Team17 acquires Yippee Entertainment

Nottingham based Team17 has acquired Yippee Entertainment.

Yippee is a software developer and digital publisher based in MediaCityUK, focused on “end-to-end production and creation of third-party games alongside its own IP”. The £1.3 million deal comes via a combination of £922,407 in cash and the issue of 114,000 consideration shares worth £433,200, “subject to a lock-in over a three year period from the date of the Acquisition”.

Yippee will reportedly work on a combination of Team17-owned, original, and Games Label partners’ IP and operate under Team17 as a wholly-owned subsidiary.

“On behalf of the Group, I’d like to extend a warm welcome to Mike and his team,” said Debbie Bestwick, MBE, CEO of Team17 Group PLC. “MediaCityUK is a wonderful location for our second UK studio and the acquisition of Yippee allows us to accelerate our recruitment plans in the North West.”

“The Acquisition supports Team17’s growth strategy by increasing studio capacity and providing access to a new talent pool in the North West,” states the press release. “The studio’s talented and versatile team will continue to be run by Yippee’s Chief Executive Officer, Mike Delves, an industry veteran with over 30 years’ experience in senior positions at Hasbro, Acclaim and Ocean Software prior to forming Yippee in 2011.”

Team17 has seen a 97 per cent rise in revenues year-on-year (YoY). In its half-yearly financial report covering the six month period ending June 30th, 2019, the UK company also reported a gross profit jump of 119 per cent to £15.1m, and an uptick in its gross profit margin of almost 50 per cent YoY.

That results in an adjusted EBITDA – earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization – increase of 145 per cent to £12m compared to last year’s £4.9m and sees earnings per share jump 356 per cent YoY.

It’s been a busy half-year for the company, during which time it launched several new releases including Genesis Alpha One and My Time at Portia on the new Epic Games store. My Time at Portia also exited Early Access on Steam – achieving a global #1 in January – followed by “a successful launch on console followed in April 2019”, as well as Hell Let Loose, the WW2 simulation that also hit the number one spot after releasing via Steam Early Access in June.

“Our results during the first six months really underline the dedication and hard work of our people and external Games Label partners, and I want to thank every one of them,” said Bestwick. “I’m delighted with the excellent start to FY2019, delivering record revenues and operating profit in the period as well as successfully launching several high-profile games.”