UPDATED: Sumo gunning for expansion following £145m flotation

David Wilton, chief finance officer at Sumo, told The Yorkshire Post that the capital raised from the IPO would allow them to scrub debt from its balance sheet and begin to look at acquisitions and expansion on a global basis.

He said: “A business like ours needs to operate without debt on its balance sheet. We are looking to grow organically and keen to look at acquisitions. We bought Atomhawk in the summer and that is going really well.

“We will be looking for similar businesses who can add something.

“We work in an international marketplace and will go anywhere that makes sense. There are regions like North America where we are possibly under-represented.

“Same with the Far East. So there is a lot to go at.”

Sumo Group is one the UK’s largest providers of creative and development services to the video games and entertainment industries and has worked with Microsoft, Sony, Sega and IO Interactive. Founded in 2003, the business employs more than 450 across its headquarters in Sheffield, Nottingham and Pune, India and Mr Wilton said that an increased head count was inevitable as a result of the IPO.

“We are growing a rate of five people net every month,” he said.

“We plan to keep doing that. It is a case of finding the right talent. We have a big HR and recruitment team and they are very busy.

“Sheffield for us is our base and there is a very strong tech presence in the city. We have good connections to both the universities.”

Manchester-based Zeus Capital has acted as nominated adviser and sole broker for the deal, which sees the company’s owner, Perwyn, retain a substantial shareholding of the company on admission. The private equity house has been the majority shareholder at the firm since September 2016, following a secondary buyout from NorthEdge Capital.

Carl Cavers, Founder of Sumo Digital and chief executive, said: “This is a significant step forward in Sumo’s journey to become a global leader in premium development and creative services to the video game and wider entertainment industries. We have had an overwhelmingly positive response to the IPO, which has been very well supported by blue chip institutional investors.”

More recently, the firm expanded its offering to generate its own intellectual property, launching Snake Pass in March 2017 across all major consoles, selling more than 170,000 units since release, and generating an 83 per cent return on investment.

Grant Thornton and Addleshaw Goddard provided advisory services to Sumo Digital.