Completion of Acquisition of Zeropark and Voluum

RNS Number : 8513D

CentralNic Group PLC

02 November 2020

 

2 November 2020

CentralNic Group plc

("CentralNic" or the "Company")

Completion of Acquisition of Zeropark and Voluum

CentralNic Group plc (AIM: CNIC), the global internet platform that derives revenue from the worldwide sales of internet domain names and related services, is pleased to announce the completion of its acquisition (the "Acquisition") of the Zeropark and Voluum businesses including all material trade and assets pertaining thereto (together, being "Codewise").

Acquisition Highlights

· The total consideration for the Businesses is USD 36 million.

· The consideration for the Acquisition and associated deal costs has been funded via a placing of 40,000,000 new ordinary shares (the "Placing Shares") at a placing price of £0.75 per share to raise £30 million (c.USD 39 million). The Placing Shares were admitted to trading on AIM at 8:00 a.m. on 30 September 2020.

· In the 12 months to 30 June 2020, on an unaudited basis, the Businesses generated revenue of USD 60.3 million and pro forma adjusted EBITDA of USD 7.4 million*

· The Acquisition is expected to be more than 20 per cent earnings accretive for CentralNic.

· The Acquisition further enhances CentralNic's successful monetisation business, following the acquisition of Team Internet in December 2019. Team Internet grew its revenue by 38% from USD 35.0 million in H1 2019 to USD 48.5 million in H1 2020.

· The Board of CentralNic believes that the Acquisition has the potential to generate revenue synergies through cross selling with its other businesses. and potential cost synergies across technology platforms, server bulk discounts and marketing efforts. Through its due diligence, the Board has to date identified approximately USD 1 million of synergies.

· Enhances CentralNic's talent pool through the retention of the Businesses' management team and c. 140 staff, including a highly qualified development team in the technology hub of Krakow.

· The Acquisition removes a leading competitor to the Team Internet business while substantially increasing CentralNic's market share in the attractive monetisation sector. The Acquisition also considerably broadens CentralNic's network of domain investor customers, monetisation partners and publishers. The Businesses currently serve over 6,000 customers across 190 countries.

· The acquisition augments the service offering of CentralNic's Direct segment with marketing automation and customer engagement solutions.

Commenting, Ben Crawford CEO of CentralNic, said : "We are delighted to have completed the acquisition of Codewise so rapidly. This earnings-enhancing acquisition will greatly complement our existing, fast-growing monetisation business, while providing numerous opportunities for revenue and cost synergies. We will now begin the integration of Codewise with CentralNic and the cross-selling of products across the respective customer bases."

ENDS

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 / Alex Price	[phone]
Newgate Communications (for Media) Bob Huxford Tom Carnegie Isabelle Smurfit	[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 the subscriptions to domain names and web services they require to realise their aspirations 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 integrating the acquired software and operating platforms. CentralNic operates globally with customers in almost every country in the world, and is committed to building a better global digital economy.

For more information please visit:  www.centralnicgroup.com  

 

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