CNIC.L Regulatory News (CNIC)

CentralNic Group plc

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

Contract win

Radix Registry Awards Contracts for .website, .host, .space, and .press to CentralNic plc

CentralNic Group plc (AIM:CNIC), the internet platform business which earns revenues from the worldwide subscription sales of domain names, has today added four valuable domain names to its existing portfolio of 25 "uncontested" domain names that are ready for market, as discussed in the 'Update on gTLDs' that the Company provided on 28 February 2014 - an increase of 16%.

The Company has exclusively signed Registry Service Provision contracts ("contract") with Radix Registry FZC ("Radix"), one of the leading applicants for new Top-Level Domains ("TLDs") with 27 applications, for its four uncontested Top Level Domains, empowering customers globally to register domain names ending .website, .press, .host or .space (as alternatives to traditional endings like .com and .co.uk).

o .website is a true alternative to the .com TLD; it is open and available to all for the full range of possible uses

o The .press TLD will provide its users with a platform to share opinions and disseminate information. The primary target market will comprise of journalists, bloggers, media professionals, news providers and book publishers

o The exclusive new gTLD for the web-hosting industry, .host, is aimed to be the extension of choice for web hosts, Approved Scanning Vendors ("ASVs"), Internet Service Providers ("ISPs"), cloud service providers and other such entities

o .space will serve to provide both individuals and organisations across the globe with a blank canvas to create their own online space

Commenting on the exclusive agreement with Radix, CentralNic CEO, Ben Crawford said: "Radix is one of the most experienced and best resourced companies in the new generic Top-Level Domain ("gTLD") space, as well as having a deep understanding of the domain industry. In fact, Radix's gTLD applications include every one of the top 7 "most valuable new gTLDs," as rated by domain valuation experts Sedo1. CentralNic is excited to be able to continue to realise its objective of increasing the number of domain extensions on our global distribution platform by adding these fantastic TLDs to the portfolio that we offer to retailers ("registrars") globally."

Bhavin Turakhia, Founder and CEO of Radix said: "Radix decided to award these contracts to CentralNic following our excellent experience partnering with them on the .pw and .in.net domain extensions. They have proved to us the value of their integrated global registrar network, their technical strength, their deep expertise in selling domains, and their ability to work with our people as a united team."

The first of the Radix TLDs is expected to launch through CentralNic in Q2 2014. Domain name retailers around the world will obtain .website, .host, .space and .press domain names via the CentralNic platform to sell to end users.

-Ends-

1https://www.sedo.com/fileadmin/documents/resources/gTLD_Values_Factsheet_US_RGB.pdf

For further information:

About Radix

Radix is a domain name registry business that seeks to globally operate 27 new top level domains, including .web, .music, .blog, and .shop, as a part of ICANN's project to open new, meaningful internet addresses. Radix is Asia's largest new gTLD applicant under this program, and expects to play a large role in the global diversification of the internet namespace. The company has passed initial evaluation and has met the required business, technology and operations capabilities to operate a new gTLD at the global level.

Radix will also begin marketing its four extensions; .website, .press, .host and .space in the near future. For more information, please visit http://radixregistry.com/about-us.php. To know more about Radix's 27 gTLD applications, please visit http://radixregistry.com/our-strings.php.

About CentralNic Group plc 

CentralNic owns and operates a proprietary platform over which domain names are distributed to over 83% of the world's registrars - entities such as GoDaddy and Network Solutions that retail domain names directly to the public. The Company is already the exclusive global distributor for domains using 30 different domain extensions, including .la (for domains such as http://intel.la), and .uk.com (for domains such as http://avon.uk.com).

CentralNic was selected as the Registry Service Provider and distributor for 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. The list of new gTLDs that will make exclusive use of CentralNic's platform include: .wiki, .bar, .college, .rest, .ink, .feedback, .contact and .xyz.

· 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 58 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 - rights-holders or "registries" - 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.

· Prior to the contract, CentralNic was already 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. It will be launching such domains as .college, .bar, .wiki, .xyz, .feedback, .contact, .rest and .ink. CentralNic will also be distributing additional TLDs from a further list of 27 that have passed initial evaluation and are currently in the process of contention resolution, including .app, .art, .blog, .law, .llc, .mail, .news, and school.

· The gTLD .wiki was first made available for registration to trademark holders on 3 March 2014, and to others from 8 May 2014. This will be followed by .xyz, which will be made available for registration to trademark holders on 20 March 2014, and to others from 20 May 2014.

· 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, the world's largest talent agency.

· 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 including http://us.com and http://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.

All Group information and news can be found at http://www.centralnic.com