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.

18 July 2022

CentralNic Group plc 

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

H1 2022 Trading Update and Notice of Results

Sixty-two 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 second quarter of 2022.

Highlights

●    H1 2022 reported revenue of USD 335m, up 92% from USD 174.7m

●    H1 2022 Adjusted EBITDA of USD 38m, up 85% from USD 20.5m

●    Organic revenue growth up to 62%

●    30 June 2022 gross cash of $94m, up 68% from USD $56m as at 31 December 2021

●    30 June 2022 net debt down to $65m, down 20% from USD $81m as at 31 December 2021

●    Inclusion in AIM 100 and AIM UK 50

Trading Update

The Company expects to report revenue of c.USD 335 million and Adjusted EBITDA¹ of c.USD 38 million for the six months ending 30 June 2022, up by 92% and 85% respectively. Year-on-year pro forma organic growth² for the trailing twelve months ending 30 June 2022 is c.62%. This outperformance has largely resulted from the growth of our Online Marketing Segment, driven by increased demand for our privacy-safe online customer acquisition services.

The Company maintained a strong balance sheet during the period, with gross cash increasing by 68% to USD 94m³ as at 30 June 2022 from USD 56m as at 31 December 2021, whilst Net Debt⁴ decreased by 20% to c.USD 65m as at 30 June 2022 from c.USD 81m as at 31 December 2021. Adjusted operating cash conversion continued to be in excess of 100%. 

Outlook

While the Directors remain vigilant concerning the current global macro-economic environment, the Board has confidence that the Group will meet at least the upper end of current market expectations for the FY22 financial year⁵.

FTSE index inclusion

CentralNic is also pleased to announce that FTSE Russell has recently included CentralNic Group PLC in its AIM 100 and AIM UK 50 indices for the first time. The inclusion of CentralNic within these indices was effective from 20 June 2022.

Ben Crawford, CEO of CentralNic, said: "CentralNic has enjoyed a strong first half of the year with year-on-year organic growth now reaching a record 62%, a further improvement over the 53% reported for the twelve-month period ending 31 March 2022. CentralNic continues to deliver sustainable growth thanks to our privacy safe solutions and the enormous scale of the market opportunities we are addressing."

Notice of Results

The Company will publish its unaudited interim report for the six months ending 30 June 2022 on Tuesday, 30 August 2022. 

There will be a webinar / conference call for equity analysts at 9:30am BST 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.

Further, there will be an Investor Meet Company webinar at 1pm BST on that date. Investors can sign up to Investor Meet Company for free and add to meet CENTRALNIC GROUP PLC via: https://www.investormeetcompany.com/centralnic-group-plc/register-investor . Investors who already follow CENTRALNIC GROUP PLC on the Investor Meet Company platform will automatically be invited.

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 is 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 608m and c.USD 374m for the trailing twelve months ending 30 June 2022 and 31 June 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) whereas the isolated net increase on Net Debt is c. USD 6m

⁴ Includes gross cash, interest-bearing debt, prepaid finance costs and Mark-To-Market (MTM) for the bond hedges of c.USD 16.6m as of 30 June 2022 (USD 6.4m as of 31 December 2021) - MTM has historically been reported outside of Net Debt

⁵ Analyst expectations of revenue and adjusted EBITDA for the financial year ending 31 Dec 2022 as of Sunday, 17 July 2022 range from USD ~570m to USD 603m and USD ~66m to USD 70m 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