth roughly CZK 420 million were sold via the SAZKA TICKET ticketing system last year. This means that in the years 2004 – 2009 this ticketing system sold almost 5 million tickets worth a combined amount in excess of CZK 2.3 billion.

As shown by a study compiled by KPMG Czech Republic, the multipurpose O2 arena has already contributed CZK 5.2 billion to the Czech Republic’s state budgets and has provided an equivalent of 19,490 full-time jobs. The total savings in social benefits have reached CZK 575 million. This is despite the fact that the O2 arena is clearly the only facility of its kind in the Czech Republic not to have drawn a single crown from the state’s budgets.

Prague, 25 January 2010

Jan Tuna Press
spokesperson
BESTSPORT joint-stock company / O2 arena