piw
17 Nov 2017
Video: KWS Capital Markets Day 14.11.17 KWS Capital Markets Day 14.11.17: Synergistic Growth[link] hrs (but worth it!)The senior management team showcase KWS’s acquisition strategy, and how it has created the ‘Go to global services platform.’ Senior directors who have joined through acquisition discuss their experience, and what being acquired has offered them. Further time is given to integration, cross selling opportunities, and the management structure to optimise the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.Chapters:Andrew Day, Group CEO: Introduction - 01
5IPO to ‘Go to global services platform’ – 04:48Acquisition strategy & track record - 07:23Andrea Ballista, Head of Audio Services: Acquisition opportunities – 13:28Andrew Tosh, President of GameSim: Acquisition by KWS - 17:20Fabio Minazzi, Head of Localisation Services: Acquisition by KWS– 20:20Fred Stockton, Head of Art Creation: Acquisition by KWS – 233Returns from acquisitions – 27:35Q&A – 295Nicolas Liorzou, Regional MD – Americas: Integration & driving synergies – 33:25Fulvio Sioli, Regional MD – Europe: First days joining the Keywords family - 38:45Max Reynaud, CEO of Synthesis: First days joining the Keywords family – 41:37Bringing people together – 447Gerry Cleary, HR Director: Bringing people together – 45:18Giacomo Duranti, Group COO: Managing efficiency – 46:47Chris Kennedy, Regional MD: Asia: Leveraging the acquisitions - 50:33Thommy Barth, Head of Functional Testing: KWS ‘Lifer’ – 55:45Andrew Day, Group CEO: Summary on integration – 59:47Mike Wallen, 6roup Sales Director: Cross selling opportunities – 010:44David Broderick, Group CFO: Management structure & cross selling – 014:23Fabio Minazzi, Head of Localisation Services: Cross selling case study 1 - 018:28Mike Wallen, 6roup Sales Director: Cross selling case study 2 & 3 - 01:12:30Andrew Day, Group CEO: Summary on cross selling - 01:17:34Q&A – 01:18:50Jaime Gine, Group CCO: Strategic partnerships - 1:280Fred Stockton, Head of Art Creation: Strategy partnerships in art – 1:38:15Manvendra Shukul, CEO of Lakshya Digital: Strategic partnerships in art - 1:43:58Jaime Gine, Group CCO: Strategic partnerships – 01:15:17Andrew Day, Group CEO: Summary - 01:55:13Q&A – 01:562
gretel
09 Nov 2017
Video game stocks thriving Video game maker stocks surged overnight in the USA:[link] Interactive Software jumped 10.58% after the videogame maker offered a stronger-than-expected revenue forecast for the holiday quarter.That sparked a rally among its competitors, with Activision Blizzard surging 5.89% and Electronic Arts adding 2.19%."
gretel
01 Nov 2017
Analyst comment on KWS acquisition Commentary from an analyst at Davy Stockbrokers on KWS and on the sector in general, plus KWS have been nominated for an award:[link] video gaming industry offers major possibilitiesMonday, October 30, 2017 A measure of the growth possibilities offered by the video games industry in Ireland was underlined in last week’s major acquisition by Dublin headquartered Keyword Studios of US-based VMC Consulting for $66m (€57m).It follows a number of smaller takeovers earlier this year by the Leopardstown-based company, which recently raised approximately €85m through a 10% share issuance.Founded in 1998, the company started out providing spoken-word audio services for game producers, but has expanded significantly over the years through a mix of organic growth and acquisition, and is now listed in London.Working with many of industry’s major players — EA Sports, Konami and Ubisoft — Keyword’s latest acquisition makes the firm one of the biggest players in its field. “While this fast-tracks Keyword to No 1 in functional testing from No 5, this deal also brings with it the company’s biggest integration lift to date,” says Davy analyst Joseph Quinn.“Outsourcing within the $100bn-plus video game industry is growing, and developers are increasingly turning to outsourcing partners to achieve faster content delivery, driven by the pace of mobile and online game development. Keywords Studios, the largest provider of outsourced technical services to the industry, is the leading consolidator within this space.”Keywords Studios have also been shortlisted in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Programme 2017. The company has studios in London, Barcelona, Milan, Rome, Tokyo, Singapore, Shanghai, New Delhi, Montreal, Seattle, Los Angeles and Rio de Janeiro, employing over 1,500...........As a pointer for the video game industry’s potential future dominance of the entertainment sector, in 2013 Grand Theft Auto V made $800m worldwide in its first 24 hours - more than any single game, film or record in history. In the same year, global video games sales were $70bn, versus cinema’s $35bn."
gretel
30 Oct 2017
Berenberg raise target price to 2000p.... Berenberg have this morning increased their target price to 2000p (from 1350p) and say Buy.....[link]
gretel
27 Oct 2017
"Largest provider in North America" New video interview with the CEO - sounds like they got tremendous institutional support to get the placing away at a "nice" price".KWS will now be "unquestionably the largest provider in North America":http ://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/stocktube/8289/no-rest-at-keywords-studios-as-they-make-largest-acquisition-to-date-8289.html?utm_source=Sign-Up.to&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=7163-370414-PROACTIVITY+-+Sirius+Minerals+in+focus+as+new+commercial+deal+bolsters+Yorkshire+mine+development"No rest at Keywords Studios as they make largest acquisition to date10:13 26 Oct 2017 Andrew Day, chief executive of Keywords Studios PLC (LON:KWS), discusses with Proactive's Andrew Scott their acquisition of the North America-focused VMC Consulting for US$66mln.Day describes the move as a significant step in their consolidation of the fragmented video games services sector.Through a network of vetted private individuals, VMC is one of the leading video games beta testers and offers many cross selling and roll-out opportunities."
donna blitzen
26 Oct 2017
Re: Numis increase price target to 1865p I rather guessed you were away, gretel, so what a lovely surprise to return to. i hope it's paid for a chunk of the holiday! Well done if you managed to switch off from the mkt while you were on holiday - I cant resist a peep for more than a few days.
gretel
26 Oct 2017
Numis increase price target to 1865p Hi donna - just back from hols! And thrilled by this latest acquisition - "transformational" is sometimes overused, but this is genuinely so.KWS is now an 11-bagger for me from my initial purchase, but I see every reason to continue to hold for more.The lack of comment here seems fairly typical of bulletin boards - sadly, most still appear to be obsessed with striking lucky with resource companies or penny shares rather than identifying growth companies like KWS.Numis say Buy and have upgraded to an 1865p target price, with good coverage in this article:[link] "Keywords Studios tipped to work its magic on slumbering VMC 10:49 25 Oct 2017 Keywords announced a big acquisition yesterday and it may have added "a sleeping giant" to its portfolio Numis Securities has given the thumbs-up to the acquisition of VMC by Keywords Studios PLC (LON:KWS) and upgraded the stock to 'buy' from 'hold'. The technical services provider to the video games industry has a history of shrewd acquisitions and Numis said the latest one is “at a typically attractive valuation” albeit, at 11.5 times annual earnings, a tad higher than usual, reflecting the scale of the company being acquired, which is three times the size of Keywords' previous largest acquisition.“Based on the expected total cash paid of c.$71m, Keywords is acquiring VMC for 1.25x trailing revenues and we estimate a post synergy P/E [price/earnings ratio] of 11.5x,” Numis said, as it readjusted its target price to 1,865p. For comparison purposes, Numis noted Keywords itself is valued at six times 2017 pro forma revenues and trades on a P/E of more than 50. In addition to US$2.5mln of targeted synergies, VMC brings two new service approaches to Keywords: 1) embedded technical services; 2) the "Global Beta Test Network", described by Keywords' chief executive Andrew Day as “testing games in a real world scenario". Numis said VMC's embedded technical services expertise could open the door to “long hoped-for broader outsourcing contracts”, which in turn could deliver significant longer-term organic growth.“We model VMC delivering flat revenues in 2018, and look for improved processes to generate growth in 2019,” Numis said. In yesterday's analysts' call, Day noted the significant disparity in VMC's margins and Keywords' own, and expressed confidence that Keywords could get VMC's margins up to Keywords' level.“VMC's revenue excluding discontinued low margin contracts has been flat over 2015-2017, which we think is a poor result in a growing market, and we think better execution should deliver an improved performance in due course,” Numis said."
donna blitzen
24 Oct 2017
Acquisition I’m very surprised that today’s major, earnings enhancenung, acquisition hs not elicited comment here. It’ looks like a peach of a purchase - no wonder institutions have subscribed at above yesterday’s closing price. Where are you gretel?
gretel
06 Oct 2017
Good summary of analyst meeting I came across this nice summary of KWS' analyst briefing from two weeks ago not posted here before - some choice snippets:[link] "Keywords is bullish on the USD 109bn global games market, as estimated by NEWZOO in its 2Q 2017 Global Games report, and which is forecasted to grow at 6% CAGR through 2020.The services segment is estimated at USD 5bn per annum and nearly 50% is currently outsourced by games developers to third parties.Amongst Keywords client base of about 400 developers, they claim to service 23 of the top 25 games companies by revenue (as ranked by Newzoo in June 2017) and seven of the top mobile games (as ranked by PocketGamer in May 2017).""Emphasizing his confidence in localization, Day shared a comment to him from his Managing Director for Europe Fulvio Sioli who said "it just feels like it's become a tipping point and Keywords has become the go-to player for game localization.""Keywords remains committed to acquisitions as a driver of growth, with Day telling analysts they "have plenty of opportunity to do accretive deals." It is targeting 4 to 10 acquisitions a year at USD 2-10 million per acquisition and it has a new EUR 35m revolving credit facility from Barclays Bank with which to fund the purchases.""Asked by an analyst if he were open to acquisitions that are not immediately earnings-accretive but more strategic in nature, CEO Day said "I think it's fair to assume that if we do a larger deal it might come at a larger multiple than the deals we've done so far" but he stressed that he "would hope we don't get to the point where we do deals that are not accretive."
gretel
01 Oct 2017
KWS is Amati VCT's best performer Amati VCT 2 published their interims last week, and had this to say about KWS:[link] greatest contributor to performance over the six months under review was Keywords Studios ("Keywords"
, the technical services provider to the video games industry, its shares rising 109%. Keywords continued its acquisition strategy, acquiring five businesses, which all fit the template of expanding the group's geographical coverage and service lines. The most eye-catching of these recent acquisitions were a software development business and a video games content management software provider, both giving Keywords entirely new services to offer their customer base. Keywords finds itself in an enviable position: its market remains highly fragmented yet customers wish to deal with fewer vendors. continuing to consolidate its industry, it can present itself to video games publishers as a one-stop solution for all video games support services. The market for outsourced video games services continues to demonstrate healthy levels of growth which, when combined with earnings enhancing acquisitions, provide a powerful catalyst for shareholder returns."
Ripley94
27 Sep 2017
Re: 3 Recent Irish IPOs It bounced back 13% since recent fall back.
gretel
20 Sep 2017
Citigroup : Buy with 1400p target: Citigroup today retain their Buy and 1400p target:[link]
piw
20 Sep 2017
H1 results video: Keywords Studios (KWS) H1 results. presentation by CEO Andrew Day and CFO David Broderick.[link] (Duration: 58 minutes)Andrew DayIntroduction – 00:19Opportunities in the growing video games market – 1:14Servicing Games Development Lifecycle – 4:16Global service delivery platform – 5:12International scale and flexibility – 6:34Market leading position – 80Creating value since IPO – 8:45Delivering consistent growth – 98David BroderickFinancial review – 11:58Highlights – 12:12Income statement – 12:35Balance sheet – 142Cashflow – 15:40H2 Guidance – 16:36Andrew DayOperational review – 18:11Delivering on our Strategy – 18:18Strong performance complimented by acquisitions – 20:40Strategy – 27:39Growth opportunities – 27:46Acquisition strategy – 29:54Management – 31:22Driving operational efficiencies – 32:44Key opportunities – 34:16Outlook – 35:58Investment Summary – 37:58Q&A – 40:21Localization business – 40-22Investment – 43:38larger acquisitions? – 46:50Mobile localization budgets – 495Augmented Reality – 52:55Limitation of Keywords brand? – 559
gretel
19 Sep 2017
Terrific results today The P/E is obviously high, and there's always a few short-termers trading on results.But the PEG remains pretty good value at around 1 given 47% forecast EPS growth this year and 34% next year.Numis and Finncap have 1400p and 1325p targets respectively today and are both at Hold.I'd assume more acquisitions will be on the way, at which point those targets and ratings will probably move upwards.
Ripley94
19 Sep 2017
Re: 3 Recent Irish IPOs Am i correct with my post 5th August, and that this share has increased 10 fold since IPO July 2013.
