LONDON (Alliance News) - Minds + Machines Group Ltd on Monday said its outlook for 2016 remains "upbeat" after a period of "significant internal heavy lifting".
The top-level domain registry company said in China the number of registrations in .vip have passed the 500,000 mark, which it said was a "major milestone" for the domain it launched in May and which was achieved without the use of freemium sales models in its marketing.
Minds + Machines said it plans to open an office in Xiamen, China, to support its ongoing development in the country.
Meanwhile, in the US, the transfer of .boston has now completed the Internet Corporation For Assigned Names & Numbers registry process and is on track for a 2017 launch, the group said.
Minds + Machines said it was also encouraged by the higher-than-expected renewal rates it was experiencing across its US-facing vertical top level domains as it continues to test market initiatives in various sector niches.
Within Europe, Minds + Machines said it has implemented a long-term co-marketing campaign with its .uk top level domain, and noted that in the first month, the first UK registrar to introduce the initiative saw a three-fold increase in .london registrations. Minds + Machines did not say which company this was.
Minds + Machines said it will closely monitor the implementation of this long-term initiative for its .uk top level domain.
"Progress within the business is continuing at a significant pace and the outlook for 2016 remains upbeat. We are continuing to both rationalise our historic business and invest in our partners and portfolio to ensure we build on this momentum in 2017 across each of our key markets. After a period of significant internal heavy lifting, we are now beginning to see the advantages that our portfolio of top level domains can deliver," said Chief Executive Toby Hall.
Shares in Minds + Machines were up 0.4% at 11.32 pence on Monday morning.
By Hannah Boland; hannahboland@alliancenews.com; @Hannaheboland
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