Nazara Technologies Q1 FY26 results: net profit up 117.4% to ₹51.34 crore, revenue up 99.4%

How did Nazara Technologies perform in Q1 FY26?

Nazara Technologies reported consolidated revenue of ₹498.77 crore for Q1 FY26, compared with ₹250.08 crore in Q1 FY25 and ₹520.20 crore in Q4 FY25. Revenue was up 99.4% year on year and down 4.1% sequentially. The company also reported standalone revenue of ₹20.32 crore for the quarter. Consolidated EBITDA was ₹47.44 crore, up from ₹24.90 crore a year ago and ₹34.57 crore in the previous quarter. The EBITDA margin was 9.5%, compared with 10.0% in Q1 FY25 and 6.6% in Q4 FY25. The margin declined 0.5 percentage points year on year but increased 2.9 percentage points sequentially.

Profit after tax was ₹51.34 crore in Q1 FY26, up from ₹23.62 crore in Q1 FY25 and ₹4.07 crore in Q4 FY25. Basic EPS was ₹7.73, compared with ₹2.96 in the year-ago quarter; the previous quarter’s EPS was not reported. On the standalone basis, profit after tax was ₹27.61 crore, against ₹9.63 crore in Q1 FY25. The consolidated result included a net loss of ₹5.80 crore of tax expense, compared with tax expense of ₹10.41 crore a year ago.

What changed in Nazara Technologies' costs and profit?

Total expenses rose ₹280.05 crore year on year to ₹521 crore, from ₹240.95 crore in Q1 FY25. Employee cost increased ₹43.07 crore to ₹94.34 crore, finance costs rose ₹4.58 crore to ₹5.15 crore, depreciation rose ₹49.32 crore to ₹64.52 crore and other expenses rose ₹172.52 crore to ₹346.18 crore. There was no exceptional item in either quarter. Other income increased ₹51.53 crore to ₹77.10 crore from ₹25.57 crore in Q1 FY25. Tax moved in the opposite direction to the prior-year charge, with a net loss of ₹5.80 crore of tax expense in Q1 FY26 compared with tax expense of ₹10.41 crore in Q1 FY25. Against Q4 FY25, other income rose ₹58.39 crore, while total expenses fell ₹6.72 crore, including a ₹20.44 crore reduction in other expenses; employee cost rose ₹14.44 crore and depreciation rose ₹27.23 crore.

The company attributed the year-on-year growth in revenue to performance by Fusebox, Animal Jam and Curve Games, supported by its Centres of Excellence in User Acquisition and Analytics. Management said it was seeing early results from its sharpened focus on IP-led gaming and was reinvesting that momentum into expanding the IP portfolio and strengthening user acquisition. The investor presentation said the company had initiated the deconsolidation of Nodwin Gaming to sharpen its focus on core gaming.

How has Nazara Technologies done over the last 8 quarters?

Revenue rose year on year in each of the last four quarters. Over the reported period, revenue was highest at ₹534.69 crore in Q3 FY25 and lowest at ₹250.08 crore in Q1 FY25; in the latest quarter, revenue was ₹498.77 crore, below the Q3 FY25 peak and above the year-ago low. The latest revenue was also below Q4 FY25’s ₹520.20 crore. Net profit reached its highest reported level at ₹51.34 crore in Q1 FY26, compared with its lowest at ₹0.18 crore in Q4 FY24. Profit had fallen to ₹4.07 crore in Q4 FY25 before rising in the latest quarter. EBITDA margin peaked at 11.3% in Q3 FY24 and bottomed at 1.3% in Q4 FY24; it recovered to 6.6% in Q4 FY25 and 9.5% in Q1 FY26.

Which businesses drove the quarter?

Gaming reported revenue of ₹240.92 crore and EBIT of ₹18.1 crore, with an EBIT margin of 7.5%. The filing did not provide a year-ago revenue or EBIT figure for the segment, so no segment-level growth rate was available. The investor presentation described Fusebox, Animal Jam and Curve Games as showing momentum and said the core gaming business delivered a 24.4% EBITDA margin. eSports reported revenue of ₹154.14 crore and an EBIT loss of ₹24.35 crore, with an EBIT margin of -15.8%. Ad tech reported revenue of ₹106.06 crore and an EBIT loss of ₹5.67 crore, with an EBIT margin of -5.3%. The filings did not provide prior-year revenue, EBIT or growth figures for either segment. The company said it had initiated the deconsolidation of Nodwin Gaming, allowing Nodwin to pursue its esports ambitions independently while Nazara focused on core gaming.

What else did the company announce?

The board approved a 1:2 stock split, dividing each fully paid equity share of face value ₹4/- into two shares of face value ₹2/- each. It also approved a 1:1 bonus issue, entitling shareholders to one ₹2/- bonus share for every ₹2/- equity share held on the record date. Both proposals require shareholder approval through a postal ballot, and the record date is to be intimated separately. The board proposed increasing authorised share capital from Rs. 50 crores to Rs. 80 crores, subject to shareholder approval, and approved the postal ballot notice. It appointed Rohit Sharma as a whole-time director and executive director for five years from 13 August 2025 to 12 August 2030, subject to shareholder approval, and noted Rajiv Agarwal’s resignation as a non-executive non-independent director with effect from the close of business on 12 August 2025. ICRA Limited filed its monitoring agency report for the quarter ended 30 June 2025 covering proceeds from three preferential issues of 71,42,856 shares, 89,59,728 shares and 50,00,000 shares. The report monitored utilisation of the issue proceeds and did not provide assurance on the outcome of the spending.

What did Nazara Technologies' management say?

Management maintained its guidance of achieving ₹300 crore of consolidated EBITDA by FY27 and said it was on track to achieve or surpass the target. It also indicated a directional aspiration of 30% EBITDA margins across gaming businesses, without a specific timeline. Management expected Nazara’s stake in Nodwin after the fundraise to come down to ~46-47% in FY26. Management said the company would revamp 11 existing Smaaash centres, target a proof of concept for Smaaash 2.0 in ~6 months and push aggressive expansion to FY27. For Funky Monkeys, management planned to add 8-9 more centres in FY26 on top of the 12 currently operational. The priorities included a sharper focus on core gaming IP, Fusebox and Curve as growth engines, improved user-acquisition efficiency, and expansion of the IP portfolio. Management identified traffic disruption at Sportskeeda following Google’s March core update, with recovery expected in 1-2 quarters but not yet visible. It also flagged dependence on Apple and Google, regulatory uncertainty around PokerBaazi and expected FY26 operating-level losses for PokerBaazi, historical setbacks at Nodwin, and near-term margin compression at Fusebox from user-acquisition spending on Love Island and Big Brother launches. No specific analyst questions were recorded in the supplied earnings-call details.

How did Nazara Technologies shares react?

The filing appeared after market hours. From the price when the filing appeared, the stock fell 1.1% after 5 minutes, was down 0.2% after 15 minutes and rose 0.4% after 30 minutes. On the reaction day, it closed 0.4% below its pre-results close; by the next day’s close, it remained 0.4% below that close. By the fifth session’s close, the stock was 15.8% below its pre-results close, compared with a 0.6% rise for the median move of the other entertainment stocks and a 2.8% rise for the Nifty Microcap 250. The stock therefore lagged the industry median by 16.4 percentage points over five sessions and the market by 18.6 percentage points. Over one month, it was 22.6% lower. Earlier results-day moves were mixed: the stock fell 2.4% on 26 May 2025, fell 1.0% on 13 February 2025, rose 0.1% on 14 November 2024, fell 1.6% on 13 August 2024 and rose 11.3% on 24 May 2024.