Good morning and good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by and welcome to NIP Group's earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. We will be hosting a question-and-answer session after management's prepared remarks. Please note that today's event is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to the first speaker today, Mr. Ben Li, CFO of the company. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you, Sarah. Hello everyone, and welcome to NIP Group's first half 2024 earnings call. With us today are our Chairman and Co-CEO, Mr. Mario Ho, and our Co-CEO, Mr. Hicham Chahine. You can refer to our first half financials results on our IR website. You can also access a replay of this call on our IR website when it becomes available a few hours after its conclusion. Before we continue, I'd like to refer you to our Safe Harbor Statement in our earnings press release, which also applies to this call, as we will be making forward-looking statements. Please note that all numbers stated in the following management's prepared remarks are in USD terms, and we will discuss non-GAAP measures today, which are more thoroughly explained and reconciled to the most comparable measures reported in our earnings release and filings with the SEC.
I will now turn the call over to our Chairman and Co-CEO. Mario, please go ahead.
Thank you, Ben, and thank you all for joining us today for our first earnings call as a publicly listed company. I want to start by expressing our deepest gratitude to our shareholders, partners, and the entire team at NIP Group for their support and dedication in helping us reach this significant milestone. The success of our IPO not only validates the strength of our business model, but also equips us with the resources to continue our transformation from esports to a comprehensive gaming company. Following our IPO, we took a number of critical steps towards this evolution, which extend our gaming ecosystem and diversify our revenue streams by creating complementary verticals in game publishing and hospitality, while expanding our operations into new geographies and fortifying our position in talent management.
For those who are new to our story, I'd like to provide a brief overview of NIP Group's background and our vision for the future. NIP Group is currently a leading digital entertainment company. Our mission is to create a fully integrated digital entertainment ecosystem. Our flagship brand, Ninjas in Pyjamas, founded in year 2000, is one of the most iconic esports organizations worldwide. Over the past two decades, we have built a strong legacy of competitive excellence and a passionate global fan base. Our business is built around three core pillars. First, our esports team's operations. We manage and operate professional esports teams that compete at the highest levels across multiple game titles. We do this through our two flagship brands, Ninjas in Pyjamas for PC and console, and eStar Gaming for mobile esports.
Our teams have a rich history of success, capturing numerous championships and establishing NIP as a household name in the esports community. The rise of mobile devices over the past five years has supercharged the competitive mobile games market, opening up a huge opportunity for us to expand into. Second is our talent management. We represent a diverse roster of esports athletes, content creators, and influencers. Our talent management division is dedicated to nurturing and promoting these individuals, providing them with the resources and opportunities to grow their personal brands and engage with audiences globally. In October, we strengthened our talent management division and content creation capabilities with the strategic acquisition of Young Will. Young Will is a leader in teen culture-themed short video content with over 115 million followers across major social media platforms.
This gives us immediate access to engage with Young Will's large audience of young followers, expanding our demographic reach and bringing users more diversified content. Thirdly is events production. We specialize in organizing and producing high-quality esports events and tournaments. Our expertise in event production allows us to deliver immersive experiences for both live audiences and online viewers, enhancing engagement and building stronger connections within the gaming community. Moreover, such competence enables us to dive into other event opportunities, such as music festivals, animation, comic, game novel, a.k.a. ACGN exhibitions, and others. Since our IPO in July, we have been actively transforming and expanding our businesses to capture new opportunities and drive growth. Our strategic focus has been on key three areas: revenue diversification, geographic expansion, and innovation.
Firstly, we are continuing to diversify our revenue streams to reduce reliance on any single segment and to capitalize on emerging opportunities within the gaming and entertainment industry. In August, we launched our first esports-themed hotel business through a joint venture partnership with Homeinns Hotel Group. This venture allows us to create unique gaming-centric experiences for guests, blending hospitality with immersive esports and gaming elements. By leveraging our brand and expertise, we aim to tap into the growing demand for experiential entertainment. In September, we entered the gaming publishing market, a significant step to becoming a fully integrated esports game publisher. Our publishing strategy is multifaceted, focusing on esports-oriented titles while exploring opportunities in various gaming categories. This move not only diversifies our revenue streams but also leverages our existing strengths in esports, talent management, events, and productions to create synergies across our business lines.
We are in a very advanced stage, ready to release our first mobile game, Re: Aetatis. Developed by a local gaming developer, this unique ACGN genre-based mobile game marks a significant first milestone in our gaming portfolio. We already secured mainstream publishing platforms such as TapTap and Bilibili as our distribution channels. We expect to leverage our three core businesses to build an entire esports ecosystem around the game, where there will be a full-fledged league, clubs, and streamers. This shows our continuous strategy to link all business pillars to become a comprehensive gaming company. The game developer invested over RMB 100 million in development costs, which is significant in the mobile gaming industry. It boasts a product caliber that is recognized as S-level within the industry. Following two comprehensive testing phases, both retention rates and monetization metrics have aligned with our projected benchmarks.
Moreover, the game has achieved an A-plus rating from many third-party channels, showcasing its exceptional quality and market appeal. We target to launch Re: Aetatis before the year end. The launch of Re: Aetatis is not only a milestone for our group but also signifies the company's expansion into the competitive gaming market. It demonstrates our ability to diversify the business portfolio and tap into the growing demand for unique gaming experiences. This strategic move is expected to strengthen our brand presence in the industry and attract a new demographic of gamers. Moreover, it positions our group as a key player in the gaming market, setting the stage for future collaborations and innovative gaming experiences that will contribute to the company's long-term growth and success. Secondly, we are expanding our geographic footprint to tap into high-growth markets in the Middle East.
Earlier this year, we entered into a strategic collaboration agreement with Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism, which involves hiring local staff, promoting the local gaming industry, and boosting the Emirates' reputation in the global gaming industry. This November, we are closing the process of entering a non-binding term sheet with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) to bring our esports and broader game offerings to this region. We are also excited to announce our upcoming plans to establish regional headquarters in Abu Dhabi as a hub for our operations in the Middle East. We'll be recruiting a team of professionals with deep industry and regional expertise. Beyond geographic expansion, this partnership provides us with significant financial support and resources to accelerate our global growth initiatives and establish a strong presence in a market poised for significant expansion, with Abu Dhabi as a global base.
Thirdly, we continue to drive innovation across all our businesses. Our events production segment has shown remarkable growth, achieving a 376.5% revenue increase year-over-year in the first half of 2024. This success is a testament to our team's ability to create engaging and high-quality events that resonate with audiences globally. We are investing in advanced technology and talent to enhance our production capabilities, which not only elevates the experience for participants and viewers but also strengthens our relationships with sponsors and partners. Financially, we are pleased with our performance in the first half of the year amidst a challenging macroeconomic environment. We maintain stable revenues, reporting $39.3 million in net revenues for the first half of 2024, compared to $38.6 million in the same period last year.
Importantly, we significantly narrowed our net loss to $4.7 million from $11.3 million, demonstrating our focus on operational efficiency and a clear path towards profitability. Also, our adjusted EBITDA for the first half of 2024 increased by 7%, compared with the same period of 2023. Now, looking ahead, our recent public listing provides us with greater access to capital markets, enabling us to invest in high-potential areas and explore strategic acquisitions that align with our long-term vision. We are excited about the potential of our new initiatives and are confident that our diversified business model positions us well to navigate the evolving landscape of the gaming and digital entertainment industry. NIP Group is uniquely positioned at the intersection of gaming, entertainment, and technology.
Our strategic initiatives are gaining momentum, and we are committed to delivering exceptional value to our shareholders, providing unparalleled experiences to our audiences, and fostering a dynamic, inclusive culture within our organization. Thank you for your continued support. I will now turn the call over to my co-CEO, Mr. Hicham Chahine, who will provide more details on our operational achievements and future plans.
Thank you, Mario, and hello, everyone. I'm excited to share more detailed insights into our operational progress and initiatives that are driving our growth. Building upon the strategic vision Mario outlined, I would like to focus on how we're executing these strategies across our business segments and the tangible results we're achieving. Starting with our event production segment, we have significantly expanded our capabilities and offerings. In the first half of 2024, we successfully obtained more large-scale event contracts as a result of our business track record and brand recognition. In our talent management division, we have focused on high-profile talent acquisition and development, as well as making a strategic shift to focus on higher-margin platforms. During the first half of 2024, we launched successful campaigns featuring our talent on platforms like Douyin and Bilibili, resulting in a new path to higher-margin revenues.
We continue to invest in talent incubation programs to identify and nurture emerging influencers and esports athletes, ensuring a pipeline of fresh talent for the future. Regarding our game publishing initiative, our team has been actively working on a slate of new initiatives. In the first half of 2024, we took significant steps in building our gaming ecosystem, solidifying ourselves as a holistic gaming entertainment company. After listing, we have built a seasoned and experienced publishing team, seeking to discover top-tier games and bring them to market as a publisher, utilizing our scale and operational capabilities. In addition to TapTap and Bilibili, we're in advanced stages of negotiating with key distribution channels to ensure broad accessibility upon release of our first game.
As Mario earlier mentioned, we're in a very advanced stage, ready to release our first mobile game before year-end, and it has received good feedback during the initial testing phases. Finally, on our expansion into the Middle East, we fundamentally believe in the growth of the Middle East as an emerging global gaming hub, and we are taking concrete steps to establish our presence and take a leading market position. We opened a regional office in Abu Dhabi earlier this year and are in the process of building a team with deep market knowledge. We're closely collaborating with various local governmental bodies and commercial players to develop, build, and promote esports and gaming initiatives, as well as being a cornerstone stakeholder in contributing to the Emirates' long-term vision to become a global hub for esports and gaming. Looking ahead, we remain focused on executing our strategic plans with excellence.
We're exploring additional markets for expansion, evaluating potential acquisitions that align with our core competencies, and continuously innovating our existing offerings. As always, we remain focused on the efficiency of our operations. We're confident that our operational advancements, combined with our strategic initiatives, position us well for sustained long-term growth and profitability. Our dedicated team, robust infrastructure, diversified revenue streams, global presence, and strong industry relationships are all key assets that will drive our continued success. In closing, I want to thank our employees for their passion and hard work, our partners for their collaboration, and our shareholders for their trust and support. We're enthusiastic about the opportunities ahead and look forward to updating you on our progress in the coming quarters. Thank you. I will now turn the call over to Ben Li, who will discuss our financial performance in more detail.
Thank you, Hicham. Hello, everyone, again. I am pleased to share our financial results for the first half of 2024, which reflect the positive momentum of our strategic transformation. Despite a challenging macroeconomic environment, we maintained stable revenues and made significant strides, improving our bottom line. Total net revenue for the first half of 2024 was $39.3 million, a slight increase from $38.6 million in the same period of 2023. The appreciation of the US dollar compared to the RMB had a negative effect on our reported revenues this period of approximately $1.5 million. By excluding the impact of foreign exchange, revenues for the first half of 2024 would have been $40.8 million, implying the year-over-year growth rate at around 6%.
Looking at our revenue breakdown in more detail, revenues from our event production segment were a primary contributor to our stable revenue this period. It accounted for around 22% of our revenue compared with just 4.7% in the same period last year. Event production revenues increased by an impressive 376.5% year-over-year to $8.7 million. Revenues from our esports team's operations were $8.8 million versus $9.9 million in the same period last year. The decline reflects a challenging macroeconomic environment, which translates to a reduction in marketing budgets by advertisers. Revenues from talent management services were $21.9 million versus $26.9 million in the same period last year, reflecting our migration to high-performance online entertainment platforms. While revenues in the segment saw decline, this transition is expected to improve margins and contribute to long-term profitability.
Our gross profit increased to $2.4 million from $2.3 million in the same period last year, with gross margin improving slightly to 6% from 5.9%. This improvement is mainly attributable to the increase in event production revenues, partially offset by the decline in talent management service revenues. In terms of operational efficiency, gap-wise, we significantly narrowed our net loss to $4.7 million in the first half of 2024, compared with a net loss of $11.3 million in the same period of 2023. This substantial reduction reflects our continuous focus on operational efficiency and cost optimization across all business segments. Our adjusted EBITDA was - $2.6 million, consistent with - $2.7 million in the same period last year. While we are not yet EBITDA positive, we are making good progress towards our goal of achieving sustainable profitability.
Our balance sheet remains solid, providing us with the financial flexibility to execute our growth strategy while maintaining operational stability. The successful IPO in July has strengthened our capital position, enabling us to invest in high-potential areas and pursue strategic acquisitions that align with our long-term vision. In conclusion, our financial performance in the first half of 2024 demonstrates the effectiveness of our strategic transformation. We have maintained revenue stability, significantly improved our bottom line, and strengthened our financial position. Looking ahead, we remain committed to balancing top-line growth with operational efficiency and our profitability goals. Our strategic initiatives are beginning to yield positive results, and we are confident in our ability to drive sustainable growth and enhance shareholder value. We will continue to focus on executing our growth strategy, optimizing our operations, and capitalizing on emerging opportunities in the gaming and digital entertainment industry.
Thank you all for your support and confidence in NIP Group. We look forward to delivering continued progress in the quarters ahead. Everyone, this concludes our prepared remarks for today. Sarah, operator, we are now ready to take questions. Thank you.
Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you will need to press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. Thank you. We'll now take our first question. This is from the line of Bo Pei from US Tiger Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi, NIPG management. Thanks for taking my questions. I have two. So the first question, could you elaborate on the latest developments of the esports-t hemed hotel joint venture with Homeinns? Will you focus on this model in the future or expand into other offline modes like internet cafes like WYWK? And how much investment will be put into this hospitality JV, including fixed and variable costs? And what is the schedule for this? And what timing can we expect? And what does the revenue share look like? Thank you. That's my first question.
Thank you. This is Mario. So in terms of latest developments, we have already completed the interior and spacing design work. We have already decided which esports hardware company to work with. We are now going to decide in the next coming months which location the first esports hotel from this company will be at. So that's most of the developments. And essentially, your second question about whether we'll focus on this model or expand into similar things like internet cafes, I think we will be focusing on this model as we expect the esports hotel industry to actually overtake internet cafes and to take a majority market share in the offline gaming industry. So we believe in this model. In terms of how much investment will be put into the JV, we're looking to put between $500,000 - $1 million.
The schedule will essentially be tied to the development, the actual construction, and renovation of the first store. In terms of timing of opening, we expect some time nearing the end of Q2, the latest to be early Q3 for our first esports hotel to be fully launched. The revenue share would look like 60-40, 60 to NIPG and 40 to Homeinns Hotel Group. Thank you.
Thank you. That's very helpful. And I have another question. So as the company enters the game publishing sector, could you share more details about the upcoming games and future publishing plans? And what are the main differences between NIPG and other publishers in the game publishing field? Is the company more inclined to publish competitive games? Would you opt for co-publishing or exclusive publishing models? What is the expected pay rate, and how much investment will the game production division need? When do you expect to release your first game? Thank you.
So, Mario here. So in terms of our upcoming games, our main one is going to be released by year-end, which is our first mobile game, Re: Aetatis. And our future publishing plans will revolve around esports competitive games. But at the same time, we're open to other genres as well. We are also going to look at WeChat mini program games in parallel to launching Re: Aetatis. We expect to have two publishing arms, one for mobile games on the traditional distribution channels like iOS, Huawei, Vivo, Bilibili, TapTap, and then the other arm to be mainly focused on the rapidly growing market of WeChat mini games. Now, the main differences between NIP Group and other publishers is that we have full-fledged esports capabilities. We know how a league should be built. We know how a league should be promoted online and offline.
We have our own events production team, which has created numerous events for leagues from other game publishers. So this makes us very special in the sense that we have all the capabilities that's needed for a game, a competitive game, to have a very well-made competitive league, and that is exactly what we are going to do for Re: Aetatis , so right after launch, we will be shortly announcing our plans for the competitive league, how it will be structured, how many clubs and which clubs will be invited to participate, how many permanent franchise slots we will be offering out. Details like that will come shortly after the game is published. Of course, our events production team will then proceed to create the league offline. We'll also create a professional-level league.
We'll also create games and events and competitions that take place on the university level and the non-professional level as well. And to look at your other questions, in terms of co-publishing or exclusive publishing models, I think this really depends on the games that we're able to sign. We're constantly going to look at the best-tier, S-level games like Re: Aetatis . And depending on the appetite and preference of the game developer, we will decide which publishing model to use. But we are not tied to any single one. The expected take rate should be market standard. From $100, we'd make $45 in revenue. And then $30 out of the $45 would go to the developer. So we would take $15. And in terms of how much investment the game production division will need, we have invested a few million dollars already into this production line.
We expect that it'll yield significant revenues for the company starting Q1 2025 right away as the game launches by year-end. And then in terms of further investment, we'll, of course, be tied to how the game is published and also how many more games we will be signing and publishing at the same time. Thank you.
Got it. That's very helpful. Thank you so much.
Thank you. We'll now take our next question. This is from the line of Chao Shang from Guangfa Securities. Please go ahead.
Thank you, management, for taking my question. I have two questions. My first question is regarding the acquisition of Young Will. Do you plan to expand into the pan-entertainment field? What potential synergies exist between this part of the business and the esports part business?
Thank you. It's Mario here. So through the acquisition of Young Will, we are already expanding into the pan-entertainment field. And this is definitely a growing market that we are very excited about. Now, in terms of synergies, Young Will has core competitive capabilities when it comes to content creation, when it comes to increasing following for their talent, and also the creation of content that is catered towards a younger audience as well as on a very, very well-performing and growing platform such as Douyin, the TikTok version in China. So essentially, we see a lot of synergies, but the main one is that we believe content creation and increasing followers is a skill that is universal. So it will be applied for our existing esports talent, for our existing esports athletes, all of their personal branding, their account management, their following will also be increased.
The content produced for these esports athletes, these very important assets to our company, will now be improved because of the acquisition of Young Will. So we very much are excited about the capabilities that we are acquiring from Young Will, but as well as the assets that come with Young Will, which are many, many very, very famous talents in China already on Douyin, some of which have fans over 10 million. And we will look to see the synergies that will happen when they stream and create content together with our esports celebrities. Thank you.
Thank you, management. And my second question is concerning the signed term sheet with Abu Dhabi Investment Office. Could you discuss the specific strategic plans for expansion in the Middle East and the North Africa region? Could management share more details on MENA operations and the timing for financial contribution? Thank you.
Thank you for the question. Hicham here on that topic. I'll take it. As we all have seen over the last two years, the Middle East has become increasingly more important to Esports and video games. That is primarily fueled by large state and private investments going into the space. We recognized this trend about two and a half years ago and started positioning ourselves for that. What does that mean for us and the company? We spent a long period of time building up relationships, positioning ourselves with the right stakeholders, both from the government side but also from the private sector, in order to be in the best position in the current market landscape of any of our competitors. We are confident that we have achieved that. Now, what does it mean for the company with us positioning ourselves for the Middle East?
We are looking to capitalize on the Middle East being one of the frontiers of future esports growth. To capitalize on that, we have taken the strategic decision to establish a global HQ to centralize certain group functions in the region. You will probably be looking at the financial side, IR, PR, content creation, but also a wide range of local activities when it comes to talent development and esports activities. Now, if you look at the financial terms and agreements that we currently have in place and are entering in the region, from before, we have an agreement with the Department of Culture and Tourism in Abu Dhabi, which is a smaller-sized agreement than what the Abu Dhabi Investment Office term sheet is. The DCT agreement from before subsidizes things like our payroll, leasing. It eases our operational hurdles and so on.
And after a year of operations out of Abu Dhabi and picking that as the home base for the Middle Eastern growth and consolidating global group functions there, we've also arrived at we wanted to take it to the next level. And this is where the agreement with Abu Dhabi Investment Office comes in. And to address your questions on what does it mean in terms of financials, well, the term sheet that is currently being signed provides the company with a U.S. dollar amount of eight figures per year over a period of four years. And the financial contribution of that begins in 2025. And we do expect the definitive long-term agreement to be completed by the end of this year.
Thank you.
Thank you, management.
We'll now take our next question. This is from the line of Robin Chen from Soochow Securities International. Please go ahead.
Hi, management. Thanks for taking my questions. I've got two questions. And the first one is concerning the top-line growth. Could you please analyze the main drivers behind the high revenue growth in the event production segment? And how will this growth be sustained? And looking forward, when will the revenues pick up from the esports team operations? And how do you expect the revenue mix from your business lines to be going forward? That's my first question. Thank you.
Thank you. Mario here. So the main drivers behind the 376.5% revenue growth in the events production segment have a few reasons. Number one is that we have expanded our product offering. So we used to be doing purely esports tournaments, but now we have started to do anime conventions. We have gone into the markets of music festivals, both of which are growing segments in the market. We've also expanded our footprint across more provinces. So previously, we were mostly doing events in the Hubei province, but now there are only a few provinces on the entire map of China that we do not cover, and yet we haven't done business as that. So that, of course, entails a lot more local governments, SOEs, and major companies that want to work with us.
We expect this pipeline to be very much sustainable and growth to continue at a very fast pace. And at the same time, we have now further proved ourselves in terms of the quality of the events that we produce, as well as the capability of being able to produce massive events. Previously, from Tencent, from NetEase, these game publishers, we would do a lot of events for their, for example, university-level competitions or their semi-professional competitions. But now that we've proven ourselves, we are able to secure bigger contracts for events such as professional-level tour finals that take place. Here are basically some of the few reasons as to why we are able to have such a big growth. And then to your other questions, when will revenues pick up from esports team operations?
We expect that to happen, hopefully, when the Olympics for esports actually take place. I think that will create a much bigger wave of attraction when it comes to dollars being spent back into advertisements in esports. And of course, whenever there are years such as the Asian Games, these major events will create bigger years for esports going forward. And of course, if our results are able to be better in terms of competitive-wise, so we win more trophies, that would also pick up our revenues there. Now, the revenue mix from our business lines going forward is something that we're excited about. Of course, one obvious line is going to be our game publishing business. We expect that to really contribute to our top line and have a very significant percentage of total revenue starting next year. And of course, we expect sustained growth for events production.
These two will likely become the top one and top two revenue drivers for our 2025, and both are, of course, growing in very nice and larger profit margin businesses. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Mario. And my second question is concerning expenses and costs. Could you please share the specific measures the company has taken to improve operational efficiency and optimize costs? Thank you.
Yep. Absolutely. Hicham here. I'll take your question. There's a lot of activities that are going on across the group when it comes to cost. I think the most notable to mention are still a couple of them. The first one is that we're still extracting efficiencies from the merger between ESV5 and NIP Gaming, which led to the creation of NIP Group, and when we look at those synergies, it's a wide range of them. Some of them are double functions following the merger. Another part which has been a big, large contributing factor to that is HR efficiency, but doing it in a way where we are enabling growth while still making sure that we have an optimal resource situation, so especially in particular, in some parts of our business, we have been able to improve that efficiency by up to 40%.
On other sides, it's the basic things that everyone looks at all the time. And we've been very disciplined on making sure expenditures in terms of ordinary business operations have been kept intact, but also having good structures, good routines when it comes to cost control. I think, and what is very certain, is the element of the esports boom that we experienced from 2016 to 2020 is sort of slowing down. And that has significantly contributed to the costs also going in the right direction. Simply because we're seeing that talent and player costs are now normalizing and coming down to levels which are sustainable, we've been extremely disciplined in making sure we sign the right talent, the right players, but also at the right costs of what we can benefit from that.
So, we've been very cautious even before the merger on both sides of the Chinese business, but also the Western business, and making sure that we have appropriate talent costs. And you're seeing that normalizing and coming down as well. So, I would say that are probably the two largest contributing factors to what you would say as recurring expenditures. Now, if you look at 2023, you look at 2024, you look at also certain parts of 2022, we have had larger periods with one-time costs. And those one-time costs are mainly related to M&A activity, the IPO activities, which has legal fees, that has auditing costs related to it, and costs which are more of a one-time nature, which we are not expecting to reoccur at the same level going forward as well. I hope that answered your question.
Great. Thanks a lot.
Thank you. We'll now take our next question. This is from the line of Marco Zhang from Gelonghui Research. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks for taking my question. This is Marco from Gelonghui Research. Congrats on your first successful reporting post the IPO and your progress in the first half of 2024. So looking ahead, what strategic plans or initiatives do you have for business expansion and exploring new markets?
This is Hicham here. I'll take your question on that. As always, we have an existing business, right? And having a successful existing business, we will obviously be making sure that we continue the growth trajectory we are in when it comes to our existing business verticals which are up and running, right? That is the esports side. That is the events production side. That is the MCN side. But also announcing what we're doing in hospitality, what we're announcing in game publishing. Those are significant strategic expansions which we will be focusing resources and efforts on. And then obviously, what we said about what we're doing in the Middle East, that comes with a strategy of geographically diversifying our business. And MENA is extremely important to that.
So is the Americas region to that, but also the Western business, where at the company, we are looking to increase the proportion of revenues that come from the Middle East, from Europe, from Americas as a key priority of the company going forward. So a lot of activity picked up in other geographic regions and increased focus there. And I will also say, just like we communicated during our roadshow, which we have proven over the last couple of years, is our M&A strategy, right? NIP Group was built, and part of that building was because we have been extremely disciplined and successful in doing M&A. And also post-IPO, we have been continuing the M&A strategy in the form of the acquisition of Young Will.
We have a pipeline which we are looking at exploring in terms of M&A to fuel the growth of the company to take it to the next level. I hope that answered your question.
Okay. Yeah. Okay. That's great. Congrats again on your progress. Operator, I have no more questions.
Thank you, Marco.
Thank you. I see we have no further questions. I'd like to hand the conference back to our management for closing remarks.
Nope. Well, I guess thank you, everybody, for your time. And looking forward to reporting more good news in the upcoming quarters. Thank you.
Thank you, everyone.
Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.