Minds + Machines Group Limited China Update (3224S)

TIDMMMX

RNS Number : 3224S

Minds + Machines Group Limited

25 June 2018

For immediate release: 07.00 25 June 2018

Minds + Machines Group Limited

("MMX" or the "Company")

China update

Minds + Machines Group Limited (AIM: MMX), one of the world's leading owners and operators of Internet Top-Level Domains ("gTLDs"), is delighted to announce that manual renewals for the period March 1 to June 30, covering over 525,000 registered .vip names that reached their annual renewal date in China during the period, have already surpassed 75%. This figure is, the directors believe, likely to increase as the rolling 45 day "at grace" period that follows a registration's anniversary renewal date ends.

The renewal results place .vip in-line with the best-in-class renewal rates of leading top-level domains globally and, the directors believe, based on the data available, makes .vip the top performing mass generic TLD in China, total registrations in .vip now standing at 888,400.

Toby Hall, CEO of MMX, commented,

"The key metrics for our lead property in China continue to be exceptional. Standard registrations in .vip, excluding bulk registrations, are up 28% year-on-year, and the usage count - based on the number of live .vip pages showing on China's main online search engine - is up 19% year-on-year. Further, we are very encouraged that the major technology groups in China are now wanting to increasingly promote the extension, most notably Alibaba and Tencent Cloud which has recently expanded its registrar operations in the region. The BAT's, China's major technology companies, increasingly see the provisioning of domain names as a key way to bring SME's into their cloud based universes for the delivery of services. As was the case last year, we anticipate revenues from the region to be H2 weighted given the 2018 allocation of .vip premium inventory is only now being released, post completion of its main renewal season. The H2 weighting of Chinese revenues will be further accentuated by the timing of this year's new property launches in China highlighted below."

New launches

The directors are separately pleased to report that on June 21, . (.shopping) formally entered General Availability and that .law is due to go on general sale in China before month-end. Both will be marketed by in-country specialists as high-value domain names. As a result, the directors do not anticipate significant registration numbers from these two properties but do expect meaningful revenue contributions from each over the course of the following 12 months. The directors additionally look forward to updating the market in the next eight weeks regarding the Company's first innovation based project which will potentially be released in the Asia region, at the same time as in the west, in H2.

Toby Hall added:

"Continuing to build our renewal revenues is central to our business and it is extremely encouraging that .vip renewal rates continue to be market leading. It provides strong cash flow and recurring revenues from which we can further scale the business with innovation and selective acquisition as exemplified with our recent acquisiton of ICM Registry LLC."

-ends-

For further information:

 
Minds + Machines Group 
  Limited 
 Toby Hall, CEO              Tel: [phone] 
                              341072 
 Michael Salazar, COO/CFO    Tel: [phone] 
                              7499 
 
 
  finnCap Ltd                 Tel:[phone] 
                              0500 
 Corporate finance - Stuart 
  Andrews/Carl Holmes/Simon 
  Hicks 
  Corporate broking - Tim 
  Redfern/ Richard Chambers 
 
 Belvedere Communications    Tel: [phone] 
  Limited                     0510 
 John West 
  Kim van Beeck 
 

The information communicated in this announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014.

About MMX

Minds + Machines Group Limited (LSE: MMX) is the owner and operator of a world class portfolio of 32 top-level domain assets (gTLDs). As a sales and marketing-led registry business, we are focused on commercializing our portfolio in partnership with our expanding global network of distribution partners.

The MMX portfolio is currently focused around geographic domains (e.g. .london, .boston, .miami, .bayern), professional occupations (e.g. .law, .abogado, and .dds), consumer interests (e.g. .fashion, .wedding, .vip), lifestyle (e.g. .fit, .surf, .yoga), outdoor activities (e.g..fishing, .garden, .horse) and generic names such as .work and .casa. The Company also recently acquired the ICM portfolio of four high value, niche TLDs. As a business, we work through our expanding international network of registrars and distribution partners to bring the benefits of affinity based domain addresses and identifiers to B2B and consumer audiences. For more information on MMX, please visit www.mmx.co

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact [e-mail] or visit www.rns.com.

END

FURFKQDBKBKBAAB

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 25, 2018 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)