Allied Gaming & Entertainment Inc.

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Allied Gaming and Entertainment Inc. Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Today's call will be recorded, and I will be standing by should you need any assistance. It is now my pleasure to turn the conference over to Tyler Drew with Addo Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator. Good afternoon and welcome to the Allied Gaming and Entertainment Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. Speaking on the call today are Allied Gaming and Entertainment's Chief Executive Officer, Yinghua Chen, and Chief Financial Officer, Roy Anderson. Before I turn the call over to management, please note that our prepared remarks may contain forward-looking statements. Words such as may, will, expect, intend, plan, believe, speak, could, Estimate, judgment, targeting, should, anticipate, goal, and variations of these words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those implied by such forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors discussed in the company's public filings, including the risk factors discussed in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although the company believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that its expectations will be attained. The company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. In addition, certain of the financial information presented in this call represents non-GAAP financial measures. The company's earnings release, which was issued this afternoon, is available on the company's website, presents definitions of such non-GAAP financial measures, reconciliations to the appropriate GAAP measures, and an explanation of why the company believes such non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors. And with that, it's now my pleasure to turn the call over to Allied Gaming and Entertainment CEO, Yinghua Chen. Yinghua.

Thank you, Tyler, and thank you all for joining us this afternoon. We are thrilled to speak with you today about the upward trajectory of our business as we continue to gain traction advancing our strategic initiatives. Notably, ZTECH is performing well. Our HyperX arena remains in high demand, and just this morning, we announced the creation of the World Margin Tour, WMT. Modeled after the highly successful World Poker Tour, WMT will debuts later this year, and I will provide more details on that shortly. Our world-class HyperX Arena continues to be a hub of activity, hosting a wide variety of events this quarter, totaling 65 event days, 40 of which were third-party events. We collaborated with the World Poker Tour on several of these events, which will be invaluable as we develop the World Mahjong Tour. Among the highlights were the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Final Table, held at the arena on May 29th, where Josh Richards claimed victory at nearly $1 million in prize money. The following day, on May 30th, we hosted the WPT Choctaw Championship Final Table, where James Mackey secured the title and a seat at the upcoming WPT World Poker Championship. Other notable events this quarter included the Sonic Boom Unofficial Level Up After Party, the Mobile Legends Bang Bang 2024 North America Challenger Tournament Spring Grand Finale, and the Licensing International Excellence Award. The HyperX Arena truly embodies versatility hosting events that range from world-class poker tournaments to prestigious industry awards ceremonies besides our esports and gaming events. Now let me turn to this morning's exciting announcement, the launch of the World Mahjong Tour, a groundbreaking series of events that will bring the timeless game of mahjong to a global stage. Why is this so compelling for us? For starters, Mahjong is a game of skill, strategy, and a touch of luck with a history spanning over a century. Its popularity has been resurging in recent years, especially among the younger generation of the population. While it has always been a beloved game, it has never been monetized or brought to the market on a global scale until now. Additionally, the WPT model has proven to be sustainable and we have the experience required having owned, operated, and recently partnered with the World Pork Couture. For the inaugural season, we will host a series of regional tournaments and events culminating in the final at HyperX Arena in the spring of 2025. WMT will leverage expertise from all three of AGAE's subsidiaries as we will introduce our proprietary mobile games, module-themed content production, and a comprehensive membership service model. This multifaceted approach will drive brand awareness and will provide fans and players with a unique and immersive experience, both online and offline. We've been working diligently behind the scenes on this endeavor for the past year, and we are very optimistic that WMT will be a game changer for us. While we will utilize resources from across the company, Allied Experiential Entertainment, or AEE, will be very involved in all aspects of WMT. And we are also excited with AEE's progress in other areas of business as it continues to expand on its opportunities in Asia. Notably, we are in close negotiations to partner with a popular annual music festival in Macau, and we look forward to sharing more details in the future as negotiations are finalized. Moving on to Ally Mobile Entertainment, or AME, our strategic investment in ZTEK, a prominent developer and operator of casual mobile games, is progressing well. ZTEK had a busy quarter. having released a brand new casual mobile game, Balloon Pop Mania, a popular match-three category in May, its second release of the year. The new casual mobile game is very fun and interactive. So far, it has been popular with gamers, and the feedback from those who have downloaded it has been very positive. We're also utilizing VTech for its game distribution capabilities, and are currently assessing which games within our AME catalog are best suited for marketing and distribution on the platform. ZTECH's momentum is evident. With Q2 in-game ad revenue rising 53% over Q1, the business is well positioned for a robust second half of 2024 and sustained revenue growth. I will now turn the call over to our CFO, Roy Anderson, to provide updates on our Q2 financials.

Thank you, Yinghua. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Total revenues for the second quarter of 2024 were $2.6 million, up 11% from the first quarter, but down 19% from the second quarter of 2023. The decline in year-over-year revenue was primarily due to a $2 million decrease in revenues from our branded content production arm, offset by a $1.7 million increase in casual mobile gaming revenues, now that ZTECH has been integrated into the business and is performing well. Total costs and expenses for the second quarter were $7.9 million, an increase from $4.7 million in the prior year period. Unfortunately, approximately $3 million of the increase in expenses was driven by costs related to the counterproductive actions of Knighted Pastures, including litigation filed by them against AGAE and their hostile attempt to take over the company at a meaningfully discounted price. Our net loss was $3.9 million for the second quarter of 2024 compared to a loss of $1.8 million in the prior quarter and a loss of $0.7 million in the second quarter of 2023. Our adjusted EBITDA loss was $1.4 million compared to a loss of $1.7 million in the prior quarter and a loss of $1.1 million in the second quarter of 2023. Our adjusted EBITDA includes adjustments for the depreciation and amortization of fixed and intangible assets, stock-based compensation, non-recurring legal fees and interest income now moving on to our balance sheet at june 30th 2024 our cash and short-term investments position totaled 95.2 million dollars including 5 million of restricted cash compared to 78.6 million at december 31 2023 The increase in our cash and short-term investments is primarily attributable to the proceeds of low- and non-interest-bearing loans from Morgan Stanley Bank Asia Limited. The company's working capital surplus to find its current assets minus current liabilities was $61.8 million at June 30, 2024, compared to $66.4 million at December 31, 2023. I will now turn the call back over to you. Thank you, Roy.

Before closing the call out, I'd like to reiterate my excitement for all the positive momentum we are experiencing at Ally Gaming and Entertainment and say with full confidence that I believe our management team and board have the right skills and expertise to lead the company forward. Our three subsidiaries all have revenue catalysts in the near future. We're especially optimistic about the opportunities presented by the World Mahjong Tour and our ability to gain strong momentum leading up to the inaugural finale in the spring of 2025. The highly popular and resurgent game of Mahjong offers vast untapped market potential that we're eager to capitalize on. Thank you for your time today. We look forward to speaking with you again when we release our third quarter 2024 results in November.

This does conclude today's program. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect at any time and have a wonderful evening.