Centralnic Group PLC : CentralNic signs Registry Agreement

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Press Release

10 January 2014

CentralNic Group plc

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

CentralNic signs Registry Agreement with co.com

CentralNic plc (AIM:CNIC), the internet platform business which derives revenues from the worldwide distribution of internet domain names,today announces that it has signed a registry agreement with co.com LLC, under which CentralNic will provide the technical registry services to make domain names ending .co.com available for worldwide purchase through registrars. 

The newly-launched co.com registry will have an open registration policy; any company, organisation or individual will be eligible to register domain names such as companyname.co.com, organisation.co.com, or anything.co.com.

CentralNic has already built a very successful global business, offering domain names using country-specific .com domain extensions like .UK.com and .US.com.

It was recently announced that co.com LLC has appointed as its CEOKen Hansen, formerly Senior Director of Business Development, and GM of the .NYC Top-Level Domain at Neustar (NYSE:NSR).Ben Crawford, CEO of CentralNic, commented:  "The co.com LLC team includes an impressive line-up of domain industry experts. Any registry service provider would be excited to support this new domain extension. We are delighted to have been awarded this contract."

Commenting on the agreement with CentralNic, Ken Hansen, CEO of co.com LLC, said: "co.com provides CentralNic with the opportunity to enable a global extension ending in .com.   We look forward to benefiting from CentralNic's experience, and tapping into their global registrar distribution network."

co.com LLC will capitalise on its ability to get to market quickly, while many of the new generic top level domains ("gTLDs") must wait to complete the ICANN approval process. Premium domain names such as travel.co.com, tickets.co.com, wine.co.com, insurance.co.com and spa.co.com, are available now.

For those who wish to enquire about premium domain names, receive launch updates and any additional information as it becomes available can subscribe to the email list and find contact information atwww.registry.co.com.

- Ends -

For further information:

CentralNic Group plc
Ben Crawford (CEO)	[phone]
co.com LLC
Ken Hansen
[e-mail]	[phone]
Zeus Capital
Ross Andrews / Nick Cowles ( Corporate Finance)	[phone]
John Goold (Institutional Sales)	[phone]
Abchurch Communications
Joanne Shears / Jamie Hooper	[phone]
[e-mail]	www.abchurch-group.com

About CentralNic Group plc

·    CentralNic (LSE: CNIC) is a leading provider of registry services to the global market for domain names and is headquartered in London. The Company has developed a proprietary platform for powering and distributing domain names, and is the exclusive global distributor for domains using 55 different domain extensions. These include .la (for domains such as http://intel.la), .uk.com (for domains such as http://avon.uk.com), and .us.com (for domains such as http://activia.us.com)

·    CentralNic's distribution network includes 1500 registrars - entities such as GoDaddy and Network Solutions in over 80 countries that retail domain names directly to the public and wholesale them through an additional network of over 100,000 resellers. End users register these domain names as an address for their websites, as a defensive measure to protect their brands online, as a method of capturing internet traffic and achieving desired rankings on search engines, and as an investment.

·    CentralNic distributes domains on behalf of their clients - owners or rights-holders - on a revenue share basis. CentralNic-distributed domains use an annual registration fee model, paid in advance by the end users, providing a predictable annuity revenue stream for both CentralNic and its clients.

·    CentralNic was selected as the Registry Service Provider and distributor for over 60 applications for new Top-Level Domains (TLDs) - a program devised by the domain industry regulator ICANN to supplement the existing TLDs such as .com and .co.uk with new domain extensions in the most significant change to the internet since its inception. Thirty-one of CentralNic's clients' applications for new TLDs have passed Initial evaluation and collision risk assessment by ICANN, and are uncontested, and therefore will be exclusively powered by CentralNic when they launch. CentralNic will also be distributing additional TLDs from a further list of 25 that have passed initial evaluation and are currently in the process risk assessment and/or contestation resolution, including .app, .art, .blog, .law, .llc, .mail, .news, and school.

·    CentralNic's clients acquiring and funding these new TLDs include a number of successful entrepreneurs as well as Global 1000 companies such as Saudi Telecom, Qatar Telecom, Etisalat and Kuwait Finance House, and media and entertainment industry leaders The Guardian and William Morris Endeavor.

·     CentralNic is itself the rights holder for 24 domain extensions, including .us.com, .eu.com, .uk.com, .ru.com and .cn.com. It therefore retains 100% of the wholesale revenues for domains using those domain extensions.

·    CentralNic is the owner of a portfolio of premium domain names including 18 two-letter .com domains includinghttp://us.comandhttp://uk.com.

·    In addition to its growth as a global distributor of domain names, the Directors believe that there is potential for CentralNic to also become a significant retailer of domain names direct to end users, and CentralNic has already obtained the necessary accreditations, built the technology, signed initial contracts and commenced trading as a domain name retailer.

About co.com LLC

The co.com domain registry offers businesses, organizations and individuals, short, memorable and recognizable .com domain names, through a worldwide distribution network of domain name registrars and resellers. co.com LLC is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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