Tucows announced earnings today after the market closed, reporting Net revenue for the 4th quarter of 2009 increased 6.1% to $20.3 million from $19.2 million for the 4th quarter of 2008, marking Tucows 4th consecutive quarter of revenue in excess of $20 million.

Net income for the 4th quarter of 2009 was $1.7 million, or $0.03 per share, compared with $1.0 million, or $0.01 per share, for the 4th quarter of 2008.

Tucows reported record high revenues for 2009 surpassing the $80 million mark for the first time, just shy of $81 million.

Elliot Noss, President and CEO of Tucows said:

“The consistently strong performance of our OpenSRS wholesale business combined with the work we have undertaken to revitalize other parts of our business contributed to record revenue of $81 million amidst a very challenging economic environment. We are confident that 2010 will bring continued top-line growth complemented by continued operational efficiency.”

Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 were $9.6 million compared with $5.4 million at the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008 and $8.2 million at the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2009.

Here is some other interesting information from the earnings call transcript:

Both new and renewal registrations showed growth in the 4th quarter, compared to the 3rd quarter with new registrations up more than 10%.

On a year-over-year basis new registrations were up more than 18% and renewals were up just over 10%.

Year-over-year growth in the number of transactions elevated domains under management to almost 9.7 million, an increase of 9% compared to 2008 year-end levels. For 2009 as a whole, domain service revenue grew almost 10% compared to 2008.

Tucows domain portfolio group, YummyNames.com revenues were up 78% year-over-year.

“”Gross margin for the YummyNames, our domain portfolio services category, increased to $1.3 million from $680,000 for the same quarter of fiscal 2008.”

“”Where you can really see the progress in this component of our business is the number of individual name transactions which has grown more than tenfold to over 150 in the 4th of 2009 from just 14 in the 4th quarter of 2008 with the average price remaining relatively constant. “”

“”This strength in brandable domain sales which I will note provides a much greater opportunity for growth than bulk sales is the result of exposing our inventory to a wider audience through our distribution agreements with Name Media and now Sedo, the leading secondary domain market and distribution networks and continued efficiency in our day to day processes. Our unique focus on brandable names is paying off.””

“”Going forward we have also stepped up our relationship with Oversee, the leading auction house in the industry which should help grow our sale of Gems which is another area of potential growth although much less predictable than brandable names.””

The earnings call went on to say:

“”These increases were partially offset by a decrease of 296,000 in the delivery of third-party advertisements on parked pages.””

The company closed the earnings call with a discussion of its shares repurchase program

“In the last 12 months we have purchased 12.4 million shares or more than 17% of the company for a total of less than $7.2 million.

Tucows also announced they plan on repurchasing an additional 10% of the outstanding shares on the public market.

“We have the ability to repurchase up to $10 million worth of stock via AMEX or up to 3.748 million shares or approximately 10% of our public float on the CSX.

“This Friday, February 19th, we will be in a position to buy on the open market. “”

Shares of Tucows rose 6% after the market closed by $.04 to $.71 and is up 7 fold from its 52 week low of $.10 a share.