Digital& NFT

Topps Sees Major Sales Growth & NFT Continuation Heading Into Merger

It turns out all the craze about buying up any and every pack of sports and non-sports cards off the shelves translated into blowout business for The Topps Company, Inc. While this company is still private, Topps is set to merge with Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corporation II (MUDS) as the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) aims to acquire the leader in sports collectibles and entertainment collectibles.

With the addition of non-fungible tokens, Topps reported that its net sales for the first quarter ending April 3, 2021 posted a 55% increase over the same period for 2020. Its sales were reported as $166.6 million.

Topps will revert to its prior “TOPP” stock ticker upon its Mudrick/Tornante merger and subsequent name change for the public entity. This company has been considered one of the few ways for traditional investors to invest in the sports collectibles craze rather than investing directly into collectibles.

One additional driver for the company is not in the past quarter but looking ahead. Topps and Major League Baseball (MLB) are reaffirming that their licensing relationship is unchanged and will continue to include Topps Major League Baseball NFT trading card products. Under that license Topps offers both physical and digital MLB products.

Topps did not offer up formal guidance for the coming quarter nor for 2021 as a whole. The press release did comment about expansion beyond current Series I NFT products pointing to near-term and long-term growth opportunities. Michael Brandstaedter, Topps’ Chief Executive Officer, did say:

The strong momentum we experienced last year has continued in 2021, and we are excited about our growth opportunities over the near and long term.

It will be interesting to see how much further Topps can parlay its NFT plays into revenue on top of its cards and other physical sales as part of that growth. The company did not show a breakdown of its sales between physical and digital products, and even if it did it may have been too little time in the quarter to have made a huge difference.

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Categories: Digital& NFT, Non-Sports, Sports

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