RNS Number : 4386O
Keywords Studios PLC
07 November 2016

7 November 2016

Keywords Studios plc ("Keywords Studios" or "the Group")
Trading Update
Significantly ahead of expectations for the year ended 31 December 2016
Keywords Studios, the international technical services provider to the global
video games industry, is pleased to announce that it now anticipates thatrevenues and adjusted PBT* for the full year to 31 December 2016 will besignificantly ahead of current market expectations.
This outperformance has been driven primarily by recently acquired localisation
and audio business, Synthesis, sustaining higher levels of activity during thesecond half of the financial year than previously anticipated after a particularly
strong second quarter which benefitted from a number of large projects
alongside its normal flow of activity. In addition, strong like for like** growthacross the business has reflected better than anticipated performances inlocalisation and audio, a sustained increase in demand for art services since
the first half of the financial year and a continuation of the trends seen in thefirst half within the localisation testing, functional testing and customer services
activities.
Beyond Synthesis, the acquisitions we have made since the beginning of theyear of the Manila based customer support team, Ankama; the China-based
outsourced art creation firm, Mindwalk; Volta studio which took us into concept
art services; and the 50% of Kite Team not previously owned are integrating
well and performing in line with expectations.
As a consequence, the Board expects adjusted PBT for the current year to be
not less than €14m.
Andrew Day, Chief Executive of Keywords, commented:"We are delighted with our strong progress so far this year and that we now
anticipate delivering a performance significantly ahead of market expectations
for the year as a whole.
"Having announced the acquisition of Player Research, the UK-based providerof player behavioural research consulting and user experience testing services,on 26 October 2016, we maintain a healthy pipeline of selectively
chosen acquisition targets which we continue to review. These have thepotential to extend our service offering, geographical reach and/or market
penetration and to offer operational synergies as we leverage our existing
facilities and management. In addition, we look forward to continuing to develop
the business organically by investing in growing our existing and previouslyacquired businesses.
"We are starting to see signs of consolidation of the supplier base at a numberof our clients which is something we welcome and have expected as a naturalresponse from the games industry to an increasingly complex environment ofmultiple games platforms, now including Virtual and Augmented Reality,
expanding geographies and languages and a multitude of monetisation models.
We believe we are uniquely well positioned to benefit from this consolidation
and, although there will inevitably be both wins and losses, overall we expect tobe a net beneficiary of this process. We, therefore, remain very confident of ourstrategy and, at this early stage, maintain our current, cautiously optimistic
expectations for 2017."* before acquisition and integration expenses, share option charges,amortisation of intangibles and foreign currency movements.
** calculated on the basis of revenues being included for 2016 acquisitions fromthe date of acquisition and for the equivalent period in the prior year.
For further information, please contact:Keywords Studios (www.keywordsstudios.com)
Andrew Day, Chief Executive Officer
David Broderick, Group Finance Director+353 190 22 730

Numis (Financial Adviser)
Stuart Skinner / Kevin Cruickshank (NominatedAdviser)
James Black / Tom Ballard (Corporate Broker)
MHP Communications (Financial PR)
Katie Hunt / Jade Neal / Ollie Hoare020 7260 1000

020 3128 8100
Keywords@mhpc.com

Certain information contained in this announcement would haveconstituted inside information (as deﬁned by Article 7 of Regulation(EU) No 596/2014) prior to its release as part of this announcement.
Notes to Editors
Keywords Studios is an international technical services provider to the global
video games industry. Established in 1998, it provides integrated art creation,audio, testing, localisation, testing, and customer support services across thegames lifecycle in over 50 languages and all games platforms to a blue chipclient base in more than 15 countries. Keywords Studios now has 24 facilities
across Europe, North and South America and Asia. It has a strong market
position, providing services to 21 of the top 25 games companies by revenue(including Microsoft, Namco Bandai, Sony, Konami, Electronic Arts, Nintendoand Square Enix) and 7 of the top 10 mobile game companies by revenue(including Supercell, King and Machine Zone). Keywords Studios is listed on
AIM, the London Stock Exchange regulated market (KWS.L). For further
information, please visit: www.keywordsstudios.com

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