Nazara Tech’s Q1 Net Profit Soars 31% YoY To INR 20.9 Cr

Gaming unicorn Nazara Technologies’ consolidated profit after tax (PAT) rose 31% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 20.9 Cr in the first quarter (Q1) of the financial year 2023-24 (FY24). The gaming company had reported a PAT of INR 15.9 Cr in Q1 FY23. 

During the quarter ended June, profit grew 75% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) from INR 11.89 Cr. 

As per the company, this was the tenth consecutive quarter of YoY growth in revenue and profits since its public listing. 

Nazara’s revenue from operations jumped 14% to INR 254.4 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 223.1 Cr in the year-ago quarter. However, it fell 12% from INR 289.32 Cr in Q4 FY23.

While the esports arm contributed INR 117.8 Cr to revenue, gaming vertical, which includes NODWIN gaming and SportsKeeda, accounted for INR 109.5 Cr revenue in Q1 FY24. Nazara’s adtech revenue jumped nearly 16% YoY to INR 27.1 Cr during the period under review.

At 41%, North America accounted for the biggest chunk of revenue, followed closely by India at 40%.

Gamified early-learning platform Kiddopia, which counts the US as its biggest market, reported an average revenue per user (ARPU) of $6.77 in Q1 FY24 as against $6.67 in Q1 FY23. Number of subscribers of the kids app fell marginally to 3,01,714 at the end of Q1 FY24 from 3,01,916 at the end of March 2023.

Overall, revenue from Kiddopia rose 10% to INR 57.6 Cr during the quarter ended June 2023.

Another major property, NODWIN Gaming, saw its revenue grow marginally by 1.3% to INR 68.6 Cr in Q1 FY24 from INR 64.4 during the corresponding period last year. Content view on the platform nearly halved to 52 Mn, even as Nazara estimated that the vertical would turn overall profitable in FY24.

Sports news and publishing platform SportsKeeda’s revenue grew 52% YoY to INR 45.8 Cr during the quarter, with all key operational metrics seeing a healthy growth.

Meanwhile, adtech platform Datawrkz saw its revenue decline to INR 27.1 Cr in Q1 FY24 from INR 32.1 Cr in Q1 FY23. The de-growth in revenue was attributed to the loss of ‘one large, low margin client’ in the last quarter.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) grew 10% to INR 33.1 Cr in the quarter ended June 2023 from INR 30 Cr in Q1 FY23. Nazara’s EBITDA margin contracted to 13.0% in Q1 FY24 from 13.5% a year ago.

Meanwhile, total expenses ballooned nearly 15% to INR 237.9 Cr in Q1 FY24 from INR 207.79 Cr in Q1 FY23. Costs related to ‘content, event and web server’ accounted for the biggest chunk of expenses at INR 90.4 Cr in the quarter ended June 2023, growing from INR 71.2 Cr in the year-ago period.

Employee benefit expenses also soared nearly 60% to INR 45.4 Cr in Q1 FY24 compared to INR 28.4 Cr in Q1 FY23.

“….Our revenue and EBITDA growth is expected to accelerate in coming quarters due to seasonality and our decision to defer key esports launches to benefit from upcoming opportunities…. We continue to build a healthy pipeline of M&A opportunities in various segments that we operate in with a focus on adding gaming IPs and strong teams to our platform,” Nazara founder, CEO and joint MD Nitish Mittersain said.

Speaking on the government recent move to impose 28% GST on real-money games, Mittersain said that the announcement will have ‘minimal impact’ on the company’s overall financial performance due to the limited contribution of skill-based real-money gaming to the company’s revenue (4.7% of Nazara’s revenue and 0.5% of EBITDA in Q1FY24). 

Shares of Nazara Technologies ended Friday’s session 0.35% higher at INR 664.55 on the BSE. The company released its results after market hours.