The gatekeeper of Ireland's '.ie' domain lost over €100,000 last year
However, the IE Domain Registry is confident that it’s in a “solid” financial position.
LOSSES AT THE company behind Ireland’s ‘.ie’ domain fell last year, however the firm was still more than €100,000 in the red.
According to the IE Domain Registry’s (IEDR) most recent annual report, turnover rose slightly to just above €3 million in 2016.
The company’s employment costs fell slightly during the year, which helped its operating losses drop from over half a million euro in 2015 to about €200,000.
The IEDR is responsible for the management and administration of Ireland’s official internet domain, .ie.
Overall the firm made a full-year loss of almost €127,000 in 2016, down from a loss of just under €400,000 in 2015.
It had €6.3 million in liquid funds and investments as of the end of the year. The report said that the IEDR “is in a solid financial position”.
There were a total of 34,615 new .ie domains registered in 2016, a slight decrease when compared to the 35,225 new domains in 2015.
Accounting for dot ie non-renewals or deletions, there was a net increase in registrations of almost 11,000, down from about 13,000 the year before.
New fund
The IEDR said that its €127,000 loss was due to “continued investment in the company’s strategic development fund”.
The company spent €273,000 during 2016 on the fund, which was established to “expand and protect” the .ie namespace by financing promotion, marketing and customer service initiatives.
IEDR chief executive David Curtin said that, looking to the end of 2017, the company plans to continue investing in the fund to help promote the ‘ie’ brand.
“We are confident that continued strong investment in our strategic development fund will consolidate and grow IEDR’s position in the Irish domain market, with new .ie domain initiatives, policies and events,” he said.
IEDR chief executive David Curtin
Curtin reiterated that 2016 was a “solid” year for IEDR, despite “macroeconomic uncertainty, new domain choices and new global trends in domain ownership, such as shorter domain life-cycles”.
“Moving forward, policy changes will ensure that dot ie is the domain name of choice for business owners who need a presence online, with a website or email address that is identifiably Irish,” he said.
Looking forward, the IEDR said that it will “continue to invest in the promotion of the .ie namespace this year and in 2018″.
“In particular, IEDR will push ahead with new domain policy changes, allowing users easier access to .ie domains while preserving and improving existing security requirements,” it said.
