CentralNic acquires Ideegeo Group Ltd

RNS Number : 2089I

CentralNic Group PLC

07 August 2019

 

7 August 2019

CentralNic Group plc

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

CentralNic Group plc acquires the international domain name retailer  

Ideegeo Group Ltd ("Ideegeo") for up to NZD$5.2 million (c.$3.4m USD)

CentralNic Group PLC (AIM: CNIC), the global internet platform that derives revenue from the subscription sales of domain names and other ancillary services, announces it has completed the acquisition of the entire share capital of  Ideegeo Group Limited (the "Acquisition"), a privately owned domain name retailer serving an international customer base from New Zealand ("Ideegeo"). The purchase price  is $5.2 million NZD (c.$3.4m USD), of which $520,000 NZD (c.$0.3m USD) constitutes a deferred payment, held in escrow until May 2021.

The acquisition is both strategic and earnings accretive to CentralNic. Ideegeo is operator of the retail website iwantmyname.com - a leading innovator in the application of User Centered Design to the retailing of domain names with 180,000 domains under management.  The Company intends to deploy the design solutions developed by Ideegeo across its retail websites, noting that high usability is particularly ideal for customers in emerging economies, which is a key target market for CentralNic. The Company is retaining the staff of Ideegeo and appointing one of Ideegeo's founders as Customer Engagement Product Planner and Manager across its retail brands.

Ideegeo is one of the largest customers of Hexonet, recently acquired by CentralNic as announced on 1 July 2019. The Acquisition is therefore expected to deliver operational cost savings through vertical integration as well as permanently locking in an important revenue stream for CentralNic. Finally, as Ideegeo currently only sells domain names, CentralNic believes that there are cross selling opportunities to provide Ideegeo's 80,000 customers with CentralNic's extended product offering, including hosting, SSL certificates and other additional subscription products and services.

Ideegeo sells domain name subscriptions directly to small business customers, with a high level of recurring revenues and excellent customer retention. For the financial year ended 31 March 2019, Ideegeo's revenues were c.$6.2 million NZD (c.$4.2m USD), with an EBITDA (adjusted for the costs of the shareholders leaving the business) of $0.9m NZD (c.$0.6m USD) ¹. The consideration represents a multiple of 5.8 times trailing adjusted EBITDA and is paid in cash. The consideration has been funded by proceeds of the recently closed senior secured bond issue of EUR 50m. The Acquisition, CentralNic's fifth in twelve months, is expected to be immediately earnings accretive.

Ben Crawford, CEO of CentralNic, said: "The acquisition of Ideegeo adds more to CentralNic's retail group than additional earnings, customers and synergies. Its leading User Interface and Customer Engagement solutions, and the team that created them, represent a further differentiator for CentralNic's global retail business from the competition to support our organic growth."

1: Ideegeo's revenues and EBITDA for financial year ended 31 March 2019 are unaudited.

For further information:  

CentralNic Group Plc Ben Crawford, Chief Executive Officer Don Baladasan, Group Managing Director Michael Riedl, Chief Financial Officer	[phone]
Zeus Capital Limited (NOMAD and Joint Broker) Nick Cowles / Jamie Peel (Corporate Finance) John Goold / Rupert Woolfenden  (Institutional Sales)	[phone] [phone]
Stifel (Joint Broker) Fred Walsh / Neil Shah / Alex Price	[phone]
Newgate Communications (for Media) Bob Huxford Tom Carnegie Robin Tozer	[phone] [e-mail]

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 

 

END

 

 

ACQKMGGRKNNGLZG