RWS Holdings Shares Jump After £22.4m Acolad Acquisition

Shares in RWS Holdings (LON: RWS) rose around 10% on Monday morning, trading near 106p, after the AIM-listed AI content and language solutions group announced a binding agreement to acquire Acogroup, the parent of Acolad, a leading global provider of language and content services, in a deal that significantly expands its European enterprise footprint.

The transaction values Acolad at an enterprise value of £22.4m (€26.0m), reflecting roughly 2x adjusted EBITDA to September 2027, with total consideration of £40.2m including cash acquired. RWS will fund the deal through existing facilities following its October 2025 revolving credit facility refinancing.

Paris-headquartered Acolad, founded in 1995, operates across 22 countries and generated revenue of £182m and adjusted EBITDA of £13m in the year to December 2025. It counts roughly half of France’s CAC 40 companies as clients, with around half of revenues derived from regulated industries including a notable medical devices business.

RWS said the deal broadens its enterprise client base, particularly in Western Europe, and extends the reach of its Cultural Intelligence Layer and Language Weaver Pro AI platforms, while adding interpreting capabilities and cross-sell opportunities for its Generate and Protect solutions.

Completion is expected by H1 FY27, pending French Works Council consultations and regulatory clearance from French authorities. Acolad will join RWS’s Transform segment.

CEO Benjamin Faes called it “a compelling acquisition” that applies RWS’s “proven technology playbook” to a new, high-quality European client base, while Acolad chief executive Bertrand Gstalder described the tie-up as “the natural next step” in Acolad’s growth journey, citing shared ambitions around safe, scalable AI-powered content deployment.