If you, like many others, are fond of mobile gaming, then Nazara Technologies is a familiar name to you. It is one of the biggest and one of the first gaming companies in India and has given us some extremely popular mobile games. Last March, it also went public with a stellar IPO, and as of December 2021, includes segments such as gamified learning, Esports, and skill-based real money gaming.
Now, the company has released its financials for the quarter and nine months ended December 21, 2021 (9MFY22). The numbers, while un-audited, are quite impressive. Not only did its revenue grow by 35% year-over-year to ₹4466 million, but EBITDA clocked a massive year-over-year growth of 141% to reach ₹797 million. Its EBITDA margin came at 17.8% for the period as well.
These are sharp increases from the ₹3308 million and ₹331 million Nazara clocked in revenue and EBITDA (respectively) in 9MFY21. In the third quarter of the financial year 2022, the diversified gaming and sports media platform pocketed ₹1858 million in revenue, a 42% growth when compared to the ₹1304 million it clocked in Q3FY21. In Q3, its EBITDA amounted to ₹302 million.
Nazara is a big name in the Indian gaming sector and had been the first Indian gaming company to go public. It is present not only in India but also in global markets such as North America and Africa. The global gaming industry has grown rapidly over the past two years as the pandemic took both gaming and Esports to the next level, and the same is reflected well in Nazara’s results.
Nazara also delivered a Profit After Tax (PAT) of ₹428 million, which is an astounding growth of 355%.
Let us see how the different segments of Nazara fared. The Esports segment has been growing strongly – a CAGR of 70% in revenue over the past three years – and now it gave a strong performance. It grew annually by 75% in revenue to come at ₹2123 million in 9MFY22. Additionally, its EBITDA for the same period grew by 71%. It seems that this segment has the highest contribution in Nazara’s portfolio (48%) in 9MFY22.
Nazara Technologies CEO Manish Agarwal believes that the growth momentum of the Esports segment was further fuelled by the addition of original IPs such as NH7 Weekender and expanding the segment into the Middle East, which was made possible with the acquisition of Publishme.
For now, the company will remain committed to building multiple growth levers across gamified learning, freemium, esports, and skill-based real money gaming. This will be done via growth in its current portfolio and the addition of more offerings in the ‘Friends of Nazara’ network through strategic mergers and acquisitions.
The Gamified Early Learning segment grew by 22% in 9MFY22 to pocket ₹1531 in revenue. The skill-based real money gaming segment clocked a year-over-year growth of 53% in 9MFY22 to come at ₹180 million.
