Keywords Studios Plc Regulatory News (KWS)

16 January 2014

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

Acquisition of Liquid Violet Ltd

Keywords Studios, the international technical services provider to the global video games industry, today announces the acquisition of Liquid Violet Ltd (Liquid Violet), a video games voice production services company.

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.

Under the terms of the acquisition, which will be immediately earnings enhancing, Keywords Studios has paid an initial cash consideration of £300,000 with a further £1.3 million payable in cash contingent upon Liquid Violet achieving certain financial targets in the three years to 31 March 2016.

Liquid Violet specialises in the management, on behalf of major video game publishers including Blizzard Entertainment and 2K, of the pre production and post production stages of localised voice-over assets for incorporation in the finished games. Formed in 2011 and based in London, it has established a growing base of blue-chip clients in the games industry due to its strong reputation for efficiently delivering large volumes of high quality audio assets, working with a multitude of audio studios across the globe.

Andrew Day, Chief Executive of Keywords Studios, commented:

"We are pleased to have acquired Liquid Violet, which occupies an attractive niche, with healthy margins and good growth prospects and which will extend the Group's audio services offering to its global customer base. We expect the use of audio in video games to grow thanks to the much enhanced capabilities of the new generation of consoles that were launched in November 2013 and as the capabilities of mobile devices continue to develop.

"We look forward to assisting the growth of Liquid Violet, as part of the broader based Group, and to exploring the cross selling opportunities with the new client relationships that Liquid Violet brings to the Group. 

"We believe that there is a clear opportunity for Keywords to build on its existing relationships with many of the major games companies by extending its service offering or geographical coverage within the highly fragmented games services industry, both organically and by acquisition, and we continue to make good progress in reviewing a number of high quality acquisition opportunities."

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About Keywords Studios

Keywords Studios is an international technical services provider to the global video games industry. Established in 1998, and now with facilities in Dublin, Tokyo, Rome, Montreal and Seattle, it provides integrated localisation, testing and audio services across 30 languages and 12 games platforms to a blue chip client base in more than 15 countries. It enjoys a leading market position, providing services to 15 of the top 25 most prominent games companies listed by Gartner1, including Microsoft, Namco Bandai, Konami, Sony, Electronic Arts and Square Enix. Key recent titles it has worked on include: Dead Rising 3, Pro Evolution Soccer 2014, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Forza Motorsport 5, Candy Crush Saga, Clash of Clans and Farmville 2. Keywords is listed on AIM, the London Stock Exchange regulated market (KWS.L).