The iCandy Interactive Ltd (ASX: ICI) share price is flying 19.74% higher today to 9.1 cents after the company posted its results for the first half of FY22.
The ASX-listed freemium mobile games developer's shares are currently trading for 9.1 cents each after closing on Wednesday at 7.6 cents.
Let's check if the iCandy result is as sweet as it sounds.
What did iCandy report in 1H FY22?
Here is a snapshot of the key highlights for 1H FY22, which are sending the iCandy share price through the roof today.
- Revenue skyrocketed 1,600% from $0.93 million in 1H FY21 to $15.69 million in 1H FY22
- Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) jumped to a record $4.41 million — the first time it has achieved profitability
- Net loss reversed from $1.19 million in 1H FY21 to a net profit after tax (NPAT) of $0.23 million in 1H FY22
- Current cash balance of $28.3 million
The astronomical jump in revenue was due to iCandy's new subsidiary, Lemon Sky Studios. This game and animation studio is known for developing games such as Call of Duty Infinite Warfare, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, Spider-Man and Marvel's Avengers.
Lemon Sky Studios has assisted iCandy with developing three non-fungible token (NFT) Generative Art projects, as well as nine NFT/Metaverse gaming projects.
ICandy paid $44.5 million comprised of cash and shares for this acquisition.
Prior to this, iCandy also acquired 51% of Storms, a Southeast Asian-based game developer.
ICandy's ultimate goal is to become the leading integrated metaverse gaming platform globally.
Due to the acquisitions, iCandy's employee expenditures lifted from $0.3 million in 1H FY21 to $3.05 million in 1H FY22. This was the biggest uptick in operational expenses.
Operating cash flow went up from negative $1.06 million in 1H FY21 to $3.86 million in 1H FY22. However, iCandy spent $21.3 million in cash on acquisitions for 1H FY22.
What else happened in 1H FY22?
In March, iCandy announced its NFT project with Froyo Games and is expected to be finished in the last quarter of FY22.
ICandy is still developing its signature metaverse game Metal Genesis and hopes a playable demo will be ready by the last quarter of FY22.
Metal Genesis is an armoured robo-suit war machine-themed and player-vs-player metaverse virtual world game being developed by Lemon Sky Studios.
Management confident about outlook
ICandy management advised it has a pipeline of three years for work. Management plans to lift the company headcount by 20% by the end of the year.
Outside of game development, iCandy is seeing demand for animation development services from global streaming and content providers.
Management said it expects the recent revenue trend to continue.
iCandy share price snapshot
In the last year, the iCandy share price has risen by 53% but has dropped 8% in the past month. In contrast, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is down 9% in the last year and 2% in the last month.
The market capitalisation of iCandy is around $113 million.
