Acquisition

RWS Holdings PLC

03 October 2023

 

For immediate release                                                                                                     3 October 2023

 RWS Holdings plc

RWS establishes presence in Africa through the acquisition of ST Communications

RWS Holdings plc ("RWS"), a unique world-leading provider of technology-enabled language, content and intellectual property services, announces the establishment of a presence in Africa through the acquisition of STComms Language Specialists Proprietary Limited ("ST Communications"), a Cape Town-based language services provider. This marks a milestone for RWS, enabling clients to further their reach into the African market with locally-based talent and linguistic expertise across 40+ African languages and strengthens RWS's position in rarer languages.

Founded in 2008, ST Communications has built a reputation for offering a wide range of professional language and linguistic solutions to African and international businesses. Its team of seven project managers and quality assurance experts work with a large network of highly skilled linguistic professionals across 26 African countries. Its localisation services include translation, interpreting, software testing, subtitling and transcreation and it has been a significant supplier of African language services to RWS for many years.

The acquisition will be funded from RWS's existing cash resources and is in line with the Group's strategy to actively pursue acquisitions that have the potential to accelerate delivery of its medium-term plans.

Ian El-Mokadem, Chief Executive Officer of RWS, commented:

"Africa is a continent that is of long-term strategic importance to our clients and, as one of the most linguistically diverse regions in the world, it presents a significant challenge for language services. We have partnered with ST Communications for many years and this acquisition supports our long-term strategy to continually invest and pioneer in new capabilities and will enable our clients to deepen their relationships in fast-growing African markets."

For further information, please contact:

RWS Holdings plc Ian El-Mokadem, Chief Executive Officer Candida Davies, Chief Financial Officer	01753 480200
MHP (Financial PR Advisor) Katie Hunt / Eleni Menikou / Catherine Chapman	[e-mail] 020 3128 8100 07884 494 112
Numis (Nomad & Joint Broker) Stuart Skinner / Kevin Cruickshank / Will Baunton	020 7260 1000
Berenberg (Joint Broker) Ben Wright / Toby Flaux / Alix Mecklenburg-Solodkoff	020 3207 7800

About RWS
RWS Holdings plc is a unique, world-leading provider of technology-enabled language, content and intellectual property services. Through content transformation and multilingual data analysis, our combination of AI-enabled technology and human expertise helps our clients to grow by ensuring they are understood anywhere, in any language.

Our purpose is unlocking global understanding. By combining cultural understanding, client understanding and technical understanding, our services and technology assist our clients to acquire and retain customers, deliver engaging user experiences, maintain compliance and gain actionable insights into their data and content.

Over the past 20 years we've been evolving our own AI solutions as well as helping clients to explore, build and use multilingual AI applications. With 40+ AI-related patents and more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, we have the experience and expertise to support clients on their AI journey.

We work with over 80% of the world's top 100 brands, more than three-quarters of Fortune's 20 'Most Admired Companies' and almost all of the top pharmaceutical companies, investment banks, law firms and patent filers. Our client base spans Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa and North and South America. Our 65+ global locations across five continents service clients in the automotive, chemical, financial, legal, medical, pharmaceutical, technology and telecommunications sectors.

Founded in 1958, RWS is headquartered in the UK and publicly listed on AIM, the London Stock Exchange regulated market (RWS.L).

For further information, please visit: www.rws.com

 

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