OREANDA-NEWS. CentralNic Group plc (AIM:CNIC), the Internet platform business which derives revenues from the global sale of domain names, is pleased to announce that it has contracted with UK Creative Ideas Limited ("UKCI"), the rights holder for the new Top-Level Domain ("TLD") .ART, to be its exclusive registry service provider. .ART will be introduced in a staged launch over the next twelve months, providing the art community and the $68 billion art market with its own exclusive designation on the Internet. With the online art market growing 24% over the past year, .ART domain names will make it easier for consumers and search engines to distinguish art-related websites.

UKCI is a new venture created to bring new technologies, including .ART domain names, to the global art world. UKCI is the conception of Chairman Ulvi Kasimov, a pioneering businessman recognised by Forbes as one of Russia's leading venture capitalists. Mr. Kasimov serves on the Board of Trustees at the Moscow Multi-Media Art Museum and has sponsored a number of prominent exhibitions and publications, including "Russian Art from Private Collections: Borovikovsky to Kabakov," on view at the ABA Gallery in New York in 2012.

Ben Crawford, CentralNic's CEO, said: "The Top-Level Domain industry has not previously encountered a venture capitalist of the calibre of Ulvi Kasimov, whose exciting vision for the a new online home for the art world comes backed with the resources and expertise to execute at a global scale. We are delighted that UKCI have selected CentralNic as their exclusive registry service provider.  .ART has the potential to be one of the great success stories in the restructuring of the Internet, and we are proud to be providing the technical platform to support it."

UKCI Chairman, Ulvi Kasimov said: "As well as being the world's leading distributor of new TLD domain names by volume, CentralNic's new TLD registry support team have proven that they have the expertise and flexibility to meet .ART's requirements."

CentralNic earns revenues from the worldwide sales of internet domain names over its proprietary technology platforms. These domain names are sold on an annual subscription basis and paid for by customers upfront, making CentralNic a cash-generative business with annuity revenue streams.