Nazara Technologies Ltd. will focus on fresh mergers and acquisitions to bolster the company's performance in FY25, said Joint Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Nitish Mittersain.
“The company is very active and focused on new mergers and acquisitions. We have built a very strong deal pipeline and will continue to invest very actively in the coming months. So, we remain very positive about FY25 and even more positive in FY26,” he told NDTV Profit in a conversation.
He remained confident of improving the current Ebitda margins and added that the dilution of margins due to recent investment in the Kiddopia business will not have any effect on the overall margins in FY25.
Nazara Technologies had acquired full ownership of Kiddopia publisher Paper Boat Apps with an investment of Rs 300 crore in July this year. Kiddopia is a gamified learning app for kids in the 2–8 year range.
Before the full acquisition, the gaming and media company held a 48.42% stake in Paper Boat Apps. During this period, Mittersain had noted that Paper Boat's growth had accelerated six to eight times. However, in the last two years, this growth has slowed down.
“But now, with the takeover and new strategies, we hope the growth will resume at an accelerated pace. I think it is possible, if we do everything correctly, that this business could double in the next three to four years,” he said.
Separately, on Sept. 5, Nazara Technologies announced it was inking a pact with the Telangana government to build an AI Centre of Excellence focused on gaming and digital entertainment.
Mittersain said that AI is important for a business like Nazara Technologies.
“In the next 3–5 years, we are going to see significant disruptions, both on the positive and the negative side. We, as a company, want to make sure that we are paying a lot of attention and doing active work here so we can leverage and benefit from AI,” he added.
While there is no direct revenue potential from the pact, Mittersain believes it will indirectly benefit the variety of businesses the company engages in.