Market Leadership To Enable Nazara Witness Robust Revenue Growth: Report

Brokerage firm B&K Securities has assigned a ‘buy’ rating to gaming major Nazara Technologies. The firm added that with Nazara’s market leadership across verticals, it is likely to witness strong revenue growth over the next decade.

In its brokerage report, B&K Securities said that it has set a target price of INR 3,287 per share for Nazara.

“Leveraging its expertise in the gaming arena, it has successfully acquired and scaled multiple verticals in a span of 2-4 years. Market leadership positions across verticals shall enable robust revenue growth over the next decade as the gaming ecosystem continues to evolve,” it said.

It noted that Nazara’s subsidiary Nodwin Gaming, a gaming solutions company and creator of eSports, is the event manager of choice for several marquee events. Observing that eSports is the key vertical, the brokerage firm said that it accounts for 65% of its target price.

It said that Nazara offers exposure to five separate verticals, of which three verticals – eSports, Gamified Early learning and Real money gaming – are fast-growing (more than 25% CAGR over 3-5 years).

Nazara’s Acquisition Spree

The Mumbai-based gaming major has been on an acquisition spree for the past couple of quarters. In November, Nazara completed the acquisition of OpenPlay.

It had also acquired a majority stake (69.82%) in Turkey and West Asia based mobile gaming publishing agency Publishme in June this year.

In October, it had invested INR 2.01 Cr in the digital production house Rusk Media. It also invested in Polygon backed startup NFTIcally and the actor Kunal Kapoor and Unacademy founders.

Nazara became the first Indian gaming firm to go public in March this year as it got listed at INR 1,670.70 which was at a premium of 80% to the issue price.

Nazara’s Q2FY21 Financial Performance

In October, the company reported a 9.8% increase in its consolidated net profit for the second quarter (July-September) of FY22 at INR 14.5 Cr.

During the same period of the last fiscal (FY21), the Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed gaming giant had reported a net profit of INR 13.5 Cr.

During the period, its revenue from operations was INR 129.6 Cr, 17.8% higher than INR 110 Cr earned during the corresponding quarter of FY21.

The expenses of the Mumbai-based company soared 22.3% in the last quarter on a year-on-year basis to INR 120.5 Cr.

On the segment-wise performance during H1 FY22, Nazara had said that the eSports segment grew by 62% YoY to INR 103 Cr and ‘gamified early learning’ segment grew by 35% YoY to INR 105.9 Cr during the period.

In October, it raised INR 315 Cr through preferential allotment of fresh equity to existing institutional investors Gamnat Pte Ltd and Plutus Wealth Management, with an aim to invest in growth initiatives and pursue strategic acquisitions.

Around 2.30 p.m., its shares on the BSE were trading at INR 2,282, lower by INR 19.55 or 0.85% from its previous close. Currently, its market capitalisation stands at INR 7,444.16 Cr

Started by Nitish Mittersain in 2000, Nazara, at present, is operational in India and across emerging and developed global markets such as Africa and North America, with offerings across interactive gaming, esports and gamified early learning ecosystems.

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