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RWS Completes £40.2m Acolad Purchase

RWS has completed its £40.2m purchase of Acogroup, the parent of Acolad, three months after announcing it. The shares are about 48% above their close before the announcement, so the case now rests on cross-selling.

RWS Holdings (LON: RWS), the AIM-listed provider of AI-driven language, content and IP-protection services, has completed its purchase of Acogroup, the parent of Acolad. The company confirmed completion in a statement before the market opened today, after French ministry clearance and consultation with Acolad’s French works councils.

The shares were up 0.42% at 142.59p in a delayed quote at about 9.30am, against Friday’s close of 142p, with an intraday range of 139p to 143.1p. The deal was announced on the 3rd of August, so today’s move is small.

RWS.LSE

According to the August announcement, RWS pays £40.2m in total, including about £17.8m of cash held in Acolad. Completion came earlier than the 31st of March 2027 originally guided. RWS is funding the purchase from existing facilities.

Stripping out that cash, the enterprise value (the price of the business itself) is £22.4m, about twice Acolad’s expected adjusted EBITDA, a measure of operating profit, for RWS’s year to the 30th of September 2027.

The shares closed at 110.6p on Monday the 3rd of August, up 14.8% from 96.35p on the previous session, Friday the 31st of July. At 142.59p they are about 48% above that 31 July close and about 29% above the 3 August close.

Line chart of RWS Holdings share price in pence from May to November 2026, marking the 3 August deal announcement and 2 November completion
RWS shares since May, with the 3 August deal announcement marked.

The strategic case is cross-selling. Acolad, with about 1,200 staff in 22 countries, brings enterprise clients in France and Germany, plus an interpreting business. RWS plans to sell its Cultural Intelligence Layer and Language Weaver Pro products into that base. Chief executive Benjamin Faes told Slator:

They have a lot of great enterprise clients in Europe, but the revenue per enterprise, we think can be much higher now that we can really sell global AI-powered services to them.

Benjamin Faes, CEO, RWS

Management will update on integration with its FY26 results in December. The August announcement said Acolad is expected to add about £155m of revenue and about £11m of adjusted EBITDA in the year to the 30th of September 2027.

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