Leaf Mobile Inc.: Leaf Mobile Intention To Float

East Side Games

18/11/2021 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20211118:nRSR7542Sa&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 7542S  LEAF Mobile Inc.  18 November 2021

 

Press release

18 November 2021

 

NOT FOR RELEASE, DISTRIBUTION OR PUBLICATION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR TO
THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, JAPAN OR ANY
MEMBER STATE OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AREA ("EEA") (OTHER THAN ANY MEMBER
STATE OF THE EEA WHERE SECURITIES MAY BE LAWFULLY MARKETED) OR ANY OTHER
JURISDICTION WHERE IT IS UNLAWFUL TO DISTRIBUTE THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. THE
INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN DOES NOT CONSTITUTE OR FORM PART OF ANY OFFER TO
ISSUE OR SELL, OR ANY SOLICITATION OF ANY OFFER TO SUBSCRIBE OR PURCHASE, ANY
INVESTMENTS IN ANY JURISDICTION.

 

This announcement is an advertisement for the purposes of the Prospectus
Regulation Rules of the Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA") and not a
prospectus and not an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to
subscribe for or to acquire securities. Neither this announcement nor anything
contained herein shall form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection
with, any offer or commitment whatsoever in any jurisdiction. Investors should
not purchase or subscribe for any transferable securities referred to in this
announcement except on the basis of information contained in the prospectus
(the "Prospectus") in its final form expected to be published by LEAF Mobile
Inc. in due course in connection with the proposed admission of its ordinary
shares to the standard listing segment of the Official List maintained by the
FCA and to trading on the London Stock Exchange plc's Main Market for listed
securities. Copies of the Prospectus will, following publication, be available
for inspection from https://leafmobile.io/ (https://leafmobile.io/)

 

LEAF Mobile Inc.

Intention to Float on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange

("LEAF Mobile" or "the Company")

 

LEAF Mobile Inc. (TSX: LEAF) (OTCQB: LEMLF), a leading Canadian free-to-play
mobile game group, is pleased to announce its intention to join the Main
Market of the London Stock Exchange ("LSE") this winter.

The Company, which started trading its common shares on the Toronto Stock
Exchange ("TSX") on February 10(th), 2021, will assume a dual-listed
structure. The Company's common shares will continue to be listed and trade on
the TSX in Canada under the symbol "LEAF", as well as trade on the OTC Markets
Group's OTCQB Marketplace in the United States under the symbol "LEMLF".

The Company intends to raise gross proceeds of approximately CAD$10 million
and the flotation is expected to value LEAF Mobile at approximately £130m.

This secondary London listing is part of LEAF's growth strategy and brings
Canada's largest free-to-play mobile game group to the LSE. The net proceeds
of the capital raising will be used to further scale the business.

LEAF is operating within a fast-growing sector with a rapidly increasing total
addressable market. Mobile Games are the world's most popular form of gaming.
Mobile games are expected to reach 2.6 billion players and generate revenues
of USD$90 billion in 2021, representing more than half of the global games
market in terms of revenue, according to Newzoo data. Games are also the most
dominant category within the mobile applications ecosystem with gaming
accounting for more revenue on iOS than every other category combined. Games
accounted for 66% of all ‌App Store‌ revenue in 2020, according to Sensor
Tower data which also found that approximately USD$47.6 billion was spent on
iOS games in 2020, up 25% from 2019.

Darcy Taylor, Founder and CEO of LEAF Mobile, said: "The mobile games market
will gain increasing popularity in the next ten years, with free-to-play games
acting as the industry's foremost segment. London is a global hub for video
gaming, creative industries and technological innovation and a London Stock
Exchange listing will help LEAF Mobile to position itself at the forefront of
the sector's growth. Moreover, the dual listing will provide us with a
springboard to achieve our ambitious growth objectives in Europe and enhance
our access to London's deep and advanced capital markets."

Reasons for LSE listing

LEAF considers that admission to trading on the Main Market of the LSE will:

·    Allow the Company to access a wider range of potential investors and
broaden its investor base;

·    Enable the Company to reach institutional investors in the U.K. and
Europe;

·    Increase share trading liquidity;

·    Assist the Company in establishing a European base of operations in
London as it expands through M&A activities and the hiring of additional
staff; and

·    Boost the profile of the Company as the U.K. capital markets are
recognised by both U.K. and international gaming companies and the U.K. enjoys
a sophisticated investor base familiar with the sector.

Company highlights

LEAF was incorporated in 2018 with the objective to lead the free-to-play
mobile game space through a distributed development & publishing studio
structure and proprietary Game Kit software that can change the framework of
mobile game companies. LEAF is the parent company of a group comprising
operating subsidiaries LDRLY, a developer and publisher of 'casual or idle
mobile games'* for mobile that was acquired on April 17(th) 2020, and East
Side Games ("ESG"), a mobile game developer and publisher specialising in
free-to-play casual mobile games that was acquired on 5 February 2021.

The Company is a developer and publisher of casual mobile games that are
suitable for play on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and
tablets. The Company's revenues are primarily generated through in-app
purchases or in-game advertising sold to third parties. Additionally, the
Company derives income from the licensing of proprietary software technology
"Game Kit" to third party developers.  The Company pursues a growth strategy
based on broadening the game portfolio, growing the audience, increasing
revenue from proprietary technology and acquiring accretive M&A targets.

LEAF Mobile revenue year to date as of Sept 30, 2021's as reported was
CAD$64.6 million, a 32.1% rise compared to the same period last year.

The Company is best known for famous franchise game titles and currently
publishes and operates an 11-game portfolio. Among these, some of ESG's
successful franchise titles include Trailer Park Boys: Grea$y Money, currently
streaming on Netflix; RuPaul's Drag Race Superstar, based on the award-winning
reality TV show; Archer: Danger Phone; and It's Always Sunny: The Gang Goes
Mobile.

RuPaul's Drag Race Superstar is the newest addition to the ESG stable of
games. Following its worldwide launch last month, the game has been downloaded
over one million times and has averaged over 150,000 Daily Active Users. The
game has also ranked in the top 100 grossing iOS games in 40 countries
according to AppAnnie data, which also found that the game reached the #1
ranked role playing iOS game in 44 countries.

Similarly, LDRLY's leading counterculture game portfolio includes hit titles
such as Cheech and Chong Bud Farm and Bud Farm - Idle Tycoon which are part of
the popular mobile game franchise, Bud Farm, that has been played by over 40
million people around the world since launch. LEAF's upcoming pipeline
includes The Office: Somehow We Manage, inspired by the U.S. version of NBC's
The Office.

The Company is pleased to provide retail investors the opportunity to
participate in the raise exclusively through the PrimaryBid mobile app
available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. PrimaryBid does not charge
investors any commission for this service.

Tennyson Securities is acting as Bookrunner and Corporate Broker for the
Company.

For further information please contact:

 

 LEAF Mobile Inc.
 Darcy Taylor,                                                        via Tancredi +44 207 887 7633

 Chief Executive
 Tennyson Securities
 Corporate Broker                                                     +44 7960 934 405

 Peter Krens
 PrimaryBid
 Retail Broker                                                        enquiries@primarybid.com

 James Deal / Fahim Chowdhury

 Tancredi Intelligent Communication

 Media Relations
 Salamander Davoudi                                                   +44 7957 549 906

 Helen Humphrey                                                       +44 7449 226 720

 Benedetta Negri da Oleggio                                           +44 7838 029 970

 Fabio Galloni Roversi Monaco

 leafmobile@tancredigroup.com (mailto:leafmobile@tancredigroup.com)

 

Notes to Editors

Sector Overview

Casual and idle games* are a segment within the mobile games market typified
by evolving narratives and strategies, easy to learn gameplay, and games that
can be played in a few minutes or run by themselves for long periods of time.
They are targeted at a mass market audience and are typically suitable for
play on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets. A casual
or idle game is one by which step-by-step progression is a prominent feature
of the gameplay.

The mobile games market is expected to grow by 4% year-on-year in 2021 and
will continue to grow faster than the total games market up to 2023, according
to Newzoo.

In-game advertising provides an additional growth tenet. As mobile games
become increasingly popular, advertisers have become more interested in
utilising the medium to reach consumers. Based on data from App Annie, 74% of
advertising on mobile apps is delivered through games, which the Company
believes reflects the realisation by advertisers that gamers no longer skew
younger and can be a method of reaching a wide variety of demographics.
According to TechCrunch3, the average age of a gamer in 2019 was 36.3 versus
27.7 in 2014, and the gender mix is now 51% female.

Game Kit

The Company's key proprietary technology is owned and developed by ESG. ESG's
core software technology, known as "Game Kit", is an internally developed
proprietary game framework for reducing the development time to market for
mobile games, thereby reducing cost and de-risking by increasing each game's
likelihood of success with its proven monetisation framework. The average time
to build and launch a mobile game is twelve to eighteen months. With Game
Kit's Idle genre framework, development teams can cut production time
decreasing the cost and time-to-market. LEAF also licences Game Kit-Idle to
third party developers via a SaaS business and revenue share model. The
Company pursues revenue diversification from developers using the Game
Kit-Idle platform, allowing the Company to lower risk but maintain upside.
LEAF has also developed other kits, such as Game Kit-NFT, which allows for
NFTs in mobile games.

Leadership

The Company benefits from an experienced team with a proven track record in IP
management and marketing, game development and publishing, including over 60
years of combined experience on mobile games with: Hothead Games, Magellan
Interactive, ESG, Nexon and over 50 years of combined experience in IP
management & marketing with: CAA, Creative Labs, IMG (Now Endeavor), 20th
Century Fox. The Board currently comprises five Directors, who collectively
have extensive experience in investment, corporate finance and business
acquisition, operation and development in the casual gaming sector and are
well placed to implement the Company's strategy.

Senior Management

 

Darcy Taylor, Chief Executive Officer

Darcy has over 20 years of senior experience building companies and brands in
Asia, Europe and North America. He has a proven track record in C-suite and
senior leadership roles at IMG Canada (now Endeavor LLC), Logic Technologies
Inc, JT International S.A. and MASEV Communications Inc. His experience spans
corporate, agency, and entrepreneurial environments. Currently Darcy is a
non-executive director of Cellular Goods plc, a publicly listed company on the
Main Market of the London Stock Exchange (LSE: CBX).

 

Jim MacCallum, CFO

Mr. MacCallum has over 20 years of international financial and operational
executive experience with multinational public companies and "Big 4"
accounting firms. He has extensive capital markets, acquisitions, and
financial reporting experience, and has worked in Canada, the US and Europe.
For the past six years, Mr. MacCallum has served in various finance roles,
most recently as SVP, Finance and Treasurer, and previous CFO, at Westport
Fuel Systems (NASDAQ: WPRT, TSX: WPRT). Prior to Westport, he was Vice
President, Finance at Absolute Software (TSX: ABST) and served in several
increasingly senior financial roles at Cisco Systems, Inc. Mr. MacCallum is a
Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA) in addition to being a Chartered
Financial Analyst (CFA) and holds a B.A. Economics degree from the University
of British Columbia and a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at
Harvard Business School.

 

Josh Nilson, Studio Head, East Side Games

With over 20 years in games and tech, the East Side Games (ESG) co-founder and
ex-CEO is continuing to drive the business and culture at ESG. Under his
leadership, ESG's awards in 2020 included Pocket Gamers Top 50 Mobile Game
Makers, Globe and Mail Top 400 Canada's Top Growing Companies, the winner in
the first ever BC Business "Business of Good Awards" in the Indigenous
Prosperity category.

 

Board of Directors

 

Michael Scott ("Mike") Edwards, Chairperson, Corporate Secretary and Director

Mr. Edwards has a wealth of experience in building and scaling consumer
technology companies in private and public markets, including as an investor
in Punch'd (acquired by Google), Wander (later acquired by Yahoo), Summify
(acquired by Twitter), BlueBat Games (acquired by Novomatic Group, Retsly
(acquired by Zillow) and Password Box (acquired by Intel). He co-founded LX
Ventures, a publicly listed consumer internet foundry that acquired and scaled
Mobio Technologies. Mr. Edwards co-founded Wyley Interactive, a mobile game
engagement platform, which was acquired by Zynga, and he co-founded Creative
Labs, a venture capital backed startup foundry that builds consumer technology
companies by leveraging the Creative Artist Agency's access to talent and
audience.

 

Gilbert Jason Walter ("Jason") Bailey, Chief Revenue Officer and Director

Mr. Bailey is a founder of ESG. He is considered one of Canada's most
experienced gaming entrepreneurs. Prior to ESG, Mr. Bailey was a founder of
Super Rewards, which he sold in 2009. Super Rewards was a social game
monetisation platform which helped pioneer the free to play game model that is
ubiquitous today. Over the last twenty years, he has been mentor to and
investor in a variety of Canadian startups and technology companies.

 

Jonathan Franklin Bixby, Director

Mr. Bixby is a seasoned technology entrepreneur in both the private and public
sector. He is the co-founder of a number of significant companies including
Koho Financial, Canada's largest challenger bank, Guild Esports PLC (a listed
Esports company on the LSE with David Beckham) and Blue Mesa Health (acquired
by the Virgin Pulse). Mr. Bixby is a board member of CTO.AI and a former
Chairman of the Board of Argo Blockchain PLC (LSE Listed) and Darkvision
Technologies (acquired by Koch Industries). He is a strategic adviser to
Fastly (NASDAQ).

 

Franklin Derek ("Derek") Lew, Director

Mr. Lew is the President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of
GrowthWorks Capital Ltd. ("GWC"), and the President and Chief Executive
Officer and/or a director of certain managed funds and operating subsidiaries
of GWC, all of which are active venture capital investors. Mr. Lew is also a
Partner with Initio Group Inc. ("Initio"), a Vancouver-based early-stage angel
investment firm, and is a lawyer with experience in the areas of corporate,
commercial and real estate law. As CEO of GWC, and at Initio, Mr Lew is
involved in overseeing these firms' venture capital and angel investments,
respectively. Mr. Lew was Chair of the British Columbia Innovation Council
(now "Innovate BC") (2013 - 2018), the Crown agency of the Province of British
Columbia responsible for the advancement of innovative businesses and
entrepreneurs in the province. Active in his community, Mr. Lew is a director
of the Frank and Joan Lew Charitable Trust and the FJL Housing Society, which
focuses on matters related to social housing in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
Mr. Lew holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of British Columbia and a
Bachelor of Laws from the University of Alberta and is a member of the Law
Society of British Columbia.

 

Birgit Troy, Director

Ms. Troy currently serves as the COO / CFO of Canalyst. Prior to joining
Canalyst, Ms. Troy was a Portfolio CFO at Volaris Group, the largest operating
group under Constellation Software ("CSU"), one of Canada's leading technology
companies. Over the last 5 years, she has led M&A efforts to acquire and
integrate 15 operating companies into Constellation Software. Prior to
Volaris, Ms. Troy was the CFO of Incognito Software Systems (acquired by
Volaris) and VP Finance of TSO Logic (acquired by Amazon) and Strangeloop
Networks (acquired by Radware).

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  ITFDZMMMZNNGMZZ