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

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

Proactive investor -

Keywords Studios founders sell shares to meet demand


16:30 12 May 2016

Video game industry supplier's founders sell about 5.5mln shares

Keywords Studios founders sell shares to meet demand

The sale will enable Keywords to satisfy institutional demand for its shares


The founders of video game industry supplier Keywords Studios PLC (LON:KWS) are selling shares to meet institutional demand.

Keywords, which provides technical services to video game developers, said non-executive director Giorgio Guastalla and chief executive Andrew Day have together sold up to 5.5 million shares.

They have sold the shares, which represent about 10.2% of the company’s issued share capital, through their holding company PEQ Holdings.

PEQ and Andrew Day will keep about two thirds of their stakes or 14.8%. and 7.2%, respectively, of the issued ordinary share capital.

Day said: "The proposed sale will enable Keywords to satisfy institutional demand for the group's shares and broaden our shareholder base, whilst also allowing Giorgio to diversify his family's portfolio of investments which

has substantively been in Keywords since he and his wife founded the business in 1998.

"This is the first sale of shares since the IPO in 2013.”

Proactive investor - Over at video games services supplier Keywords Studios (LON:KWS), it will beat market forecasts when it reports interim results next month.

Recently acquired localisation and audio business Synthesis has been the driver, though its ‘excellent’ first half was in part due to a beneficial phasing of revenues between the first and second half.

Half year trading update

RNS


RNS Number : 9086F

Keywords Studios PLC

02 August 2016




2 August 2016







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



Half year trading update



Strong first half performance provides confidence for the full year



Keywords Studios, the international technical services provider to the global video games industry today provides an update on trading after another half year period of good like for like* growth substantially complemented by acquisitions.



The Group is pleased to announce that it expects to report revenues and adjusted PBT** comfortably ahead of expectations when it announces its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2016 in mid-September 2016. The outperformance was driven primarily by the recently acquired Localisation and Audio business, Synthesis; this delivered an excellent first half performance due in large part to a beneficial phasing of revenues between the first and second half. Given that it remains relatively early into our typically important second half, we are maintaining guidance for the year as a whole although the strong performance in the first six months naturally gives us a good level of confidence in delivering against our expectations for the full year.



Since the start of the year we have made four acquisitions. Synthesis has been exceptionally busy delivering its normal flow of audio, localisation and localisation testing projects in addition to managing some very large new localisation and audio projects that have come together in the past three months, contributing to an atypical trading pattern in which their peak production period has been both sharp and early in the year. The Manila based customer support team acquired from Ankama is moving to larger, newly fitted out offices and is expanding to deliver services to additional clients. Mindwalk joined the Group with effect from 1 June 2016 and is trading very much in line with our expectations. The acquisition of the Volta studio (announced on 29 July 2016), which provides concept art services, has extended the Group's Art service offering further upstream. The Group also brought forward the acquisition of the 50% of Kite Team it did not already own, a move that allowed for the integration of the operations of Synthesis in Spain, Brazil and Mexico with those of Kite Team and existing Keywords business in those territories. In addition, we are announcing today that the earn-out associated with the acquisition of Liquid Violet that was acquired in January 2014 has come to its planned conclusion. The final payments due under this agreement have now been made making the total paid for Liquid Violet c. £1.1m.



Across the games industry the mediums of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality continue to capture the headlines and while we are major recipients of services for art, audio, localisation and testing services for this innovative content, we believe the real potential is a few years hence.



The Group is continuing its acquisition strategy and maintains a healthy pipeline of high quality acquisition opportunities. The credit facility of up to €15m established with Barclays Bank, which was announced in May 2016 and has been used to help fund the Mindwalk and Volta acquisitions, leaves us well placed to complete further selective acquisitions this year.



The Group has not seen and does not expect any impact on trading of the UK referendum vote. The Board attributes this to the global nature of the business's earnings, and the fact that only 3% of revenues are denominated in sterling.



Andrew Day, Chief Executive of Keywords, commented:



"We are delighted with our progress so far this year and are particularly pleased with the excellent contribution from Synthesis. This has enabled us to deliver a first half performance substantially ahead of our expectations such that we do not expect this year to be characterised by the typical weighting towards the second half. However, the strong first half underpins our confidence in our ability to meet expectations for the year as whole.



"We continue to win new clients and grow market share and are regularly seeing the benefits of our wide geographic reach and broad range of services as we introduce additional services to established clients.



"Overall, we look forward to another good year of progress as we continue to invest in existing and new businesses, building our talent pool and integrating the newer members of our Group."



* calculated on the basis of revenues being included for 2016 acquisitions from the date of acquisition and for the same period in the prior year

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

2 Aug Numis 390.00 Buy
2 Aug finnCap 334.00 Buy

Half-year Report

RNS


RNS Number : 6268J

Keywords Studios PLC

13 September 2016




13 September 2016



To view the Interim consolidated statement of changes in equity, please click here



http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/6268J_1-2016-9-12.pdf



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



Half year results for the six months to 30 June 2016



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 2016.



Financial overview:

· Revenue, including contribution from acquisitions, increased by 77% to €42.4m (H1 2015: €23.9m)

· Adjusted profit before tax* up 177% to €6.0m (H1 2015: €2.2m)

· Adjusted earnings per share* up 99% to 8.55c (H1 2015: 4.29c)

· Net cash of €3.5m (H1 2015: €6.1m) after €13.7m of acquisition cash consideration and costs

· 10% increase in interim dividend to 0.44p per share (2015: 0.40p)



* before acquisition and integration expenses of €0.7m (H1 2015: €0.7m), share option charges of €0.3m (H1 2015: €0.1m), amortisation of intangibles of €0.6m (H1 2015: €0.4m) and foreign currency loss of €1.8m (H1 2015: €0.6m gain)



Operational overview:

· 30% increase in like for like** revenue includes exceptional second quarter performance by Synthesis

· Continued to invest in the development of the Group:

o Acquisition of leading localisation, audio and localisation testing business, Synthesis, in April

o Acquisition of China-based outsourced art creation firm Mindwalk completed in May

o Acquisition of Philippines-based customer support team from Ankama in March

o Acquisition of remaining 50% in Spanish and Latin American audio and localisation firm, Kite Team in April

o Further strengthened senior management team with three key appointments

· Five year revolving credit facility of up to €15m with Barclays Bank Plc secured

· 18% increase in clients using three or more services from 51 to 60***



** calculated on the basis of revenues being included for 2016 acquisitions from the date of acquisition and for the equivalent period in the prior year.

*** measured on a rolling 12-month basis, comparing 12 months ended June 2016 to the 12 months ended June 2015.



Current trading and outlook:

· Acquisition of Quebec City-based Volta in July 2016, has extended Group services into Concept Art

· Trading in the first two months of the second half has been in line with the Board's expectations. The particularly strong first half leaves the Board confident in delivering market expectations for the full year

· Selectively reviewing a strong acquisition pipeline





Andrew Day, Chief Executive of Keywords Studios, commented:



"The Group has delivered a first half performance comfortably ahead of our expectations, driven by good organic growth, but also substantially complemented by acquisitions which have further extended our service offering, market penetration and geographic reach.



"The Group's strong trading in the first eight months of the year means that we do not expect this year to be characterised by the typical weighting towards the second half. This performance gives us increased confidence in delivering against our expectations for the full year.



"We look forward to continuing to develop the business both organically, by extending relationships with many of our existing major games clients, and by acquisition, as we continue to review selective opportunities that could further extend our service offering or market penetration."

Acquisition
RNS
RNS Number : 4482N
Keywords Studios PLC
26 October 2016
 
26th October 2016
 
 
 
Keywords Studios plc ("Keywords", "the Group")
 
Acquisition of Player Research Ltd
Service extension into player behavioural research
 
Keywords Studios, the international technical services provider to the global video games industry, today announces that it has acquired Player Research Ltd  ("Player Research") for a total consideration of up to £1.3 million from its founder, Graham McAllister, and others (the "Sellers"). Based in Brighton, UK, Player Research provides consulting and user testing from its state of the art play testing laboratory to mobile, console and VR game developers throughout the world, helping them to attract, retain and monetise players.
 
The acquisition of Player Research is in line with Keywords' strategy to extend its services, with the objective of providing end to end services to its global client base covering all aspects of game production and live operations support. Player Research's technology, methodology and knowhow can be exported to Keywords secure production facilities in locations like Montreal, Dublin, Singapore, Tokyo and Beijing providing much increased capacity, whilst also expanding the services in a way that adapts them to the varied nationalities and cultures allowing clients to better tailor their games for their targeted audiences.
 
Player Research was founded in 2012 by Graham McAllister and employs a number of PhDs and MScs at its research laboratory in Brighton, with expertise in fields such as Human-Computer Interaction, Neuroscience, Computer Science, Experimental Psychology, Human Factors and Cognitive Psychology.
 
Under the terms of the acquisition, which is expected to be immediately earnings enhancing, Keywords is paying an initial consideration comprised of £700,000 in cash and the issue to the Sellers of 65,280 new ordinary shares in Keywords, which will be subject to a two-year lock in period. Further cash consideration of up to £300,000 may be payable subject to Player Research achieving certain targets within two years of the acquisition.
 
Application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for the admission of 65,280 new ordinary shares to trading on AIM. Admission of the new shares is expected to take place at 8.00am on 31 October 2016. The Company's total issued share capital following admission will consist of 54,404,001 ordinary shares of one pence each with one voting right per share. The above figure of 54,404,001 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.
 
 
Giacomo Duranti, Chief Operating Officer, commented:
"Keywords and Player Research have been exploring opportunities together over the past 3 years. As both companies have expanded their services to multiple points along the games lifecycle the fit between us has become increasingly apparent. We believe that by integrating Player Research within the Group, and rolling out its services into our existing studios to provide reach into all major gaming regions, we will be able to leverage the intellectual capital, talent pool and execution capability of both organisations to significantly enhance the value we are able to bring to our clients. We are delighted to be able to welcome Player Research's highly talented team to the Keywords family and we look forward to working closely together to build upon Player Research's excellent reputation and loyal client base."