Keywords is an international technical service provider to the global Video Game Industry with offices in Dublin, Tokyo, Seattle, Montreal and Rome. Working on a worldwide basis, we provide a range of linguistic, testing, and quality control services to Video Game Developers and Publishers alike.

Keywords is focused 100% on the localization and testing of video games. Our experience and dedication to this field allows us to provide our clients with games that connect to their core audience, no matter what language they speak.

With our principal operations hub in Dublin, Keywords works globally. Our business is international in every sense so we are available to clients in North America and Japan just as we are available to those based in Europe. Providing our clients access to us so we can service their needs is tremendously important. There are points of contact ready to speak with our customers during all global business hours.

http://www.keywordsintl.com/en

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PDMR Holding
RNS
RNS Number : 8404M
Keywords Studios PLC
12 May 2015



12 May 2015



Keywords Studios plc

("the Company")



Director Shareholding

Keywords Studios plc, the international technical services provider to the global video games industry, hereby notifies the market that, on 11 May 2015, Ross Graham, an independent non-executive director and chairman of the Company, purchased 27,950 shares in the Company on the London Stock Exchange at a price of 161.0 pence per share. This purchase results in Ross Graham being interested in a total of 58,440 ordinary shares in the Company, representing 0.1236% of the 47,263,257 ordinary shares in the Company currently in issue.

Acquisition and Trading Update
RNS
RNS Number : 2092T
Keywords Studios PLC
16 July 2015

16th July 2015







Keywords Studios plc ("Keywords", "the Group")



Acquisition of Kite Team s.l.

Geographic Expansion in Central America

and

Trading Update



Keywords Studios, the international technical services provider to the global video games industry, today announces the acquisition of Kite Team s.l. together with its wholly owned subsidiary, Kite Team Mex S. de R.L. de C.V. ("Kite Team"). With audio recording and localisation studios in a modern facility in Madrid and with a new audio and localisation facility in Mexico City, Kite Team is rapidly becoming a leader in games localisation and audio recording for both Iberian and Latin American Spanish.



Keywords is acquiring 50% of Kite Team immediately with the remaining 50% to be acquired subject to certain conditions with effect from 31st December 2017.



The acquisition is in line with Keywords Studios' strategy of growing both organically and by acquisition to extend the Group's client base, market penetration or service lines, where the Group can use its existing expertise, multi-service platform, scale and global reach to generate synergies.



Kite Team has a blue chip client base of global video game publishers and developers and it has also established a relationship with Binari Sonori, part of the Keywords group. Keywords will now move its Spanish and Latin American audio recording to Kite Team from previous regional partners.



Under the terms of the acquisition, which is expected to be earnings enhancing in the next full financial year, Keywords will pay vendors initial consideration of €0.5m in cash, with deferred consideration of up to €1.8m to be satisfied by a mix of cash and Keywords shares.



Trading and Market Update



Trading for the first half of the year has been in line with management's expectations with the games market, particularly in the console games segment, returning to more normal trading patterns (as expected) following the refresh of the console hardware market led by the launch of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in November 2013. The seasonal ramp up in activity, particularly in audio and testing services, started in May and is well underway in all of the Group's facilities. Recent acquisitions are performing well and Lakshya, the art outsourcing business acquired in October 2014, is performing very strongly and meeting its demanding organic growth targets by expanding capacity in its New Delhi and Pune studios as well as opening a new studio in Seattle, Washington.



Content for video games continues to grow strongly with particularly buoyant activity in the mobile and console sectors. Smartphone gaming is breaking down barriers between markets in China, Japan and Korea which have traditionally been distinct markets with little crossover while emerging markets in South East Asia, Latin America and Arabic speaking territories are growing fast. All of Keywords' services benefit from the proliferation of game content.



Keywords will provide a further update on trading when it announces its half year results for the six months ended 30 June 2015 on 22 September 2015.



Andrew Day, Chief Executive of Keywords Studios, commented:

"Following on from our investment in Brazil with the acquisition of Reverb in January this year, the acquisition of Kite Team provides us with an important base from which to service the localisation and audio requirements for the growing market for Latin American Spanish video games in both North and South America. The Latin American market for digital games is forecast to grow from $1.1 billion in 2013 to $2.5 billion by 2018, representing a 17% 5-year CAGR1.

"In addition, as a single language provider with market leading talent, the Madrid operation will allow the Group to offer this important language to those clients that prefer to source languages separately rather than adopting a multi lingual approach. As a supplier of Spanish audio recording to Binari Sonori, the investment in Kite Team will also enable us to capture the margin on revenues we were previously outsourcing.

"We warmly welcome our new colleagues at Kite Team to the fast growing Keywords group and look forward to working alongside them to further extend the range of services and choice of production approach we are able to offer our clients globally."

Ends

Acquisition
RNS
RNS Number : 5635W
Keywords Studios PLC
20 August 2015



20th August 2015







Keywords Studios plc ("Keywords", "the Group")



Acquisition of Liquid Development LLC

-Increases scale of services to the buoyant Art creation market



Keywords Studios, the international technical services provider to the global video games industry, today announces the acquisition of Liquid Development LLC ("Liquid"), a leading provider of outsourced art services for the video games industry internationally based in Portland, Oregon.



The acquisition is in line with Keywords' strategy of growing both organically and by acquisition. Art outsourcing is a key area for expansion given the buoyant market for the creation of art assets (items seen in the games such as characters, vehicles, landscapes, cityscapes, etc.). Game development services like art creation provide an early entry point to the video games lifecycle for Keywords. The skillset, reputation and culture of Liquid, allied with Keywords' Lakshya operation acquired in October 2014 should enable the Group to accelerate its expansion plans in this important field.



Under the terms of the acquisition, which is expected to be earnings enhancing in the first full year of ownership, Keywords is paying the three owners of Liquid, Darren Bartlett, Stefan Henry-Biskup and Fred Stockton (the "Sellers"), all of whom will remain with the company after the acquisition, a total of $9.0m for 100% of Liquid. This is being satisfied by $6.3m in cash (funded from the Group's existing resources) and the issue of 1,074,440 new ordinary shares in Keywords at a price of 160.32 pence (based on the volume weighted average share price for the 5 days immediately prior to the acquisition). The shares in Keywords issued to the Sellers will be credited as fully paid and rank pari passu with the existing ordinary shares of Keywords when issued. The Sellers will be subject to a lock-in period of 12 months with respect to the shares in Keywords, subject to certain exceptions, followed by an orderly market restriction for a further 12 month period.



Founded in 2000, Liquid's base on the West Coast of the US gives ready access to many of the world's leading game development studios and its clients include 343 Industries (makers of the Halo games franchise), Warner Bros, EA, Microsoft Game Studios, Zynga, Disney Imagineering and DeNA. With 50 people in its Portland studio, the wider Liquid team includes over 200 individuals that have a broad spectrum of art, animation and effects creation skills.



Growing strongly, Liquid is on track to post annual revenues of $7.5m and PBT of $1.5m for the year to 31 December 2015. In 2014, the company recorded revenues of $5.7m and PBT of $0.8m after adjusting for certain, non-recurring costs.



Liquid shares Keywords' lean and flexible production model, which enables it to scale (up and down) rapidly, thereby maintaining high levels of utilization of its staff. Its US location, excellent reputation for quality and reliability of delivery particularly with North American clients, and its strong project management of remote teams will fit well with Keywords' existing art services business, Lakshya, which is based in India. In addition to integrating Keywords' recently opened art studio in Seattle with the Liquid operations in Portland, the intention is to extend Liquid's operations to better leverage the lower cost base of the Lakshya business in India, with Liquid providing client facing account management and project management services and supervising work undertaken in India.



Application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for the admission of 1,074,440 new ordinary shares to trading on AIM. Admission of the new shares is expected to take place at 8.00am on 25 August 2015.



Andrew Day, Chief Executive of Keywords, commented:

"The acquisition of Liquid Development significantly increases the scale of our art services business line, giving us greater penetration of this large and strongly growing market as well as increased access to this early entry point in the video games development cycle. We have already seen how our newly opened art studio in Seattle is able to act as a "front end" for art production in our Indian studios and we look forward to accelerating this model with Liquid Development.

"We warmly welcome Liquid's highly talented team and collaborators to the fast growing Keywords group and we look forward to continuing to build upon the excellent reputation and client base enjoyed by the Liquid Development brand. Bringing the two businesses together provides the group with the much needed art capacity and talent to help meet existing strong client demand and enables us to offer more services to more potential and existing clients."

"We are looking forward to taking advantage of the strong opportunities presented by the increased demand for art asset creation services due to the recent step change in art definition brought about by the increased processing power and storage capacity of the new generation of games consoles and smart phones."

Fred Stockton, Chief Executive of Liquid Development, LLC commented:

"Our team is very pleased to be joining Keywords' group of companies that provide the broadest range of services to the video game industry. Liquid's founder, Darren Bartlett and our creative director Stefan Henry-Biskup will join me in continuing leadership roles at Keywords. The ability to expand the scope of Liquid's art services, through combining efforts with the well-funded and geographically diverse existing Keywords' art business will allow the Liquid team to offer our existing clients and new clients a great breadth of service. This is an important step in our company's continued growth and success."

keywords-studios-significantly-expanded-by-art-acquisitions-numis-says

Half Yearly Report
RNS
RNS Number : 7362Z
Keywords Studios PLC
22 September 2015



22 September 2015







Keywords Studios plc ("Keywords Studios", "the Group")



Half year results for the six months to 30 June 2015



Keywords Studios, the international technical services provider to the global video games industry, today provides its half year results for the six months to 30 June 2015.



Financial overview:

· Group revenue, including contribution from acquisitions, increased by 74% to €23.9m (H1 2014: €13.7m)

· Strong revenue growth of 23% on a pro forma basis*

· Adjusted profit before tax** up 65% to €2.2m (H1 2014: €1.3m)

o Statutory profit before tax of €1.6m (H1 2014: €0.04m)

· Adjusted earnings per share** up 63% to 4.29c (H1 2014: 2.63c)

o Earnings per share of 3.02c (H1 2014: (0.34c))

· Net cash of €6.1m (H1 2014: €9.6m) after €1.7m of acquisition consideration and costs

· 11% increase in interim dividend to 0.40p per share (2013: 0.36p)



* Pro forma revenues calculated as if all acquisitions made prior to 30 June 2015 had been part of the Group during the whole of the six months ended 30 June 2015 and 30 June 2014

** before acquisition and integration expenses of £0.7m (H1 2014: £1.2m), share option charges of £0.1m (H1 2014: £0.05m), amortisation of intangibles of £0.4m (H1 2014: £0.2m) and foreign currency gains of £0.6m (H1 2014: £0.1m)





Operational overview:

· Strong first half performance from both acquisitions and the existing business, in line with management expectations for the full year

· Significant further investment in the development of the business:

o Acquisitions of Alchemic Dream (Shawinigan, near Montreal) and Reverb (Rio de Janeiro) in January 2015.

o €0.3m invested in new studios in Barcelona and Seattle

o Increased staff levels in most locations in line with increased demand for our services

· Continued gains in market share

o Recent titles worked on include: Skylanders Supercharger, Batman: Arkham Knight, Mortal Combat X, Project CARS and Mad Max

o New clients include: Oculus VR, Amazon, Gearbox, Fincon and NetMarble



Outlook:

· Outturn for the full year anticipated to be in line with expectations, reflecting:

o A return to the summer months being the peak period for the industry after two years of distortion due to the new console launch cycle

o The acquisition of Kite Team (Madrid and Mexico City) and Liquid Development (Portland, Oregon) in July and August 2015

o Particularly buoyant demand for Art services, where we are already working at capacity despite adding an additional 100 artists to our staff

o The benefit of continued new business wins and increased market share

· Selectively reviewing a strong acquisition pipeline





Andrew Day, Chief Executive of Keywords Studios, commented:



"We have delivered another strong performance for the first six months of the year and are looking forward with confidence to continuing to build our global games services business through both acquisition and organic growth.



"Our Art creation business in particular has benefitted from very strong demand in that market. The acquisition of Liquid Development in August this year has both provided additional in-house capacity and has also brought much greater flexibility in resourcing which will allow us to flex up and down with the demands of individual projects in much the same way that we do in our other service lines.



"The rhythm of game production and release schedules has returned to a more normal pattern following the disruption caused by the release of new games consoles in November 2013. As such, we are seeing a return to more traditional trading patterns in our audio, testing and localisation businesses. This, combined with the benefits of our recent acquisitions, organic investment and client wins leaves us well placed for the second half, with the outturn for the full year anticipated to be in-line with the Board's expectations."

Keywords Studios PLC (KWS:LSE) set a new 52-week high during Thursday's trading session when it reached 210.00. Over this period, the share price is up 53.33%.

Half Yearly Report
RNS
RNS Number : 7362Z
Keywords Studios PLC
22 September 2015



22 September 2015







Keywords Studios plc ("Keywords Studios", "the Group")



Half year results for the six months to 30 June 2015



Keywords Studios, the international technical services provider to the global video games industry, today provides its half year results for the six months to 30 June 2015.



Financial overview:

· Group revenue, including contribution from acquisitions, increased by 74% to €23.9m (H1 2014: €13.7m)

· Strong revenue growth of 23% on a pro forma basis*

· Adjusted profit before tax** up 65% to €2.2m (H1 2014: €1.3m)

o Statutory profit before tax of €1.6m (H1 2014: €0.04m)

· Adjusted earnings per share** up 63% to 4.29c (H1 2014: 2.63c)

o Earnings per share of 3.02c (H1 2014: (0.34c))

· Net cash of €6.1m (H1 2014: €9.6m) after €1.7m of acquisition consideration and costs

· 11% increase in interim dividend to 0.40p per share (2013: 0.36p)



* Pro forma revenues calculated as if all acquisitions made prior to 30 June 2015 had been part of the Group during the whole of the six months ended 30 June 2015 and 30 June 2014

** before acquisition and integration expenses of £0.7m (H1 2014: £1.2m), share option charges of £0.1m (H1 2014: £0.05m), amortisation of intangibles of £0.4m (H1 2014: £0.2m) and foreign currency gains of £0.6m (H1 2014: £0.1m)





Operational overview:

· Strong first half performance from both acquisitions and the existing business, in line with management expectations for the full year

· Significant further investment in the development of the business:

o Acquisitions of Alchemic Dream (Shawinigan, near Montreal) and Reverb (Rio de Janeiro) in January 2015.

o €0.3m invested in new studios in Barcelona and Seattle

o Increased staff levels in most locations in line with increased demand for our services

· Continued gains in market share

o Recent titles worked on include: Skylanders Supercharger, Batman: Arkham Knight, Mortal Combat X, Project CARS and Mad Max

o New clients include: Oculus VR, Amazon, Gearbox, Fincon and NetMarble



Outlook:

· Outturn for the full year anticipated to be in line with expectations, reflecting:

o A return to the summer months being the peak period for the industry after two years of distortion due to the new console launch cycle

o The acquisition of Kite Team (Madrid and Mexico City) and Liquid Development (Portland, Oregon) in July and August 2015

o Particularly buoyant demand for Art services, where we are already working at capacity despite adding an additional 100 artists to our staff

o The benefit of continued new business wins and increased market share

· Selectively reviewing a strong acquisition pipeline





Andrew Day, Chief Executive of Keywords Studios, commented:



"We have delivered another strong performance for the first six months of the year and are looking forward with confidence to continuing to build our global games services business through both acquisition and organic growth.



"Our Art creation business in particular has benefitted from very strong demand in that market. The acquisition of Liquid Development in August this year has both provided additional in-house capacity and has also brought much greater flexibility in resourcing which will allow us to flex up and down with the demands of individual projects in much the same way that we do in our other service lines.



"The rhythm of game production and release schedules has returned to a more normal pattern following the disruption caused by the release of new games consoles in November 2013. As such, we are seeing a return to more traditional trading patterns in our audio, testing and localisation businesses. This, combined with the benefits of our recent acquisitions, organic investment and client wins leaves us well placed for the second half, with the outturn for the full year anticipated to be in-line with the Board's expectations."

keywords-to-take-advantage-of-surging-video-game-market

22 Oct finnCap 245.00 Buy

Placing of 5.5 million New Ordinary Shares
RNS
RNS Number : 9933G
Keywords Studios PLC
26 November 2015

Keywords Studios plc

26 November 2015



THIS ANNOUNCEMENT, INCLUDING THE APPENDIX AND THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN IT, IS RESTRICTED AND IS NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION, OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN, INTO OR FROM THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN, SOUTH AFRICA OR ANY OTHER STATE OR JURISDICTION IN WHICH SUCH RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION WOULD BE UNLAWFUL. PLEASE SEE THE IMPORTANT NOTICE AT THE END OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.



Keywords Studios plc ("Keywords" or the "Company")

PLACING OF 5.5 MILLION NEW ORDINARY SHARES



Keywords, the international technical services provider to the global video games industry, is pleased to announce a placing of 5,500,000 new ordinary shares (the "Placing Shares") at 190 pence per Placing Share (the "Placing Price") to raise approximately £10.45m before expenses ("the Placing").



The Placing Shares have been placed with new and existing investors and represent approximately 11.4 per cent of the issued share capital of the Company prior to the Placing. The Placing Price represents a 6.4 per cent discount to the closing middle market price of 203 pence on 25 November 2015, being the last trading day immediately preceding the date of this Announcement.



Background to and reasons for the Placing

Since coming to market in July 2013, Keywords' strategy has been to grow both organically and by acquisition to extend the Group's client base, market penetration and service lines, where the Group can use its existing expertise, multi-service platform, scale and global reach to generate synergies in the highly fragmented games services industry.



Since IPO, the Group has made considerable progress in executing its growth strategy by extending its range of services and adding new geographies both organically and through selective acquisitions. These include the acquisitions of Liquid Violet in January 2014, Babel Media in February 2014, Binari Sonori in May 2014, Lakshya Digital in October 2014, Reverb in January 2015, Alchemic Dream in January 2015, Kite Team in July 2015 and Liquid Development in August 2015. In particular the acquisitions have extended Keywords' offering into Art Creation and Customer Support, as well as enhancing capabilities in existing service lines. Today, Keywords' network of studios is present in 11 countries (compared to five at the time of IPO), and in the 6 months to 30 June 2015 revenue grew by 74% versus the same period in the prior year, or 23% revenue growth on a 'pro forma' basis (i.e. excluding the impact of acquisitions).



The Placing proceeds will be used by the Company to continue this strategy and make further selective, value-enhancing acquisitions. Management are engaged in active discussions with a number of target companies which would, if acquired, extend Keywords' service and / or geographic offering. The Placing proceeds will allow Keywords to continue to be viewed as an attractive acquirer to vendors and management teams of target companies with the ability to take advantage of opportunities with speed and certainty.



Andrew Day, Chief Executive Officer of Keywords, commented:

"We are delighted to have received strong support from both new and existing institutional investors for this Placing. The funds raised will allow us to continue to execute our strategy of making value-enhancing selective acquisitions in complementary service lines and geographies, and allow Keywords to continue to be a major acquirer in our industry. The business continues to perform well and the Board anticipates that performance for the remainder of the current financial year will be in line with expectations."



Details of the Placing

Numis is acting as bookrunner in connection with the Placing, subject to the conditions and termination rights set out in the placing agreement entered into between the Company and Numis (the "Placing Agreement"). The Placing is not being underwritten by Numis. Further details of the Placing Agreement and the terms and conditions of the Placing are set out in the Appendix to this Announcement.



The Placing Shares, when issued, will be credited as fully paid and will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing ordinary shares of one pence each in the capital of the Company, including the right to receive all dividends and other distribution declared, made or paid on or in respect of such ordinary shares after the date of issue. The Company's total issued share capital following completion of the Placing will consist of 53,837,697 ordinary shares of one pence each with one voting right per share. The above figure of 53,837,697 may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they can determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company following Admission.



Application has been made for the Placing Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM ("Admission"). It is expected that Admission will become effective at 8.00 a.m. on 30 November 2015 and that dealings in the Placing Shares will commence at that time. The Placing is conditional upon, amongst other things, Admission becoming effective and upon the Placing Agreement not being terminated in accordance with its terms.



The issue of the Placing Shares is to be effected by way of a cashbox placing. The Company will allot and issue the Placing Shares on a non-pre-emptive basis to the Placees in consideration for Numis transferring its holdings of ordinary shares and redeemable preference shares in Project Midas Funding Limited to the Company. Accordingly, instead of receiving cash as consideration for the issue of Placing Shares, at the conclusion of the Placing, the Company will own the entire issued share capital of Project Midas Funding Limited, whose only asset will be its cash reserves representing an amount approximately equal to the net proceeds of the Placing.



This Announcement should be read in its entirety. In particular, your attention is drawn to the "Important Notice" section of this Announcement and to the detailed terms and conditions of the Placing set out in the Appendix. By choosing to participate in the Placing and by making an oral and legally binding offer to acquire Placing Shares, investors will be deemed to have read and understood this Announcement in its entirety and to be making such offer on the terms and subject to the conditions in it, and to be providing the representations, warranties and acknowledgements contained in the Appendix.

Trading Update
RNS
RNS Number : 5506N
Keywords Studios PLC
01 February 2016

1 February 2016







Keywords Studios plc ("Keywords Studios" or "the Group")



Full year trading Update



Strong organic growth complemented by successful acquisitions



Keywords Studios, the international technical services provider to the global video games industry today provides an update on trading after another year of strong organic growth complemented by a number of successful acquisitions.



The Group is pleased to announce that it expects to report revenues and adjusted PBT* comfortably ahead of consensus market expectations, when it announces its final results for the year ended 31 December 2015 on 5 April 2016. This performance has been driven by ongoing strong pro forma organic growth, with the continued robust performances from our existing service lines complemented by positive contributions from our newer service lines, customer support and art creation.



The Group has made good progress in line with its stated strategy of growing both organically and by acquisition to extend the Group's client base, market penetration and service lines, where the Group can use its existing expertise, multi-service platform, scale and global reach to consolidate its position as the market leader in providing outsourced services to the video games industry. During the year, organic growth has been complemented by the acquisitions of Reverb and Kite Team, which have given Keywords a presence in South America, Alchemic Dream which has provided an entry into customer support services and Liquid Development which increased the scale of the Group's operations in the buoyant art creation market.



The Group continues to review a healthy pipeline of acquisition opportunities with a view to selectively acquiring attractive businesses to strengthen its range of services and extend its global reach. The successful equity placing to raise £10m, which was announced on 26 November 2015, has put the Group in a great position to complete some of the more advanced acquisitions in this pipeline, and has further enhanced its shareholder base through the addition of a number of blue chip institutional investors from the UK as well as from the US, Germany and France.



Andrew Day, Chief Executive of Keywords, commented:



"The Group continues to deliver a strong performance as it grows market share and wins new clients. 2015 was a year in which the console game production and publishing cycle flourished and, whilst it remains early in the year, 2016 is showing signs of being another good year for the Group, with some early business wins and increasing levels of cross selling emerging from our global sales force.



"Overall, we look forward to continuing our investments in our newly acquired entities as well as undertaking further complementary acquisitions and, in doing so, expanding our market by offering increased choice of services and geographic delivery centres to our video game development and publisher clients."



*The Group reports adjusted PBT before acquisition and integration expenses, share option charges, amortisation of intangibles and foreign currency gains

1 Feb Numis 275.00 Buy
1 Feb finnCap 245.00 Buy

18 Mar finnCap 245.00 Buy

Acquisition

RNS


RNS Number : 8054S

Keywords Studios PLC

22 March 2016




22nd March 2016







Keywords Studios plc ("Keywords", "the Group")



Outsourcing agreement and acquisition of Ankama Asia Pte Ltd

- Expansion into the Philippines, adding new Live Operations services



Keywords Studios, the international technical services provider to the global video games industry, today announces the acquisition of Ankama Asia Pte Ltd whose sole asset is a business in Manila ("the Manila studio") which currently provides services to support the operations of the games of Ankama SAS ("Ankama"), including titles such as Dofus, Wakfu and Tactile Wars.



The acquisition is an outsourcing arrangement with Ankama whereby the Live Operations team in the Philippines is transferred to Keywords. Along with the benefit of a four year agreement for the continued provision of those services to Ankama, Keywords plans to significantly increase the scale of the Manila Studio to service new and existing clients of Keywords. With a current workforce of 23 people, the Manila Studio strengthens Keywords Customer Support operations and extends the range of services on offer to our clients to support their online and mobile games after launch. In addition, the studio can provide services for Promotions Management, Fraud Management, Customer Support, Quality Assurance and Bot Hunting (in which automated programs that have been introduced into the game against the rules are sought out and neutralised).



Andrew Day, Chief Executive of Keywords, commented:

"This mutually beneficial outsourcing arrangement with one of our established clients enables Ankama to benefit from the support of a trusted and efficient partner, while it gives Keywords a platform from which it can grow its presence in Asia with the benefit of the certainty of a four year contract.

"The Philippines is a well established territory for the provision of competitively priced support services, and the strong standard of English and high calibre service culture makes Manila an attractive location from which to continue to grow our English language customer and live operations support services offering."

Benoît Coupez, Head of Videogames at Ankama, commented:

"This arrangement is part of our overall strategy to refocus on our core activities. Delivering high quality games that balance originality, creativity and technology while always keeping our players' experience in mind. This outsourcing arrangement with Keywords will help us increase the quality of our user experience, both in-game and in terms of support."

24 Mar finnCap 245.00 Buy

week-ahead-keywords-studios-plc-going-for-new-high-score-

Acquisition

RNS


RNS Number : 2826U

Keywords Studios PLC

06 April 2016




6 April 2016









Keywords Studios plc ("Keywords" and, together with its subsidiaries, "the Group")



Acquisition of the remaining 50% of Kite Team S.L ("Kite Team")



Keywords, the international technical services provider to the global video games industry, today announces that it has agreed with the selling shareholders of Kite Team ("Selling Shareholders") to acquire the 50% of Kite Team not already owned by Keywords 20 months sooner than originally provided for under the terms of the acquisition agreement (the "Agreement") in order to deliver the operational benefits of the full integration of Kite Team into Keywords earlier than planned. Under the terms of the Agreement, the consideration for the remaining 50% of Kite Team would have been no less than €0.8m and no more than €1.8m calculated by reference to the profit before interest and tax of Kite Team in the years to 31st December 2017.



The Agreement has now been revised such that Keywords will pay the Selling Shareholders a total consideration of €1.15m now, which will be satisfied by €1.0m in cash and the balance through the issue of 55,508 new ordinary Keywords shares (the "Consideration Shares"), giving Keywords 100% ownership of Kite Team.



The Consideration Shares will be credited as fully paid and rank pari passu with the existing issued ordinary shares of Keywords when issued. Application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for the admission of 55,508 new ordinary shares to trading on AIM. Admission of the new shares is expected to take place at 8.00am on 11 April 2016. The Company's total issued share capital following admission will consist of 53,893,205 ordinary shares of one pence each with one voting right per share. The above figure of 53,893,205 may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they can determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company following admission.



Andrew Day, Chief Executive of Keywords Studios, commented:

"Since we acquired the initial 50% of Kite Team in July 2015, it has performed in line with our expectations. The experience of the team is translating into good business wins and momentum is building both in Spain and in Mexico. In Brazil, we are in the process of consolidating the activities of Kite Team with those of our previously acquired business, Reverb.



"We are making progress with moving our Spanish and Latin American audio recording work to Kite Team from our previous regional partners and with full ownership of Kite Team we will have a solid base from which to further develop our activities in Spain and South America."

6 Apr finnCap 245.00 Buy
5 Apr finnCap 245.00 Buy

3 May finnCap 276.00 Buy