IE Domain Registry t/a .IE Annual Report 2021

The directors present their report and the financial statements for the financial year ended 31 December 2021. Principal Activity The company was incorporated on 16 November 1999 and commenced to trade on 1 July 2000. The principal activity of the company is the registry for .ie Internet domain names. Results and Dividends The profit for the financial year, after providing for depreciation, taxation and the unrealised gains on financial investment amounted to €489,084 (2020 – €419,415). No dividends are payable as the company is limited by guarantee and does not have a share capital. Business Review Turnover increased by 9.1% to €4.12 million (2020 – €3.77 million). Volume growth in domains was again very strong in 2021, although year-on-year new registration growth decreased slightly by 4.5%, after a record year of new registrations in 2020. This growth is attributed to the digital transformation accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, as consumers shifted their spending to digital platforms and businesses pivoted quickly to provide online services to their customers. The volume growth was processed by the company’s contracted accredited registrars, who are selected by individual domain holders to manage .ie domains on their behalf and provide other services such as hosting and email management. When non-renewals are considered, the net growth of the .ie namespace was 31.6% lower than the net growth in 2020. Administrative expenses increased by 8.7% from €3.44 million to €3.74 million in 2021. Technical Services expenditure increases largely reflected the preparations for certification and improvements in cyber security defences, policy responses to technical abuse that uses the DNS and preparations for EU regulatory expansion. Marketing and promotion expenditures increased by 37% with the launch of the .IE Digital Town awards programme, which provided €100,000 in prize money to the winning towns, in recognition of their digital achievements online. The company continued to support its registrars in 2021 with its joint promotion initiatives to grow and develop the .ie namespace. There were also reductions under some marketing and promotion cost headings, following the completion of the .IE rebranding project in 2020. Employment costs decreased by 9.2% in 2021 to €1.67 million reflecting the completion of the 2020 project to develop and customise the new TITAN registry management platform, and also a time lag in recruitment after a realignment of some roles and responsibilities, both offset by cost of living salary increases for all staff. In 2021, the company continued integrating and optimising its new registry system. The company has a licence agreement to use a domain registry management platform developed and used by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority. The platform was customised in 2020 to meet the needs of the .ie managed registry, GDPR requirements and ‘Connection to Ireland’ processes. The customisation costs incurred on the TITAN registry management platform were capitalised as intangible assets and are being amortised over the term of the license agreement. As part of the implementation project, the company refined its operational processes to align more closely with industry-standard technical operations in other internet namespaces, including protocols such as EPP and domain lifecycle. This investment, together with the related infrastructure investments, was timely as .IE continues to experience sustained growth following the liberalisation policy initiative in 2018, which made it easier and faster for individuals and organisations to register a .ie domain. This move to the modern and powerful registry management platform, TITAN, which has greater functionality and flexibility, will ensure that our technical systems can support .IE’s long-term growth. The new .IE registry platform is an investment in the next decade. The deferred revenue on the balance sheet increased by 6.5% in 2021, to €2.98 million (2020 – €2.80 million). This is because the invoiced value of registration fees increased by 4.8%, reflecting an 86% renewal rate and over 62,000 newly created registrations in 2021. The financial position of the company at 31 December 2021 is solid with Members’ Funds of €5.05 million. The market value of financial investments at 31 December 2021 is €4.63 million (2020 – €4.42 million), up by €0.21 million in 2021. Financial Statements IE Domain Registry CLG t/a .IE / Annual Report & Review 2021 31 Directors’ Report for the financial year ended 31 December 2021