Keywords Studios (LON:KWS), which today revealed results in line with expectations, is working to become a less seasonally dependant business.
Typically, the summer months have been the peak period for the industry, as developers push for key release dates ahead of Christmas.
Huge peaks and troughs, however, are something Andrew Day, chief executive of Keywords Studios, said he is trying to avoid.
August and September have traditionally been the busiest months for video game service provider, with less work in the after-Christmas period.
“We’re seeing a slight flattening out of the peak so it’s less sharp but runs for more months,” Day said.
“We won’t see the big downturn around November and December because there won’t be a big peak in September.
“If the business continues to show this trading it’s much better than having peaks and troughs,” he added.
The reason for this levelling out, is the work on less seasonal sectors, including mobile games, Day said.
While blockbuster games such as Fable and Tomb Raider can take up to two months to translate and another three to test, mobile games are produced much quicker and updated with further content once released.
Looking ahead, Day is confident for the full-year, after reporting a strong first half to the year.
“Daily and weekly production on mobile games and then a raft of triple A games which are already in hand or coming into us shortly mean the pipeline is very strong,” he told Proactive.
Today, Keywords reported revenue in the first six months of 2015 rose 23% year-on-year on a pro forma basis, which strips out the contribution of companies acquired in the last 12 months.
Group revenue, including contributions from acquisitions, shot up 74% to €23.9mln from €13.7mln in the same period of 2014.
Its two most recent acquisitions, Kite and Liquid Development, have already begun to make an impact, Day said.
"The acquisition of Liquid Development in August this year has both provided additional in-house capacity and has also brought much greater flexibility in resourcing which will allow us to flex up and down with the demands of individual projects in much the same way that we do in our other service lines,” he added.
Meanwhile, Mexico City-based audio recording and localisation group Kite Team, another acquisition made this year, was bought to allow the company to take on work that it had been outsourcing to other providers.
Broker Numis Securities said: “We believe that acquisitions have been a significant source of value creation for the group.”
Adjusted profit before tax for the period- climbed 65% to €2.2mln from €1.3mln, while statutory profit before tax soared to €1.6mln from €0.04mln.
Numis added that the strong profit improvement was “somewhat ahead of our expectations,” but has kept its pre-tax profit forecast of around €7.6ln unchanged.
The interim dividend has been hiked to 0.40p from 0.36p.
“We believe it’s right to pay a dividend because it’s a good discipline, and while the business is growing as it is, we would like to think we can continue this progressive dividend policy and raise the pay-out year on year,” Day said.