Keywords Studios buys Fire Without Smoke for £5.2 million
Acquisition of marketing services company adds London and Montreal offices to Keywords' network
Keywords Studios, the international technical services provider to the global video games industry, today announces that it has acquired Fire Without Smoke Ltd ("Fire Without Smoke") for a total consideration of up to £5.2m from the founders Will O'Connor, Michael David Thomson and others (the "Sellers").
Headquartered in London and with a studio in Montreal, Fire Without Smoke provides a full suite of creative and marketing services to game publishers and developers, creating assets such as game trailers, marketing art and materials for esports events, and providing marketing consultancy and general design services to the video game industry.
Founded in 2013 and now with [40] staff between London and Montréal, Fire Without Smoke works with major game publishers such as Sony, Square Enix, Riot Games, Deep Silver, Sega, Capcom and Ubisoft.
Will O'Connor will continue as Managing Director and the other founders, together with the rest of the talented team, will also remain with the business.
For the year ending 31 May 2018, Fire Without Smoke is expected to have revenues of £2.8m and adjusted profits before tax of £0.7m.
Under the terms of the acquisition Keywords is paying a consideration comprised of £3.85m in cash, £0.5m of which is deferred until the first anniversary of acquisition and subject to certain performance targets, and the issue of 77,006 new ordinary shares in Keywords, which will be issued to the Sellers on the first anniversary of the acquisition and will then be subject to orderly market provisions for a further 12 months.
Andrew Day, CEO of Keywords Studios commented:
"Fire Without Smoke's specialised offering represents an excellent addition to the Group's existing capabilities and adds some exciting new services to our global service platform. Their high end video game trailers expertise will be of great interest to Keywords' large client base, as will their broad suite of creative services, which range from marketing strategy to providing marketing content for events including esports tournaments, which can play a significant role in influencing the success of event and game launches.
"We are delighted to welcome the talented and passionate teams of Fire Without Smoke to the Keywords family as we continue to build the business in London, in Montreal and in other Keywords locations around the world."