A blockbuster Q4, a multifold profit jump, and a bulk deal that tells two very different stories depending on which side of the trade you’re on
Not every 18% rally needs a press release. Sometimes the market just speaks for itself.
Shares of Nazara Technologies shot up as much as 18% to hit an intraday high of ₹314 on the BSE today, driven by buzz around large block deals that reportedly saw nearly 4.9% of the company’s equity change hands during the morning session alone — a staggering volume for a single trading day.
According to CNBC-TV18, the buyers included Zerodha cofounder Nikhil Kamath and Axana Estates, both of whom doubled down on their existing positions. On the other side of the trade: CEO Nitish Mittersain, who reportedly featured among the sellers.
By 12:33 PM IST, the stock had pulled back slightly from its peak amid profit booking, trading 15.6% higher at ₹308 apiece, with market capitalisation standing at approximately ₹11,430.7 crore ($1.1 billion). Over 1.91 crore shares had changed hands on the BSE by early afternoon, though no formal bulk or block deal data had been reflected on the bourses at the time of writing.
The Numbers That Started the Party
The block deal buzz didn’t emerge in a vacuum. It follows a genuinely strong set of quarterly results that Nazara disclosed earlier this week.
The gaming major’s consolidated net profit surged to ₹55.7 crore in Q4 FY26 — up from just ₹4.1 crore in the same quarter last year, and a staggering 533% jump sequentially from ₹8.8 crore in Q3 FY26. That’s not a small beat. That’s a business that appears to have genuinely turned a corner.
EBITDA rose 52% to ₹78 crore in the quarter, with margins expanding sharply to 19.5% from 9.8% in Q4 FY25 — a near doubling of operating profitability in twelve months.
For the full year, Nazara posted its highest-ever EBITDA of ₹255 crore, up 66% from ₹153 crore in FY25, with EBITDA margins improving 450 basis points to 13.9%. Annual operating revenue grew 12.6% YoY to ₹1,829 crore, while full-year profit climbed 60.8% to ₹82 crore.
Since the financial disclosure on May 12, Nazara shares have already gained over 15% — today’s move is an extension of that re-rating.
The Revenue Decline That Isn’t Really a Decline
One number in the results needs context. Operating revenue fell 23.5% to ₹397.8 crore in Q4 FY26 from ₹520.2 crore a year ago — a figure that looks alarming at first glance.
The explanation is structural, not operational. The decline is almost entirely attributable to the deconsolidation of NODWIN Gaming, Nazara’s esports business. Strip that out, and Q4 revenue actually grew 8% YoY on a like-for-like basis.
Speaking of NODWIN — management has flagged it as a potential candidate for monetisation. “We will look at potentially monetising non-core businesses for us. This could be NODWIN, it could be SportsKeeda, it could be the adtech business in due course,” the company said, signalling a sharper strategic focus on its core gaming vertical going forward.
What’s Coming Next ?
Nazara pipeline is busy. Its acquisition of Bluetile and BestPlay — the company’s largest M&A deal to date — is expected to close by FY27, pending regulatory approvals. The deal brings 17 casual puzzle gaming IPs and 2.2 crore monthly active users into the fold, with management projecting a meaningful uplift to gaming revenue and EBITDA in the coming fiscal year.
On the product front, World Cricket Championship 4 — built using AI across its engine, content, and QA pipelines — is expected to enter public beta in mid-May 2026. Nazara is also embedding AI across game development, user acquisition, LiveOps, analytics, ad monetisation, and customer engagement more broadly.
To fund its next phase, the company has approved raising ₹500 crore through a preferential issue of warrants from investors including Riambel Capital, S Gupta Family Investments, Plutus Investment and Holding, Classic Enterprises, and Founders Collective. Fresh investments in Rusk Media and Ncore Games have also been approved.
Reading the Room
The CEO selling while institutional investors load up is a dynamic worth watching — but it isn’t automatically bearish. Founders and executives routinely monetise holdings for personal financial reasons entirely unrelated to their conviction in the business. The more telling signal may be that Nikhil Kamath, who has long been associated with Nazara, chose today to add to his position rather than trim it.
With margin expansion, a profit inflection, AI integration underway, and a major acquisition on the horizon, Nazara is building a case that its best years are ahead. The market, at least for today, seems inclined to agree.
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Disclaimer:-
This article is based on publicly available market data and financial results.
Block deal details are based on reports by CNBC-TV18 and had not been officially
confirmed on BSE at the time of publication. This article will be updated once
formal deal data is available. It does not constitute investment advice.
