Rebound in expired domain sales — Tucows sees
Q3 was strong for expired domain sales.
Tucows (NASDAQ: TCX) noted earnings following the market closed yesterday, counting solid year-over-year performance in its domain name business.
Domain name revenue increased 6% year over year to $55.0 million in Q3.
Domains under management were up slightly to 24.6 million, counting domains on other registrars’ accreditations that are managed by Tucows.
At the same time, fresh transactions were down 2% year over year, although stable compared to the previous quarter.
Of course, passing along wholesale price increases might have something to do with this. But Tucows also stated gross margin was $19.8 million in Q3, up 8% from the same quarter last year.
A particularly bright spot was the Value-Added Services bucket, where Tucows puts the revenue it generates from auctioning expired domain names. It was up 26% year over year to $5.2 million. The firm stated it was helped in part by strong sales from the expiry stream. Of course, expiry sales revenue is non-recurring.
The domain business continues to be a bright spot for Tucows, which disclosed drastic personnel cuts the prior week in its fiber broadband service.
