Guild Esports says new Board will support its next phase of growth
Guild Esports (GILD), a portfolio company of Blue Star Capital (BLU), said it continues to trade in line with expectations since reporting its results for the year to 30 September 2021.
Guild Esports, which is co-owned by David Beckham and is the first esport organisation to list on London’s stock exchange, told investors that its new business pipeline remains strong.
On Tuesday afternoon, it said several potentially significant sponsorship deals with tier 1 brands continue to be at advanced stages of negotiations and are progressing as expected.
‘While there is no certainty when these prospects may get signed, the Company remains confident of its new business prospects for this year,’ the company highlighted to investors.
Guild said its professional esports teams continue to perform well, having recently secured first place in the prestigious Fortnite Champion Series (‘FNCS’) EU Final on 6 March 2022.
The Group also announced a string of appointments proposed to support the next phase of its growth whilst strengthening the technology and capital markets experience at board level.
In a move to re-focus the leadership, Simon Walters, Chris Sullivan and Andrew Drake will step down as non-executive directors at the close of this year’s AGM while resolutions will be proposed to appoint Mike Edwards and Brian Stockbridge as non-executive directors, it said.
The company informed investors that James Savage has resigned as Guild’s executive finance director, for personal reasons, with immediate effect. As a result, an interim chief financial officer is due to start immediately and will attend all upcoming board meetings.
The Company said it has already commenced an executive search for a permanent replacement, highlighting that a further announcement will be made in due course.
Should shareholders approve the relevant resolutions at the company’s AGM, which is to be held on 31 March 2022, the revised board will comprise executive director Kal Hourd, and non-executive directors Derek Lew, Mike Edwards, Brian Stockbridge and David Gardner.
Non-Executive Chairman, Derek Lew, said: “I would like to thank Simon, Andrew, Chris and James on behalf of the entire Guild team for their counsel and contribution. I would also like to welcome Mike and Brian who will bring fresh and relevant boardroom oversight of Guild’s growth strategy. We have a solid executive management team under chief executive Kal Hourd and excellent prospects. As a result, the Board looks to the future with confidence.”
Also commenting, Kal Hourd, Chief Executive of Guild Esports, said: “I am delighted to welcome our new non-executive directors to Guild and look forward with great anticipation to working with them closely to deliver on the Company’s potential and opportunities.”
Guild Esport’s investors include London-listed Blue Star Capital. To date, the investment company, which is focused on investing in new technologies, has invested around £0.706 million in Guild Esports, and holds around a 5.95% of the issued share capital of Guild.
Guild started trading on the London Stock Exchange in October 2020 to take advantage of the growing esports markets, a market which Blue Star says is experiencing significant growth.
In 2020 it was estimated at around 495m viewers and is projected to reach around 646 million viewers by 2023. This is expected to result in revenues growing from $950m to $1.60bn.