Guild Reduces David Beckham Payment Obligations

RNS Number : 8041A

Blue Star Capital plc

27 September 2022

 

27 September 2022

Blue Star Capital plc

("Blue Star" or the "Company")

Guild Significantly Reduces David Beckham Minimum Payment Obligations

Blue Star Capital plc (AIM: BLU), the investing company with a focus on esports, payments, technology and its applications within media and gaming, is pleased to note the announcement by Guild Esports plc ("Guild"), one of its investee companies, earlier today.

Guild has today announced that it has renegotiated the terms of a five-year agreement with Footwork Productions Ltd. ("Footwork"), a company controlled by David Beckham, that will reduce Guild's total minimum payment obligations by £7.5m over the next two years.

The original Footwork agreement enabled Guild to procure David Beckham's services as a brand ambassador in return for 15 per cent. of all merchandising and sponsorship revenues, with total minimum guaranteed fees of £15.25 million payable in cash instalments over the five-year lifetime of the deal. Guild advises that the first two annual payments totalling £4.75 million have already been satisfied.  Under the new terms of the Footwork agreement, the third annual payment of £3 million for 2022 will be payable in line with the terms of the original agreement. The fourth and fifth annual payment obligations totalling £7.5 million over years 4 and 5 of the deal, however, have been replaced by an increase in Footwork's share of Guild's merchandising and sponsorship revenue to 20 per cent. for each of those two years and the grant of 25,930,868 warrants , with an exercise price of 2.7 pence each for a term of five years. Mr Beckham will continue to perform ambassadorial services for Guild.

Building on the announcement of Guild's partnership with Sky UK Ltd on 26 September 2022, the Board of Blue Star are delighted to learn of the significant reduction in Guild's cash requirements in the coming years.

The Company holds approximately 22 million shares in Guild, representing approximately 4.3 per cent. of Guild's issued share capital.

For further information please contact:

Blue Star Capital plc	[phone]
Tony Fabrizi
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP	[phone]
(Nominated Adviser)
Jo Turner / Liam Murray / Ludo Lazzaretti
S tanford Capital Partners Limited	[phone]
(Broker)
Patrick Claridge / John Howes / Bob Pountney

About Blue Star

Blue Star is an investing company with a focus on new technologies. Blue Star's investments include SatoshiPay Limited, a payments business using blockchain technology; 8 early-stage to mid-level esports companies, including Guild eSports plc, a global eSports business headquartered in London whose lead investor is David Beckham and Dynasty eSports Pte Ltd., with a mission to become the global leader in B2B white label gaming platforms ; East Side Games Group Inc., a mobile leading free-to-play mobile games group; NFT Investments plc, a company that engages, partners, incubates and develops non-fungible tokens; and Sthaler Limited, an identity and payments technology business which enables a consumer to identify themselves and pay using just their finger.

 

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