LONDON (Alliance News) - Internet domain name owner CentralNic Group PLC reported a doubling of annual revenue on Monday, though it did swing to a loss due to its KeyDrive acquisition.
Revenue for 2018 doubled to GBP42.7 million, and CentralNic posted a GBP3.8 million pretax loss versus GBP1.4 million profit a year ago.
The loss came from a sharp rise in administrative expenses as well as increased amortisation, non-core expenses, and finance costs.
CentralNic said it was an "outstanding" year following the purchase of KeyDrive, which sells domain names, web hosting, and advertising tools. It was bought in a reverse takeover in August last year for GBP24 million.
Chair Mike Turner said: "Results to date in the new financial year, together with the group's high percentage of recurring revenues, provide the board with every confidence of meeting market expectations for 2019."
"Furthermore, the continued availability of attractive acquisition targets, coupled with the group's proven ability to source, complete, and integrate complex acquisitions around the world, provides an excellent opportunity to build a sizeable global business to rival the largest industry players."
"Given its equity position has substantially improved and its current trading is favourable to market expectations, the company is currently reviewing its capital structure for efficiency in view of its continued acquisition strategy," he continued.
In September, at the time of interim results, CentralNic committed to paying a dividend during 2019. It is not doing so yet, it said Monday, to invest in future expansion, though shareholder returns are still planned.
CentralNic shares were 13% higher on Monday morning at 55 pence each.
