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Keywords Studios plc
FormerlyKeywords International Limited (1998–2013)
Company typePublic
ISINGB00BBQ38507
IndustryVideo games
Founded1998; 26 years ago (1998)
Founders
  • Giorgio Guastalla
  • Teresa Luppino
Headquarters
Leopardstown
,
Ireland
Key people
  • Andrew Day (CEO)
  • Jon Hauck (CFO)
RevenueIncrease €326.463 million[1] (2019)
Decrease €21.542 million[1] (2019)
Decrease €9.909 million[1] (2019)
Total assetsIncrease €365.944 million[1] (2019)
Total equityIncrease €222.958 million[1] (2019)
Number of employees
8,002[2] (2020)
SubsidiariesSee § Operations
Websitekeywordsstudios.com

Keywords Studios plc is an Irish video game industry services company based in Leopardstown. Founded in 1998 by Giorgio Guastalla and Teresa Luppino, the company initially provided localisation services for business software before transitioning to the video game industry in 2004–2009. Andrew Day replaced Guastalla as chief executive officer and instituted a growth plan that led to an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange in 2013. Since 2014, Keywords has followed a growth strategy involving several acquisitions of smaller companies.

History

Giorgio Guastalla, an Italian-Irish businessman who had previously worked for Microsoft's Dublin office, founded Keywords Studios in 1998 with his wife, Teresa Luppino.[3][4][5] The company was established in Leopardstown (a suburb of Dublin) under the name Keywords International and originally provided localisation services for business software.[3][6][7] A regional office in Rome was established in 2001.[8]

Starting in 2004, Keywords became incrementally involved with the video game industry.[5][8] Andrew Day, a Johannesburg native and long-time friend of Guastalla, joined Keywords in March 2009 at Guastalla's request and became the company's chief executive officer.[5][8] At this time, Keywords had revenues of €3.5 million and 50 employees.[9] Day perceived the supplier side in the video game market as highly fragmented and intended to turn Keywords into a "one-stop shop" for various stages of video game development.[9] Furthermore, the company had heavily relied on a single client, which Day aimed to change.[5] He instituted a five-year plan that would lead to flotation in 2014 and shifted the company's focused entirely towards video games.[5] The previously major client significantly reduced its business with Keywords in 2010.[10] Further regional offices were opened in Tokyo in December 2009, in Montreal in 2010, and in Seattle in 2012.[8]

In June 2013, Keywords announced its intent to float and sell 56% of its shares on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange.[3] By this time, the company had 120 employees and a pre-tax profit of €2.74 million on revenues of €14.34 million.[11] As part of this, a new entity, Keywords Studios Limited, was incorporated in the UK. On 8 July, the new entity was renamed Keywords Studios plc, and it acquired all of the previous entity, Keywords International Limited.[1][12] Numis Securities served as financial adviser and ran the offer,[13] and Keywords Studios floated on 12 July, raising £28 million.[14] Prior to the flotation, PEQ Holdings (a company associated with Guastalla, Giacomo Duranti, and Marco De Sanctis) owned 75.1% of shares, with the remaining 24.9% owned by Day. Through the flotation, PEQ Holdings' ownership was reduced to 29.9% and Day's to 13.2%. Cazenove Capital Management acquired 12% of the company, alongside other investments by Artemis and Legal & General.[15]

With the initial public offering completed, Day eyed an acquisition-based approach to corporate growth.[7] Its first acquisition was that of Liquid Violet, a provider of voice production services, in January 2014.[16] At the end of 2016, Keywords Studios had 2,600 employees, including 120 at its Dublin headquarters.[9] The acquisition of VMC in October 2017 added 1,300 employees to Keywords' headcount. According to Davy Group, this acquisition turned Keywords into the largest provider of functionality quality assurance.[9] In July 2018, Keywords announced the creation of Keywords Ventures, a venture capital fund aimed at supporting startups. Its first investment under this fund was in AppSecTest, of which Keywords acquired a 45% stake.[17] In the same month, Igor Efremov was hired as chief creative officer and Andrew Brown as chief marketing officer.[18] Jon Hauck was hired as Keywords' chief financial officer in November 2019, replacing David Broderick after he announced his resignation.[19] During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Day and Hauck took a 20% pay cut.[20] In May that year, the company raised £100 million with the aim of acquiring firms weakened by the pandemic.[21]

Corporate affairs

Keywords Studios is headquartered at Whelan House in the South County Business Park of Leopardstown.[22] As of September 2017, the company leases the entire ground floor and parts of the first and lower ground floor of Whelan House for €422,722.[23] The company of 2,008 people is managed by Day as the chief executive officer and Hauck as the chief financial officer.[2] The largest single shareholder in Keywords Studios as of April 2019 is PEQ Holdings, itself 90%-owned by Guastalla, at 6.3% of shares worth £58.1 million.[4] Italicatessen, a food import businesses founded by Guastalla and Luppino in 2002, provides catering services for Keywords Studios.[4]

Operations

According to Day, Keywords does not release products under its own name and does not plan to ever do so, which contributes to it staying "under the radar".[7] The company's businesses are divided into seven segments: art, engineering, functional testing, audio recording, translation, localisation, and player support.[9]

Name Acquired Business Ref(s)
Liquid Violet January 2014 Voice production [16]
Babel Media February 2014 Localisation and localistation testing [24]
Binari Sonori May 2014 Localisation [25]
Lakshya Digital October 2014 Art services [26]
Alchemic Dream January 2015 Customer care [27]
Reverb Localização January 2015 Localisation [27]
Kite Team July 2015 (50%; remainder acquired in April 2016) Localisation [28][29]
Liquid Development August 2015 Art services [30]
Ankama Asia March 2016 Operations support [31]
Synthesis Group April 2016 Localisation and audio [32]
Mindwalk Studios May 2016 Art services [33]
Volta Creation July 2016 Visual development and art services [34]
Player Research October 2016 Consultation and user testing [35]
Enzyme Testing Labs November 2016 Localisation and quality assurance [36]
Sonox Audio Solutions December 2016 Localisation [37]
Spov February 2017 Art services [38][39]
XLOC May 2017 Web-based content management; XLOC platform [40][41]
GameSim May 2017 Development [42]
Red Hot May 2017 Art services [43]
La Marque Rose August 2017 Audio recording [44]
Asrec August 2017 Audio recording [44]
Dune Sound August 2017 Audio recording [44]
Around the Word August 2017 Localisation [44]
D3T October 2017 Development [45]
VMC October 2017 Localisation and quality assurance [46]
Sperasoft December 2017 Development [47]
Localizadora Latam (LOLA) December 2017 Audio localisation [48][49]
Maximal Studio March 2018 Voice-over recording [50]
Cord Worldwide April 2018 Music branding [50]
Laced Music April 2018 Record label [50]
Fire Without Smoke May 2018 Development [51]
Blindlight June 2018 Production services [52]
Snowed In Studios July 2018 Development [53]
Yokozuna Data July 2018 Predictive analytics [54]
Studio Gobo August 2018 Technical services [55]
Electric Square August 2018 Technical services [55]
Sound Lab September 2018 Immersive entertainment [56]
The TrailerFarm September 2018 Trailer production [56]
Sunny Side Up December 2018 Marketing [57]
GetSocial February 2019 User acquisition [58]
Wizcorp April 2019 Development [59][60]
Descriptive Video Works June 2019 Audio descriptions [61]
TV+Synchron September 2019 Voice-over recording [62]
Ichi December 2019 Creative and marketing [63]
KantanMT December 2019 Machine translations [63]
Syllabes December 2019 Audio recording [63]
Marching Cube January 2020 Development [8]
Coconut Lizard June 2020 Development [64]
Maverick Media August 2020 Creative and marketing [65]
Heavy Iron Studios September 2020 Development [66]
G-Net Media November 2020 Marketing [67]
High Voltage Software December 2020 Development [68]
Indigo Pearl December 2020 Public relations [69]
Jinglebell December 2020 Audio recording [69]

Accolades

At the 2019 Technology Ireland Awards, Keywords received the "company of the year" and "outstanding achievement in international growth" awards.[70]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Annual Report and Accounts 2019" (PDF). Keywords Studios. 16 April 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 December 2020. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Investor Presentation" (PDF). Keywords Studios. November 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 December 2020. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  3. ^ a b c Flanagan, Peter (11 June 2013). "Keywords Studios ready to list on London exchange". Independent.ie. Archived from the original on 18 December 2020. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  4. ^ a b c Daly, Gavin (14 April 2019). "Founder of gaming studio Keywords racks up huge score". The Times. Archived from the original on 18 December 2020. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  5. ^ a b c d e Taylor, Charlie (2 March 2018). "Game on for London-listed Irish firm that operates below the radar". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 18 December 2020. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
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