Report
Richard Williamson

Keywords Studios - CEO retires for health reasons, positive trading

Having stepped back temporarily in March 2021 for health reasons, Andrew Day has now confirmed that he will take early retirement after 12 years as CEO of Keywords. Accordingly, the board has initiated the search for a full-time replacement. Jon Hauck (CFO, M&A) and Sonia Sedler (COO and operations) will continue to operate as interim CEOs until the search is complete. In parallel, Keywords provided a trading update, with the group reporting 25% l-f-l organic revenue growth and overall revenue growth of 36% y-o-y for the first four months of the year, and ‘good margin delivery’. We note that the comparator period was relatively weak given the onset of COVID-19 (H120: 8% l-f-l organic revenue growth), but with trading momentum continuing as games companies try to make up for the content deficit last year, together with a strong M&A pipeline, the board is confident in meeting FY21 market expectations.
Underlying
Keywords Studios plc

Keywords Studios is a technical services provider to the video games industry. Co.'s segments include: Localization Services, which relate to translation and cultural adaptation of in-game text and audio scripts; Localization Testing, which includes testing of linguistic correctness and cultural acceptability of computer games; Audio/Voiceover Services, which relate to audio production process for computer games; Functional Testing, which relates to quality assurance services provided to game producers; Art Creation Services, which relate to the production of graphical art assets for inclusion in the video game; and Customer Support, which relates to the live operations support services.

Provider
Edison Investment Research
Edison Investment Research

Edison is an investment research and advisory company, with offices in North America, Europe, the Middle East and AsiaPac. The heart of Edison is our world renowned equity research platform and deep multi-sector expertise. At Edison Investment Research, our research is widely read by international investors, advisors and stakeholders. Edison Advisors leverages our core research platform to provide differentiated services including investor relations and strategic consulting.

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Analysts
Richard Williamson

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