Audited Annual Report 2020 and Notice of Results

26 April 2021

CentralNic Group plc

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

Audited Annual Report 2020 and Notice of Q1 Trading Results

CentralNic Group plc (AIM: CNIC), the global internet platform that derives revenue from the subscription sales of domain names and web services, is pleased to announce that further to its announcement on 1 March titled "UNAUDITED PRELIMINARY ACCOUNTS FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020", the Audited Annual Report for the financial year 2020 is now available on the Company's website at the following link:

https://investor.centralnicgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Annual-Report-2020.pdf. The Annual Report and Accounts will shortly be posted to shareholders.

All key figures have been confirmed, namely:

·       Revenue increased by 121% to USD 241.2m (FY2019: USD 109.2m)

·       Net revenue/Gross profit increased by 78% to USD 76.3m (FY2019: USD 42.8m)

·       Adjusted EBITDA* increased by 71% to USD 30.6m (FY2019: USD 17.9m)

·       Operating profit increased by USD 3.2m to USD 0.4m (FY2019: operating loss of USD (2.8m))

Minor adjustments arising from the audit process include:

·      Operating Cashflow has improved from $20.0m to $22.7m

·      Adjusted Cash Conversion has improved from 106% to 115%

·      Intangible assets (goodwill) have reduced from $260.6m to $257.0m

·      Trade and other payables and accruals have decreased from $90.8m to $87.3m

In line with the increasing importance of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations in the Group's decision processes, the Annual Report 2020 includes a more comprehensive presentation of the manifold ESG initiatives reflecting the significance that management assigns to it. These initiatives include but are not limited to:

·    Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR). CentralNic has offset its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by investing in Verified Carbon Standard (VCS)-certified clean energy projects, as well as undertaking a tree plantation programme.

·    The SK-NIC fund. SK-NIC, part of the CentralNic Group and manager of the .SK TLD, committed itself via an agreement with the Slovak Government to provide 5% of its annual revenue to support the local digital economy and internet community.

·    Launch of DomainTrust™ in collaboration with the Global Cyber Alliance (GCA), ISPs, banks and other organisations. DomainTrust™ is a sophisticated intelligence platform that provides registries, registrars and cyber protection agencies with high-quality data on suspected malicious and criminal domains that are being used in phishing attempts, malware distribution, and botnet command and control (C&C) activities.

The Company further announces that it will publish its trading results for the three months ended 31 March 2021 on Tuesday, 1 June 2021. The Directors are pleased to confirm that the Company has been trading in line with management expectations during this period.

There will be a webinar / conference call for equity and debt analysts at 11:00am UK on the day of results, hosted by CEO Ben Crawford and CFO Michael Riedl.  Anybody wishing to register should contact Tom Carnegie at [email protected] where further details will be provided.

Ben Crawford, CEO of CentralNic, said "CentralNic's results for 2020 evidence the resilience of the Group's businesses, even in the face of the COVID-19 economic crisis. As we scale up rapidly, the underlying qualities of high recurring revenues and high cash conversion, calculated at 115% on an adjusted basis in FY20, become increasingly meaningful. The Board takes into account environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues raised by stakeholders in its decision-making process."

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 software platforms allowing businesses globally to buy subscriptions to domain names, used for their own websites and email, as well as for protecting their brands 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. 

CentralNic operates globally with customers in almost every country in the world.  It earns recurring revenues from the worldwide sales of internet domain names and other services on an annual subscription basis. 

For more information please visit: www.centralnicgroup.com