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

Acquisition
RNS
RNS Number : 6333S
Keywords Studios PLC
22 December 2016
 
22nd December 2016
 
 
 
Keywords Studios plc ("Keywords", "the Group")
 
Acquisition of Sonox Audio Solutions, S.L.U.
-      Strengthening the Group's Audio services
Keywords Studios, the international technical services provider to the global video games industry, today announces that it has acquired Sonox Audio Solutions, S.L.U. ("Sonox") for a total consideration of €650,000 from its founder, Francisco Barreras Benavente (the "Sellers"). Based in Madrid, Spain, Sonox provides audio recording and localisation services to video game companies targeting Spanish and Latin American markets.
 
Founded in 2010 by Francisco Barreras Benavente, Sonox has three audio recording studios in Madrid and manages a well-established network of translators, voice actors, audio engineers and voice directors in Spain. In addition, Sonox works with partner studios in Mexico and Brazil to provide audio and localisation services for those territories. Sonox also already provides certain services to the Group and its acquisition will enable the Group to capture the margins on those services. Following the acquisition, Francisco Barreras Benavente and the Sonox management  team will remain in the Group.
 
Under the terms of the acquisition, which is expected to be earnings enhancing in 2017 Keywords is satisfying the consideration through the payment of €500,000 in cash and the issue to the Sellers of 24,881 new ordinary shares in Keywords, which will be subject to a two-year lock in period.  
 
Application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for the admission of 24,881 new ordinary shares to trading on AIM. Admission of the new shares is expected to take place at 8.00am on 30 December 2016. The Company's total issued share capital following admission will consist of 54,428,882 ordinary shares of one pence each with one voting right per share. The above figure of 54,428,882 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.
 
Fulvio Sioli, Regional Managing Director, Europe, Keywords Studios commented:
"Sonox has been working with Synthesis Iberia for some years and with a growing portfolio of leading game publishers as its clients. The merging of Sonox, Synthesis and Kite Team in Madrid presents a unique opportunity to establish clear leadership in this key market for games audio and text localisation. The facilities, talent and financial strength of our audio offering in Spain is truly unrivalled.
"We are delighted to be able to welcome Sonox's highly talented team to the Keywords family and we look forward to working closely together to fully integrate all three of our businesses in Madrid and build upon the excellent reputation enjoyed by them all."

Trading Statement

RNS


RNS Number : 2791W

Keywords Studios PLC

08 February 2017




8 February 2017







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



Full year trading update



Sales and profits ahead of expectations for the year ended 31 December 2016

- Continued 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 following a year of further strong organic growth and geographic expansion, complemented by a number of successful acquisitions.



The Group is pleased to announce preliminary unaudited revenues for the year ended 31 December 2016 of €96.6m and adjusted PBT* of €14.8m, both of which are comfortably ahead of consensus market expectations. This performance has been driven by strong like-for-like growth, due to the continued growth of the established business as well as the contribution of the eight acquisitions completed during the year.



The Group continues to deliver on its strategy of growing organically and through acquisition in order to become the "go to" supplier of technical services to the video games industry globally. To this end, the Group is now comprised of six globally managed service lines operating from 27 production studios in 16 countries. During the year, the Group welcomed seven new businesses through acquisition; Ankama, Synthesis, Mindwalk, Volta, Player Research, Enzyme and Sonox have all contributed positively in further extending our client penetration, our geographic reach and the talent we have within the Group. Also acquired during the year was the 50% of Kite Team not already owned by the Group.



The Group invested cash of €20.7m for the eight acquisitions completed in 2016. These acquired businesses performed well and as previously reported, Synthesis, our largest investment to date, delivered an excellent performance. Following these acquisitions, the Group had €17m in cash at the year end and had utilised €8m of its €15m rolling credit facility. Its strong cash generation, coupled with available debt facilities, provides the Group with good headroom for further acquisitions in 2017.



Andrew Day, Chief Executive of Keywords, commented:



"Our Group continues to grow revenues and profits whilst also growing a talent pool that is increasingly recognised as a resource that enables clients around the world to reduce complexity and focus on their core business of designing and publishing great video games. The development of new Virtual and Augmented Reality platforms only adds to that complexity and, whilst we have not assumed stronger demand for our services in this area in 2017 compared to 2016, it's an exciting new form of content delivery that brings greater interactivity to many content types and requires the skills and services that we have developed over many years at the forefront of interactive content.



"We have structured the management of the Group in order to support both further organic growth and the continued consolidation of our highly fragmented markets around the world.



"Our cross-selling efforts continue to bear fruit and we begin 2017 with a global sales and sales support team of 14 compared to 9 in 2016, which will help drive further organic growth. We also remain well-funded and continue to review a healthy pipeline of complementary acquisition opportunities, which will add to the talent pool, range of services, production capacity and the choice we can offer our clients. Although it's early in 2017, we are therefore confident of making continued progress in the year ahead."



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



Ends

8 Feb finnCap 692.00 Buy

Acquisition
RNS
RNS Number : 1341X
Keywords Studios PLC
17 February 2017
 
17th February 2017
 
 
 
Keywords Studios plc ("Keywords", "the Group")
 
Acquisition of Spov Ltd,
Strengthening the Group's Art Services line of business
 
Keywords Studios, the international technical services provider to the global video games industry, today announces that it has acquired Spov Ltd. ("Spov") for a total consideration of up to £1.2m in cash from its founder, Allen Leitch. Based in London, UK, Spov provides creative development, cinematics, UI, visual effects and motion graphics services to the video game and film markets. (www.spov.tv)
 
Founded in 2007 by Allen Leitch, Spov maintains a small team of creatives in London and manages a network of highly experienced designers, animators, film makers and artists to produce intricate footage for use in video games, film and TV. The company has worked on titles that include Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Watch Dogs, The Division, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare; Batman: Arkham Knight and Marvel's Doctor Strange.
 
 
Fred Stockton, Global Art Service Line Director, Keywords Studios commented:
 
"We are thrilled to have Allen and the Spov team of talented creative professionals join the Art Service Line at Keywords Studios.  Their skills and experience will enhance our ability to provide a broader range of services to our clients.  Likewise, we look forward to meeting with Spov clients to share with them the full spectrum of capabilities that Keywords Studios has to offer.  This acquisition will strengthen our market position as a leading provider of digital art services and will contribute to our continuing growth in this area."

Final Results
RNS
RNS Number : 4493B
Keywords Studios PLC
04 April 2017
 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
 
4 April 2017
 
 
Keywords Studios plc ("Keywords Studios", "the Group")
 
Full year results for the year to 31 December 2016
 
Keywords Studios, the international technical services provider to the global video games industry, today provides its full year results for the year to 31 December 2016.
 
Financial overview:
·     Group revenue (including effect of acquisitions) increased by 67% to €96.6m (2015: €58.0m)
·     Gross margin further improved to 38.0% (2015: 37.6%)
·     Adjusted profit before tax* increased by 86% to €14.9m (2015: €8.0m)
·     Adjusted basic earnings per share* up by 61% to 20.59c (2015: 12.81c)
·     Net cash flow from operating activities of €15.0m (2015: €3.4m)
·     Net cash** of €8.7m (2015: €17.3m)
·     10% increase in dividend to 1.33p per share (2015: 1.21p)
 
*before acquisition and integration expenses of €1.3m (2015: €1.1m), share option charges of €0.7m (2015: €0.4m), amortisation of intangibles of €1.6m (2015: €0.9m), and foreign currency loss of €1.7m (2015: loss of €0.5m)
 
**after payment of €21.1m net cash consideration for acquisitions (2015:  €7.4m) and €1.3m of acquisition costs and integration expenses (2015:  €1.1m), and including €8.4m of bank borrowings.
 
Operational overview:
·     24% increase in like for like*** revenue includes very strong performance by Synthesis
·     Eight acquisitions completed in the year as we continue to invest in the development of the Group:
o  Acquisition of customer support business, Ankama, in March
o  Acquisition of Beijing-based art creation business, Mindwalk, in May
o  Localisation, audio and localisation testing business, Synthesis, acquired in April
o  Acquired the 50% of Kite Team it did not already own in April
o  Acquisition of Quebec City-based concept art specialist, Volta, in July
o  Acquisition of consulting and user testing business, Player Research, in October
o  Acquired functional and localisation testing business in Montreal and St-Jerome, Enzyme, in November
o  Acquisition of Madrid-based audio and localisation services firm, Sonox Audio, completed in December
·     25% increase in clients using three or more services from 51 to 64****
 
*** 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 December 2016 to the 12 months ended December 2015.
 
Post period end / current trading:
·     Trading in the first two months of the year has been in line with the Board's expectations
·     Terms agreed for a revolving credit facility of up to €35m with Barclays Bank, which will provide further headroom for selective acquisitions
·     Continue to selectively review a strong acquisition pipeline
o  Acquisition of London-based Art creation agency, SPOV, providing services including; cinematics, UI, visual effects and motion graphics in February 2017
 
Andrew Day, Chief Executive of Keywords Studios, commented:
 
"2016 saw Keywords continue to grow strongly, both organically and through acquisitions which increased our capacity and scale in existing service lines and expanded our service capabilities and geographical reach.
"This performance has seen the Group grow from full year revenues of just over €14m prior to its IPO in July 2013, derived from four service lines and five studios across three continents, to revenues of nearly €100m derived from six service lines and 27 studios across four continents at the end of 2016.
 
"We fully expect to make continued good progress during 2017 as we take advantage of the synergies afforded by our enlarged platform and as we make further selective acquisitions, with the support of our strong cash generation and enlarged debt facilities."
 
A presentation of the full year results will be made to analysts later this morning at MHP's offices.

4 Apr
finnCap
692.00
Buy

Acquisition of XLOC Inc.
RNS
RNS Number : 6675E
Keywords Studios PLC
10 May 2017
 
10th May 2017
 
 
 
Keywords Studios plc ("Keywords", "the Group")
 
Acquisition of XLOC Inc.
-      Globalization technology platform acquisition
 
Keywords Studios, the international technical services provider to the global video games industry, today announces that it has acquired XLOC Inc. ("XLOC") for a total consideration of $0.9 million from its founders, Stephanie O'Malley and Mason Deming (the "Sellers").
 
Based in Raleigh, NC, XLOC has developed the leading web-based integrated globalization content management system for videogames (XLOC), supported by consulting and customisation services.  Its proprietary software application can be integrated with any games development platform and enables game developers and publishers to more efficiently manage and automate the complex process of localising games content across multiple languages and platforms for simultaneous global launches and continuous publishing. 
 
The acquisition of XLOC is in line with Keywords Studios' 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.
 
XLOC was founded in 2004 by Stephanie O'Malley and Mason Deming who had gained extensive experience of the localisation process through former roles in production and technology within Activision and by advising many leading video game development studios. The founders, along with the rest of the XLOC team, will remain in the Group.
 
Under the terms of the acquisition Keywords is paying a consideration comprised of $700,000 in cash and the issue to the Sellers of 19,134 new ordinary shares in Keywords, which will be subject to a two-year lock in period.
 
Application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for the admission of 19,134 new ordinary shares to trading on AIM. Admission of the new shares is expected to take place at 8.00am on 15 May 2017. The Company's total issued share capital following admission will consist of 55,636,269 ordinary shares of one pence each with one voting right per share. The above figure of 55,636,269 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.
 
 
Fabio Minazzi, Global Head of Keywords Studios' Localisation Services, commented:
"We are delighted to welcome XLOC's talented team to Keywords Studios, having worked well together and recommended each other's solutions across many game titles over several years. XLOC brings to the Group a scaleable, leading, proprietary software application that is embedded in to the localisation processes of games developers.  Its system is relied upon from an earlier stage than Keywords Studios has typically been involved and will enable the Group to provide integrated software and services across the full localisation cycle, in addition to offering XLOC as a standalone solution.
"We look forward to working closely with XLOC to build upon their excellent reputation and loyal client base."

Acquisition of GameSim Inc.
RNS
RNS Number : 3530F
Keywords Studios PLC
17 May 2017
 
17 May 2017
 
 
 
Keywords Studios plc ("Keywords Studios", "the Group")
 
Acquisition of GameSim Inc. established a new, Engineering, service line
 
Keywords Studios, the international technical services provider to the global video games industry, today announces the acquisition of GameSim Inc. ("GameSim"), a specialist  in outsourced engineering services and technology platforms for the video games industry and other virtual simulation applications, from its Founder and President, Andrew Tosh (the "Seller").
 
The acquisition of GameSim marks Keywords Studio's first step into the market for software engineering services. It is in line with its strategy of growing both organically and by acquisition to extend the Group's client base, market penetration or service lines, where the Group can leverage its existing expertise, multi-service platform, scale and global reach to generate synergies.
 
Based in Orlando, Florida, GameSim employs over 30 software engineers and artists and has a range of cutting edge, proprietary technology platforms which are integrated with client processes to develop video games and visually simulate environments for military and urban planning applications.  GameSim's founder Andrew Tosh is a software engineer who worked in the military simulation industry and then at Electronic Arts before starting GameSim in 2008. GameSim engineers and artists work on long running co-development projects as well as short turnaround engagements for their clients, which include EA, Zynga, and United States Department of Defense projects. GameSim achieved $4.1m in revenue for the year ended 31 December 2016. Andrew Tosh, along with the rest of the GameSim team, will remain in the Group.
 
Under the terms of the acquisition, which is expected to be earnings enhancing in the first year, Keywords Studios is paying the Seller a total of $4.76m for 100% of GameSim. This is being satisfied by $3.2m in cash, funded from the Group's existing resources, with the remainder satisfied by the issue of 151,725 new ordinary shares in Keywords, which will be subject to a one-year lock in period.
 
Application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for the admission of 151,725 new ordinary shares to trading on AIM. Admission of the new shares is expected to take place at 8.00am on 22 May 2017. The Company's total issued share capital following admission will consist of 55,787,994 ordinary shares of one pence each with one voting right per share. The above figure of 55,787,994 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.
 
Keywords intends to grow further in the video games software engineering services market through acquisition and organic growth to build a seventh service line of scale, following in the path of its fast-growing art services business.
 
Andrew Day, Chief Executive of Keywords Studios, commented:
"The acquisition of GameSim is an entry point into outsourced software engineering services and is highly complementary to our existing essential services to game developers and publishers around the world. Our intention is to use this as a platform from which to build a market leading engineering capability and we continue to review a number of compelling acquisition opportunities in this specialist and large, yet fragmented market.
"Providing the group with an additional avenue to growth, outsourced software engineering services are used by game developers in several ways such as: extensions to their own in-house engineering teams; to undertake projects to port developed games from one hardware platform to another; "hit squads" to solve complex problems; or for complete game development.  These engineering services combine particularly strongly with our art creation services but are also synergistic with our localisation and testing businesses in which game development skills can be deployed to increase automation and to integrate our services more directly with client side systems and processes. The market for game software development is growing with the increase in-game content, as games on consoles, social media, PCs, tablets and smart phones get bigger and richer in their definition and as games continue to move from a product to a services model requiring continuous content development, and as games developers and publishers outsource a greater proportion of this activity.
"We look forward to welcoming GameSim's highly talented teams to the fast growing Keywords group and to continuing to build upon its strong brand, leveraging Keywords' unparalleled geographic footprint, client relationships and financial strength to support its growth."
Andrew Tosh, Founder and President of GameSim, commented:
"It is exciting for GameSim to enter a new chapter as Keywords' first engineering studio. GameSim will take advantage of synergies with other Keywords studios to better service our customers in the video gaming, military simulation & training, and geospatial visualisation industries."

... expected to be earnings enhancing from year one ..

10:40 18/05/2017
Broker Forecast - finnCap issues a broker note on Keywords Studios
finnCap today reaffirms its buy investment rating on Keywords Studios (LON:KWS) and raised its price target to 885p (from 692p). Story provided by StockMarketWire.com
08:00 18/05/2017
Broker Forecast - Berenberg issues a broker note on Keywords Studios
Berenberg today reaffirms its buy investment rating on Keywords Studios (LON:KWS) and raised its price target to 970p (from 850p). Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

Acquisition
RNS
RNS Number : 7322F
Keywords Studios PLC
22 May 2017
 
22 May 2017
 
 
 
Keywords Studios plc ("Keywords", "the Group")
 
Acquisition of Red Hot CG
Expansion of Art Service Line and further growth in Asia
 
Keywords Studios, the international technical services provider to the global video games industry, today announces the acquisition of 100% of Strongbox Ltd, a holding company with subsidiaries in China and Indonesia trading under the Red Hot CG ("Red Hot") brand. Red Hot are specialists in the production of graphical art assets for video games.
 
The acquisition of Red Hot is in line with Keywords' strategy of growing both organically and by acquisition. It will increase the capacity of Keywords' fast growing and higher margin Art Service Line, as well as bringing a number of attractive new clients to the art business at Keywords.
Founded in 2010 by Daniel Staton, Red Hot's operating hub is in Shanghai with satellite studios in the lower cost locations of Chengdu, Dalian and Zhengzhou in China plus Yogyakarta in Indonesia. This hub and spoke model gives the company the advantage of broader access to the Chinese pool of video game art talent, which is the largest in the world, while maintaining control and providing international business access through Shanghai.  It has 220 artists which, when added to Keywords existing 900 artist employees and contractors, will increase the Group's art production capacity by approximately 25%.
Red Hot has a strong client base, including many of the game development studios of Activision as well as Sony, Bethesda, Tencent and Capcom, which will complement Keywords' existing Art Service Line client base.
 
Daniel Staton (CEO), Leo Ling (COO), Claas Grimm (CRO) and the rest of the management team will remain with Red Hot, bringing many years of video game industry experience and art production expertise to the Art Service Line.  They will continue to run Red Hot whilst working closely with the other Art studios in the Group to bring additional services and production capacity to their existing and prospective clients.
 
Under the terms of the acquisition, which is expected to be earnings enhancing in the current year, Keywords is paying a total consideration of $6.0 million for 100% of Red Hot. This is being satisfied by $4.35m in cash, $1.0m of which is deferred until the third anniversary of acquisition, funded from the Group's existing resources. The remainder is being satisfied by the issue of 160,842 new ordinary shares in Keywords, which will be issued to the Sellers on the second anniversary of the acquisition.
 
In the year ended 31 December 2016, the Red Hot businesses generated revenues of $5.4m and underlying pre-tax profit of $0.9m. Good further growth is expected in 2017.
 
Andrew Day, Chief Executive of Keywords, commented:
"The acquisition of Red Hot further strengthens our fast growing, higher margin art services business, enhancing our unique client proposition which combines operations close to our clients, in the US and Canada, with those in lower cost locations across Asia. Following the acquisition, we believe the Keywords Art Service Line is the leading player in the outsourced market in terms of capacity and breadth of service. We warmly welcome Red Hot's highly talented teams to the growing Keywords family and we look forward to continuing to build upon its excellent reputation and loyal client base as part of the Group."
Daniel Staton, CEO of Red Hot Studios commented:
"We are delighted to be joining the Keywords Group as we continue to grow our business.  We believe that combining forces with Keywords' Mindwalk studio in China as well as leveraging the overall resources of the wider Keywords Group will enable us to accelerate our development and provide wider opportunities to all members of the Red Hot team."

14 Jun
Berenberg
980.00
Buy

Keywords Studios PLC (KWS:LSE) set a new 52-week high during today's trading session when it reached 878.50. Over this period, the share price is up 178.88%.

Half year trading update
RNS
RNS Number : 2172M
Keywords Studios PLC
27 July 2017
 
27 July 2017
 
 
 
Keywords Studios plc ("Keywords Studios" or "the Group")
 
Half year trading update
 
Strong performance in the first half of the year
 
Keywords Studios, the international technical services provider to the global video games industry, is pleased to provide an update on trading for the six months ended 30 June 2017.
 
The Group has performed strongly during the first half, with preliminary unaudited revenues for the period up by 50% to €63.7m (H1 2016: €42.4m) and a 60% increase in adjusted PBT* to €9.6m (H1 2016: €6.0m). 
 
All the Group's service lines showed good organic growth, as measured on a like-for-like basis, with the exception of Audio which had a particularly tough comparative due to the exceptional performance of Synthesis in H1 2016, as previously reported.  The underlying like-for-like** revenue growth was 17%, or 28% when excluding Synthesis in both periods.
 
The Group continues to deliver on its strategy of growing organically and through acquisition in order to become the "go to" supplier of technical services to the video games industry globally. To this end, the Group is now comprised of seven globally managed service lines operating from 33 production studios in 17 countries.
 
Since the start of the year we have made four acquisitions of Spov, XLOC, GameSim and Red Hot which have, respectively, extended the Group's market position as a leading provider of digital art services; given the Group a content management system which allows it to provide integrated software and services across the full text localisation cycle; provided a first step into the market for video games related software engineering services; and positioned the Group as the leading global player in the outsourced art services market in terms of capacity and breadth and depth of service.
 
To date in 2017 the Group has invested net cash of €6.9m for the acquisitions described above and it continues to evaluate a healthy pipeline of high quality acquisition opportunities, in line with its acquisition strategy. The credit facility of up to €35m with Barclays Bank which was announced in April 2017, combined with continuing strong cash generation and the judicious use of Keywords shares to part-fund acquisitions where appropriate, leaves the Group well placed to complete further selective acquisitions this year.
 
Andrew Day, Chief Executive of Keywords, commented:
 
"We are delighted with our progress so far this year. This has enabled us to deliver a first half performance ahead of our expectations, underpinning our confidence in the Group at least meeting market consensus for the year as whole.
 
"We continue to win new clients and grow market share and are regularly seeing the benefits of our wider geographic reach and broader range of services as we introduce additional services to established clients.
 
"We look forward to another full year of strong progress as we continue to invest in existing and new businesses, building our talent pool and integrating the newer members of our Group."
 
Keywords Studios will provide a further update on trading with its half year results which it expects to announce in mid September.
 
*The Group reports adjusted PBT before acquisition and integration expenses, share option charges, amortisation of intangibles and foreign currency gains 
 
** Calculated on the basis that the H1 2016 comparative includes all of the 2017 and 2016 acquisitions as if they had been owned for the same period in 2016 as they have been in 2017.

09:20 27/07/2017
Broker Forecast - finnCap issues a broker note on Keywords Studios
finnCap today reaffirms its buy investment rating on Keywords Studios (LON:KWS) and raised its price target to 1000p (from 923p). Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

Octopus investment >6%

whoosh.. share price has risen eightfold in two years and still capable of more.

In a world of leaks, the company did well to keep everyone quiet during negotiations with multiple targets ahead of today's announcement. And they look to have got themselves a bargain.

On the other hand, it could be that there have been leaks which are partly responsible for the rise already seen.

10:30 04/08/2017
Broker Forecast - Numis issues a broker note on Keywords Studios
Numis today reaffirms its buy investment rating on Keywords Studios (LON:KWS) and raised its price target to 1400p (from 1260p). Story provided by StockMarketWire.com