This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

25 April 2022

CentralNic Group plc 

("CentralNic" or the "Company", or the "Group") 

Q1 2022 Trading Update, Outlook, Investor Presentation and Notice of Results

Fifty-one per cent organic growth and upgraded FY22 outlook

CentralNic Group plc (AIM: CNIC), the global internet platform company that derives recurring revenues selling online presence and marketing services, is pleased to announce that the positive trading momentum previously announced has continued and the Company's organic growth has further accelerated during the first quarter of 2022.

Trading Update

The Company expects to report revenue of c.USD 156 million and Adjusted EBITDA¹ of c.USD 18 million for the three months ending 31 March 2022, implying year-on-year organic growth² for the trailing twelve months ending 31 March 2022 of c.51%. This outperformance has been driven largely by the growth of the Online Marketing Segment, driven by increased demand for our privacy-safe online customer acquisition services.

Cash increased to USD 86.9m³ as at 31 March 2022 from USD 55.6m as at 31 December 2021, whilst Net Debt⁴ decreased to c.USD 65m as at 31 March 2022 from c.USD 75m as at 31 December 2021. Adjusted operating cash conversion continued to be in excess of 100%. 

Outlook

While the Directors are cognisant of the current global macro-economic environment, they now have confidence that the Group will materially exceed the most recent market expectations for the year⁵.

Ben Crawford, CEO of CentralNic, said: "CentralNic has enjoyed a strong start to the year with year-on-year organic growth now reaching a record 51%, gaining market share in a growing market. At the same time, we have continued to add scale and capability through the completion of 3 strategic acquisitions in the period, including VGL, our largest acquisition to date, funded by an oversubscribed equity placing and tap bond issue."

Investor Presentation

The Company will present at MelloMonday at 6.30pm tonight. Investors can sign up at: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/melloeventslimited/674618 

Notice of Results

The Company will publish its unaudited interim report for the three months ending 31 March 2022 on Monday, 23 May 2022. 

There will be a webinar / conference call for equity analysts at 09:30am UK on the day of results, hosted by CEO Ben Crawford and CFO Michael Riedl.  Anybody wishing to register should contact Isabelle Smurfit at centralnic@secnewgate.co.uk where further details will be provided. There will also be an Investor Meet Company session at 4.30pm. Investors can sign up to Investor Meet Company for free to meet CentralNic Group Plc via: https://investormeetcompany.com/centralnic-group-plc/register-investor

¹ Parent, subsidiary and associate earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, non-cash charges and non-core operating expenses. Non-core operating expenses include items related primarily to acquisition, integration and other related costs, which are not incurred as part of the underlying trading performance of the Group, and which are therefore adjusted for, in line with Group policy.

² Organic growth calculated based on trailing twelve-month pro-forma revenue adjusted for acquired revenue, constant currency FX impact and non-recurring and non-cash items (c.USD 530m and c.USD 350m for the trailing twelve months ending 31 March 2022 and 31 March 2021 respectively)

³ Includes a net influx of c.USD 16m pertaining to the VGL acquisition (equity and bond offering of c.USD 81m less consideration paid net of cash acquired of c.USD 65m)

⁴ Includes gross cash, interest-bearing debt and prepaid finance costs; it does not include Mark-To-Market (MTM) for the bond hedges of c.USD 9.4m as of 31 March 2022 (c.USD 6.4m as of 31 December 2021)

⁵ Analyst consensus of revenue and adjusted EBITDA for the financial year ending 31 Dec 2022 as of Sunday, April 24 is USD 516.6m and USD 60.4m respectively

-Ends- 

For further information:  

About CentralNic Group plc 

CentralNic (AIM: CNIC) is a London-based AIM-listed company which drives the growth of the global digital economy by developing and managing online marketplaces allowing businesses globally to buy subscriptions to domain names for websites and email, monetise their websites, and acquire customers online. Its core growth strategy is identifying and acquiring cash-generative businesses in its industry with annuity revenue streams and exposure to growth markets and migrating them onto the CentralNic software and operating platforms. 

For more information please visit: www.centralnicgroup.com