Fast Search & Transfer Announces Q1 2007 Results.Record Revenues of $49.2m in Q1, Yielding Growth of 50% versus Q1 2006 OSLO, Norway -- 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 first quarter ended March 31, 2007.
-- Revenues for the first quarter of 2007 reached $49.2 million, an
increase of 50% as compared to $32.8 million for the first quarter
of 2006.
-- Quarter on quarter, total revenues were up $0.4 million.
-- Operating income is positive at $0.6 million for the quarter.
-- Adjusted EBITDA for Q1 2007 remained strong at $8.0 million or 16%
of revenue, surpassing 2nd half 2006 levels.
-- Operating cash flow was positive in Q1 2007, improving by $9.0
million quarter on quarter and by $1.6 million year on year.
-- Cash balances remained strong at $221 million and the
company continues to be debt free.
-- Strategic customer wins with new and additional license sales
during Q1 that included Cathay Pacific, Comcast, Convera, Dresdner
Kleinwort, ISA, Millipore, Railcorp, Target, Tribune Interactive,
and others. New customers comprised wins in all major product
areas, key vertical market segments, and geographic locations.
-- New solutions launched during Q1 show strong promise in the market.
FAST AdMomentum(TM) offers media companies the unprecedented
ability to manage their online advertisements and monetize their
assets. FAST Adaptive Information Warehouse(TM) (FAST AIW(TM))
delivers powerful data cleansing and business intelligence
capabilities as the industry's first BI solution based on search.
-- The Solution Services team implemented more than 80 customer
deployments world wide in Q1. Certified FAST delivery partners
managed a large number of successful installations.
-- FAST X10 Partner Program expanded with new OEM partners Vocus,
ExLibris and disk@d Netherlands, and alliances on every major
continent with new partners in India, the Middle East, Russia,
Japan, Singapore, Korea and Australia. FAST's partner ecosystem now
includes more than 150 alliance and OEM partners, significantly
outpacing our competition.
-- FAST extended its leadership in the Media and Internet segments and
showed promising signs of success in new vertical markets such as
Financial Services, Telecoms and Mobile.
-- FAST announced its intention to acquire the RetrievalWare business
assets and IP from Convera at the end of Q1. The transaction is
expected to close in Q2.
"Our strong revenue growth continued unabated un·a·bat·ed adj. Sustaining an original intensity or maintaining full force with no decrease: an unabated windstorm; a battle fought with unabated violence. in Q1," said Dr. John M. Lervik, CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. and co-founder of FAST. "This growth was, in part, at the expense of our competitors, as we gained market share. More importantly, a significant portion of our growth was a result of our expansion of the overall market for search technology. We continued to partner closely with our customers and alliances to find new ways to tackle daunting daunt tr.v. daunt·ed, daunt·ing, daunts To abate the courage of; discourage. See Synonyms at dismay. [Middle English daunten, from Old French danter, from Latin business problems. As a result, more and more customers are using FAST to develop new business models, to monetize their assets in new ways, or to bring new services to market. FAST customers and partners have discovered that search is the best way to connect people to the information, products, services and experts they need, and are implementing accordingly." "We have delivered yet another quarter of revenue growth in Q1. Our core business profitability remains solid and has improved over the levels in the second half of 2006. FAST's strong financials position us well to fund our growth objectives, and we are on track with our investments to further scale our business. We are also on target with our efforts to improve our DSO See CSO. performance," stated Joseph Lacson, CFO See Chief Financial Officer. . Other FAST Highlights during Q1: FAST continues to drive growth through industry-leading innovation, in close dialogue with a strong network of innovative customers and partners. Investment in R&D reached 14% of revenue for the quarter. * FAST positioned as a leader in The Gartner Magic Quadrant The Gartner Magic Quadrant is a proprietary research tool developed by Gartner Inc., a US based research and advisory firm. It is designed to provide an unbiased qualitative analysis of a “markets’ direction, maturity, and participants. [TM] Report for Information Access. * In January FAST introduced the FAST Adaptive Information Warehouse[TM] (FAST AIW AIW All-In-Wonder (ATI video cards) AIW APPN Implementers' Workshop AIW Allied Industrial Workers (labor union) AIW Accelerated Improvement Workshop AIW As It Were/Was AIW Iraqi Airways [TM]), a radically new approach that lets users capitalize on Cap´i`tal`ize on` v. t. 1. To turn (an opportunity) to one's advantage; to take advantage of (a situation); to profit from; as, to capitalize on an opponent's mistakes s>. their entire universe of information to make better informed decisions, gaining competitive advantage. * In February FAST launched FAST AdMomentum[TM], a private-label contextual advertising Contextual advertising is the term applied to advertisements appearing on websites or other media, such as content displayed in mobile phones, where the advertisements are selected and served by automated systems based on the content displayed by the user. and monetization platform for online media companies, retailers and telecommunications service providers A Telecommunications Service Provider or TSP is a type of Communications Service Provider that has traditionally provided telephone and similar services. This category includes ILECs, CLECs, and mobile wireless companies. . FAST AdMomentum[TM] was developed in close cooperation with leading online publishers to enable them to regain control of their digital ad revenue. FAST invested in sales and marketing to scale our business and capitalize further on our leading platform for search driven enterprise solutions. * In February, this year's FASTforward - the largest business and technology conference on the "search-powered" enterprise took place in San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. , CA. An unprecedented line up of prominent speakers and more than 80 panel discussions attracted more than 1,000 participants from 32 countries and 400 existing and potential customer and partner organizations, including prominent Global 500 top executives, 30 leading industry analysts and 25 bloggers and journalists. FASTforward '07 created a strong momentum for search-driven applications that create new business models and revenue opportunities. For highlights, visit www.fastforward07.com * FAST continues to host the discussion on how the landscape of business is evolving in the face of rapid technological change and innovation through the FASTforward blog, which was initially conceived as a companion blog to FASTforward '07. The blog, like the conference, aims to drive and deepen deep·en tr. & intr.v. deep·ened, deep·en·ing, deep·ens To make or become deep or deeper. deepen Verb to make or become deeper or more intense Verb 1. conversation about how today's companies can "Innovate in·no·vate v. in·no·vat·ed, in·no·vat·ing, in·no·vates v.tr. To begin or introduce (something new) for or as if for the first time. v.intr. To begin or introduce something new. , Accelerate and Dominate" and has been extended as a permanent home to discussion about Enterprise 2.0 opportunities and challenges. FAST continues to succeed with its strategic M&A activities. On March 31st, FAST signed an agreement to acquire Convera's RetrievalWare[TM] business. Expected to be finalized See finalization. in Q2, this deal significantly expands FAST's government sector customer base, and positions the Company well for future growth in this sector. Convera has been very successful in penetrating large government organizations with RetrievalWare[TM] worldwide, and has built a substantial commercial customer base. The acquisition activity has been progressing smoothly and to plan. RetrievalWare customers and partners have applauded FAST's openness, FAST's commitment to support the RetrievalWare product , suite, and the array of future options for adding FAST's advanced search capabilities to their investment. "We've heard from our government customers that they are looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. innovative ways to better leverage their information assets," said Patrick C. Condo, President and CEO of Convera. "FAST is the right company to take government agencies to the next level. With a broad range of complementary technologies, solutions and services, FAST is prepared to deliver great and immediate value to our sizeable customer base." The key RetrievalWare employees will join FAST when the final agreement is signed, and a strategic partner has come on board to handle the U.S. intelligence community sales and support. "The RetrievalWare acquisition is a multi-win scenario," stated Lervik. "The RetrievalWare customers and partners, Convera, Convera's employees and FAST are all coming out way ahead as a result of this transaction. We are all looking forward to the next phase." The complete FAST 2007 First Quarter Report can be found at http://www.fastsearch.com and on the Oslo Stock Exchange Oslo Stock Exchange An exchange founded in 1819 and trading stocks, bonds, and stock options that is considered the options market of Norway. at http://www.oslobors.no. About FAST FAST creates the real-time search and business intelligence solutions that are behind the scenes at the world's best- known companies with the most demanding information challenges. FAST's flexible and scalable integrated technology platform and personalized portal See personal portal. connects users, regardless of medium, to the relevant information they need. FAST is headquartered in Norway and is publicly traded under the ticker symbol Ticker Symbol An arrangement of characters (usually letters) representing a particular security listed on an exchange or otherwise traded publicly. When a company issues securities to the public marketplace, it selects an available ticker symbol for its securities which investors 'FAST' on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The FAST Group operates globally with presence in Europe, the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , Asia, Australia, the Americas, and the Middle East. For further information about FAST, please visit www.fastsearch.com. (c) 2007 Fast Search & Transfer ASA Asa (ā`sə), in the Bible, king of Judah, son and successor of Abijah. He was a good king, zealous in his extirpation of idols. When Baasha of Israel took Ramah (a few miles N of Jerusalem), Asa bought the help of Benhadad of Damascus and - Fast Search & Transfer, FAST, Adaptive Information Warehouse, AIW, AdMomentum, Impulse and Hubway are trademarks of Fast Search & Transfer ASA. The FAST logo, FAST ESP (1) (Enhanced Service Provider) An organization that adds value to basic telephone service by offering such features as call-forwarding, call-detailing and protocol conversion. , FAST InStream, FAST InPerspective, FAST ProPublish, FAST Contextual Insight and FAST Unity are registered trademarks of Fast Search & Transfer ASA. All rights reserved. |
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