CentralNic begins trading its shares on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM Market

CentralNic Group PLC, the internet registry service provider which derives revenues from the distribution and sale of internet domain names, successfully began trading its shares on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM Market on Monday. A leading innovator in the domain name industry, CentralNic has exclusive global contracts to supply retailers such as GoDaddy and Web.com with domains using 30 different endings (“extensions’’), including .la (such as intel.la),.uk.com (such as avon.uk.com) and .us.com (such as activia.us.com).

The Company raised £7m ($10.9m USD) from its IPO with leading institutional investors Schroders Investment Management and Unicorn Asset Management joining the shareholder register. The shares were placed at 55p and rose 19% to 65.5p by the end of the first day’s trading, valuing the company at £38.7m ($60.2m USD). The admission to AIM and strong trading performance was picked up by the UK business press including the Financial Times and The Times, which named CentralNic’s stock “Deal of the Day.”

While already profitable and growing rapidly, CentralNic expects to benefit from a major expansion in the number of generic Top-Level Domains (“TLDs”). The Company has been awarded the exclusive global registry service provision contracts for 60 new TLD applications, 25 of which are already confirmed to launch, including: .college, .bar, .wiki, .xyz, .rest, .contact, .feedback, .ink, and .PID.

CentralNic’s clients include leading media and entertainment businesses The Guardian and William Morris Endeavor, global 1000 companies Saudi Telecom, Etisalat, Qatar Telecom, and Kuwait Finance House, as well as entrepreneurs in the USA, Latin American, Europe and Asia. CentralNic’s clients are also contenders for additional TLDs including .app, .art, .blog, .design, .gay, .golf, hotel, .law, .llc, .love, .mail, .now, .school and .style, among many others.

Commenting on the Company’s admission to AIM, Ben Crawford, CEO of CentralNic, said:

“We are extremely pleased to have successfully completed the IPO process. The business is in a strong position to take advantage of additional opportunities to develop our global domain distribution business, and will benefit from having new quality shareholders to support our strategy.”