Fast Search & Transfer(TM) (OSEAX: FAST.OL) (FAST(TM)), the
leading developer of search technologies, today announced record
revenue results and profitable growth for the fourth quarter and
fiscal year 2006.
-- Record revenues for the fourth quarter of 2006 of $48.8m, an
increase of 57% compared to the fourth quarter of 2005. For
the fiscal year 2006, total revenues were up 62% year-on-year
to $162.2m.
-- Strong profits in fourth quarter of 2006 with Adjusted EBITDA
of $7.8m and EBIT of $1.2m.
-- Continued strong balance sheet as cash balances increased by
$107m during the year and totaled $232.5m at December 31,
2006. FAST remains debt-free.
-- Strategic customer wins with new and additional license sales
during Q4 that included Accoona, Bain, Brasil Telecom, CPA,
Fiducia, Financial Times (FT.com), Harrods, Hoffman-La Roche,
Invitrogen, Johnson & Johnson, Maktoob, MIH Web, MTS (Russia),
NBC Universal, Rolls Royce, Standard & Poor's, Telstra,
Thomson Scientific, the United Nations, Wells Fargo, Wolters
Kluwer, and others.
-- New or expanding relationships with our global and regional
systems integration partners, including Accenture,
BearingPoint, Capgemini, EDS, and others.
-- New OEM relationships with Catalyst Repository Systems,
Divvio, Hitachi, Zantaz, and others.
-- Continued leadership in the media and internet segments and
promising signs of success in new vertical markets such as
Financial Services, Telecoms and Mobile.
CEO John M. Lervik commented that "Q4 2006 was yet another record
quarter for FAST, both in terms of revenue growth and new strategic
customer wins. It was also a strong ending to the 2006 fiscal year,
our best ever. Our business model is working: we grew our customer and
partner base significantly during the year, and maintained our 99%
customer satisfaction record. At the same time, in 2006 we invested in
the resources necessary to sustain our rapid growth: people, systems
and infrastructure. We are the leaders in our category, as well as the
fastest growing search technology company. We intend to extend our
lead in 2007."
"Of major significance in 2006 was the extension of our search
technology beyond the traditional role of search. More and more of our
major wins were achieved by helping customers pioneer new business
models or tackle challenges traditionally addressed by more expensive
and cumbersome approaches," added Lervik. "Search technology is
continuously proving its capacity to challenge mature IT solutions and
business models. FAST demonstrated that our investment in innovation
puts our company at the forefront of the search megatrend, and creates
new market opportunities for our technology. We have entered an
exciting new era, and we have entered with little real competition."
"We once again delivered record revenues and profitable growth
while significantly investing for our future. We are relentlessly
looking for ways to fine-tune our business model, processes, and
controls. This effort is clearly delivering results, and positions us
for further success," stated CFO Joseph Lacson. "Our strong balance
sheet and seasoned management team positions us well for further
growth, both organically and through strategic acquisition," added
Lacson.
Looking back, "2006 was an another exciting year for FAST,
starting with the launch of FAST ESP(TM) 5 at our FASTforward '06
conference in February, and ending with record breaking revenues - up
more than 60% from 2005. Our ESP 5 platform gained rapid adoption by
our customers, and redefined Enterprise Search for the market - as
evidenced by the recognition of our technology leadership from the
top-ranked industry analysts. Looking forward, we continue to take
market share in key markets such as media & entertainment, financial
services, and telecommunications. More and more, we are viewed as the
default search solution for mission critical business applications,
and becoming a de facto standard for search infrastructure in
medium-sized and large organizations," Lervik added.
Driving growth
On January 29, 2007, FAST launched its new search-based Business
Intelligence solution, broadening and deepening the role of search
technology and entering a new market with a strong potential for
growth. A week later, FAST launched FAST AdMomentum(TM), providing
online publishers and directories with a private-label contextual
advertising platform. FAST AdMomentum puts publishers back in control
of their advertising revenue, eliminating the need to share revenue
with third-party services such as Google AdSense. This new platform is
the result of co-operative R&D with leading online publishing
customers.
The complete FAST 2006 Q4 report can be found on the Oslo Bors at
http://www.oslobors.no and on the FAST IR web site at
http://www.fastsearch.com.
About FAST
FAST is the leading developer of search technologies that are
behind the scenes at the world's best known companies with the most
demanding search problems. FAST's flexible and scalable enterprise
search platform (FAST ESP) elevates the search capabilities of
enterprise customers and connects people to the relevant information
they seek regardless of medium. FAST's solutions are used by more than
2,600 global customers and partners, including America Online (AOL),
Cardinal Health, CareerBuilder.com, CIGNA, CNET, Computer Associates,
Dell, Dow Jones, EMC (Documentum), Factiva, Fidelity Investments,
Financial Times, Findexa, Hitachi, IBM, LexisNexis, McGraw Hill,
Merrill Lynch, The New York Times, Rakuten, Recruit, Reed Elsevier,
Reuters, Schibsted, Sensis, Stellent, Tenet Healthcare, Thomas
Industrial Networks, T-Online, US Army, Virgilio (Telecom Italia),
Vodafone, Wanadoo, and Wolters Kluwer.
FAST is headquartered in Norway and is publicly traded under the
ticker symbol 'FAST' on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The FAST Group
operates globally with presence in Europe, the United States, Asia
Pacific, Australia, South America, and the Middle East and Africa. For
further information about FAST, visit www.fastsearch.com.
(C) 2007 Fast Search & Transfer ASA - Fast Search & Transfer,
FAST, FAST ESP, Contextual Insight and the FAST logo are trademarks of
Fast Search & Transfer ASA. All rights reserved.
