LONDON, UK: CentralNic Group Plc (AIM: CNIC), the global internet platform that derives recurring revenue from marketplaces for online presence and online marketing services, has entered into an agreement to acquire M.A Aporia Ltd. (Aporia) for an initial consideration of USD 11.2m in cash from Aporia’s founders.

Aporia is a technology company operating in the fields of social media and native advertising. In 20211, Aporia generated revenue of USD 35 million, gross profit of USD 3.5m and EBITDA USD 2m. The Acquisition is part of a larger vertical integration strategy, providing the Group’s Online Marketing segment with more direct access to high quality traffic to monetise.

The acquisition will be immediately earnings accretive. As Aporia is an exclusive supplier to CentralNic, the transaction will increase CentralNic’s gross margin and EBITDA margin but have no immediate impact on revenue. Under the terms of the agreement, the sellers of Aporia may earn up to another USD 7.8m payable over a performance period until and including 2024.

Ben Crawford, CEO of CentralNic, said “Disintermediating the value chain holds enormous potential to create a more efficient ecosystem in CentralNic’s Online Marketing business, removing transaction costs and friction losses. This acquisition represents a major step forward in our disintermediation strategy, creating more value for CentralNic, as well as for the users of our customer acquisition and traffic monetization services.”

CentralNic (AIM: CNIC) is a London-based AIM-quoted company which drives the growth of the global digital economy by developing and managing software platforms allowing businesses globally to buy subscriptions to domain names for websites and email, monetise their websites, and acquire customers online.

Its core growth strategy is identifying and acquiring cash-generative businesses in its industry with annuity revenue streams and exposure to growth markets and migrating them onto the CentralNic software and operating platforms.

CentralNic operates globally with customers in almost every country in the world. It earns recurring revenues from the worldwide sales of internet domain names and other services on an annual subscription basis.