Fast Search & Transfer Announces Q4 and Fiscal Year 2006 Results.RECORD REVENUES AND PROFITABLE GROWTH Record Revenues of $48.8m in Q4 2006, Yielding Growth of 57% versus Q4 2005; Record Revenues of $162.6m for Fiscal Year 2006, Yielding Growth of 62% versus 2005 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 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 (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) A metric used to show a company's profitability, but not its cash flow. EBITDA became popular in the 1980s to show the potential profitability of leveraged buyouts, but has become of $7.8m and EBIT EBIT See: Earnings Before Interest and Taxes EBIT See earnings before interest and taxes (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 (Computer Press Association, Landing, NJ) An earlier membership organization founded in 1983 that promoted excellence in computer journalism. Its annual awards honored outstanding examples in print, broadcast and electronic media. The CPA disbanded in 2000. , Fiducia, Financial Times (FT.com), Harrods, Hoffman-La Roche, Invitrogen, Johnson & Johnson, Maktoob, MIH MIH Make It Happen (band) MIH Master of International Health (University of Copenhagen) MIH Molar-Incisor-Hypomineralisation MIH Men in Hats (online comic) Web, MTS (1) See Microsoft Transaction Server. (2) (Modular TV System) The stereo channel added to the NTSC standard, which includes the SAP audio channel for special use. 1. MTS - Message Transport System. 2. (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 (Electronic Data Systems, Plano, TX, www.eds.com) Founded in 1962 by H. Ross Perot (independent candidate for the President of the U.S. in 1992), EDS is the largest outsourcing and data processing services organization in the country. , and others. * New OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) The rebranding of equipment and selling it. The term initially referred to the company that made the products (the "original" manufacturer), but eventually became widely used to refer to the organization that buys the products and 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 (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. 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 See Chief Financial Officer. 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 (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. [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 Hardware or software that is widely used, but not endorsed by a standards organization. Contrast with de jure standard. de facto standard - A widespread consensus on a particular product or protocol which has not been ratified by any official standards body, such as ISO, 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 CIGNA CG (Connecticut General Life Insurance Company) INA (Insurance Company of North America) , CNET (body) CNET - Centre national d'Etudes des Telecommunications. The French national telecommunications research centre at Lannion. , Computer Associates, Dell, Dow Jones, EMC (1) (EMC Corporation, Hopkinton, MA, www.emc.com) The leading supplier of storage products for midrange computers and mainframes. Founded in 1979 by Richard J. Egan and Roger Marino, EMC has developed advanced storage and retrieval technologies for the world's largest companies. (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 Oslo Stock Exchange An exchange founded in 1819 and trading stocks, bonds, and stock options that is considered the options market of Norway. . 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 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, FAST ESP, Contextual Insight and the FAST logo are trademarks of Fast Search & Transfer ASA. All rights reserved. |
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