Sziget at rock bottom: festival company loses money for second year in a row

By: Trademagazin Date: 2025. 06. 03. 10:11

Sziget Cultural Management Office Ltd., the organizer of the Sziget Festival, closed 2024 with a significant loss for the second year in a row, according to the company’s latest financial report. Last year’s loss of nearly 3.8 billion forints not only doubled the record-breaking deficit of 1.8 billion in 2023, but also fell far short of the profit of 355 million forints in 2022.

The company’s turnover decreased from 14.7 billion in 2023 to 13.1 billion forints, while revenue from ticket sales fell by 1.9 billion to 7.4 billion. One reason for the decline in profits is that one fewer festival was organized in 2024: VOLT in Sopron has not been on offer since 2022.

Although advertising revenues increased – 1.9 billion forints were generated from this activity –, revenue from catering and other services decreased. The amount of money loaded on festival cards but not spent also decreased (from 33.5 million to 26.6 million), while bad debts increased significantly: they jumped from 4.5 million forints to 68 million.

On the positive side, the company’s equity deficit – which was still 1.8 billion forints at the end of 2023 – was reduced to 280 million forints. An additional payment of 302 million forints from the owner played a role in this, as well as the fact that the owner undertook in writing to provide the necessary funds to maintain operations.

At its May press conference, the company was optimistic about the outlook for 2024: ticket sales are more balanced, and in fact, they are experiencing a high level of sales for day tickets, which was last seen in 2019. The organizers announced that they will keep the beer at last year’s prices and aim to achieve profitability – which they predict will happen in 2026.