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Fast Search & Transfer Announces Second Quarter and Half Year 2004 Results OSLO, Norway --(Business Wire)-- Aug. 3, 2004 --FAST Achieved Record Level Revenues in Q2 of $14.1 million Boosting Half Year Growth to 40%; At $3.8 Million in Q2, FAST's EBITDA Grew by 76% for Half Year, Reaching 23% of Revenues Fast Search & Transfer(TM) (FAST(TM)), the leading developer of enterprise search and real-time alerting technologies, today announced financial results for the second quarter and half year ended June 30, 2004. -0- *T Second Quarter and Half Year 2004 Highlights -- Q2 2004 revenues of $14.1 million, growing 13% over Q1 and nearly 50% year on year -- 40% half year growth driven by continued adoption of the FAST Enterprise Search Platform (FAST ESP(TM)) -- Operating expenses in Q2 were $12.24 million compared to $12.25 million in Q1 -- Q1 expenses were inflated by $0.9 million in direct marketing of FAST ESP while Q2 expenses included $0.5 million in moving expenses and temporary outsourcing of certain professional services -- Q2 Operating income of $1.9 million, nearly triple year on year & positive for 7th straight quarter -- Increased operating income for half year to $2.2 million, growing 55% year on year -- EBITDA of $3.8 million in Q2, more than double year on year & positive for 10th straight quarter -- Increased EBITDA for half year to $6.1 million, growing 76% year on year -- Company launched FAST Marketrac(TM), the first Search Derivative Application (SDA) specifically focused on market intelligence -- FAST positioned in the Leaders Quadrant and as the most visionary search vendor in Gartner's 2004 Search Magic Quadrant report -- Client News: Key wins in eCommerce, Government, Financial Services and Publishing markets -- New enterprise search clients include German Federal Office of Administration, Bundesverwaltungsamt (BVA), DaimlerChrysler, Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), Ziff Davis Media and one of the largest directory and yellow pages providers in Europe -- New reseller partnerships and marketing alliances with CIBER, Computer Associates (CA), Ementor ASA, and INSCI -- Increased total number of clients to over 1,000 worldwide Q2 and Half Year 2004 Financial Highlights For the three months ended For the six month ended ----------------------------------------------------------- (Amounts in 30-June-04 31-March-04 30-June-03 30-June-04 30-June-03 US$000's) (unaudited) (unaudited) (unaudited) (unaudited) (unaudited) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- REVENUES 14,137 12,525 9,532 26,662 19,021 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Operating Income 1,894 273 707 2,167 1,402 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Net Income 1,432 374 62,060 1,806 62,350 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- EBITDA(1) 3,834 2,292 1,864 6,126 3,480 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) EBITDA, excluding income (loss) from discontinued operations. *T Financial Performance "In the second quarter of 2004, FAST continued to demonstrate its ability to deliver a strong revenue performance and to outperform our competitors and the industry in a tight market," commented Dr. John M. Lervik, FAST's chief executive officer. "In Q2 we succeeded in delivering quarter-on-quarter growth of 13% with record level enterprise search revenues of $14.1 million. The importance of enterprise search is becoming increasingly clear to organizations worldwide and our second quarter client wins are strong indicators that we are well positioned to take advantage of this to both create and take additional market share throughout 2004." Ali I. Riaz, chief financial officer and chief operating officer at FAST, remarked, "Our financial performance continued to strengthen in Q2 indicated by the growth in new and recurring business, which resulted in top line growth of nearly 50% and EBITDA more than doubling over last year. For the half year, revenues grew by an impressive 40%, EBITDA shot up by 76% and the EBITDA to revenue margin pushed upward from 18% to 23%. In summary, FAST reached significant financial milestones in Q2 2004 with the fastest growing revenues and leading profitability in the industry," added Riaz. Corporate Developments In Q2 2004, FAST launched FAST Marketrac(TM), the industry's first Search Derivative Application (SDA) focused specifically on Market Intelligence. FAST Marketrac gathers, analyzes, and communicates critical market intelligence from multiple, disparate sources throughout an enterprise and the Web, enabling organizations to increase the productivity and effectiveness of their marketing analysts and decision makers, thereby reducing costs and improving revenues. Based upon FAST ESP, FAST's Enterprise Search Platform, FAST Marketrac performs advanced content analysis, facilitates faster discovery and inference, and delivers rapid alerting functionality, enabling analysts and decision-makers to receive the latest actionable information. FAST Marketrac is the first of three Search Derivative Applications (SDAs) that FAST plans to unveil in 2004. The high profile product launch of FAST Marketrac demonstrated our innovative and scalable technology, market leadership in the sector, and the Company's increased focus upon delivering solutions-oriented product offerings. At time of launch, the application generated strong praise and endorsements from industry analysts as well as immediate interest from the envisioned target market. In Q2, many global organizations including German Federal Office of Administration, Bundesverwaltungsamt (BVA), Computer Associates (CA), DaimlerChrysler, Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), Ziff Davis Media and one of the largest directory and yellow pages providers in Europe signed on with FAST as enterprise customers to use FAST's search technology and expand their utilization by deploying additional applications. These deals demonstrate FAST's ability to retain and enhance existing client relationships against stiff competition. FAST continues to enjoy increased market visibility and recognition for its corporate growth and superior enterprise search offerings. In Q2, the Company was named a winner of the 2004 Crossroads A-List Awards for "the best new technology proven to deliver results." Industry analyst group Gartner, Inc. also positioned FAST for the first time in the Leaders Quadrant of its 2004 Enterprise Search Magic Quadrant Report. According to Gartner, leaders are vendors who are performing well today, have a clear vision of market direction and are actively building competencies to sustain their leadership position in the market. For the second consecutive year, FAST has been positioned in this annual Gartner report as the 'most visionary' of the 21 search vendors included. Innovation "FAST is working with its customers and partners to expand the role and business impact of enterprise search and to provide them with specialized search applications that meet their specific needs," commented Lervik. In the past quarter, leveraging FAST ESP, the Company unveiled FAST Marketrac. In the coming quarters, FAST plans to launch several other SDAs focused upon solving specific business problems that are not adequately addressed by existing technologies. FAST has been consistently recognized as the most visionary of the enterprise search vendors. In Q2, the company began developing a customizable rank tuning tool that enables organizations deploying FAST's enterprise search technology to simply and dynamically adjust how the relevancy of content is determined for their business. As an integral part of FAST ESP, this soon to be announced tool includes a selection of ranking models, or profiles, tailored for common enterprise contexts. The new and unique solutions that have been developed since the Company's launch of FAST ESP in January 2004 are just the beginning for FAST. Enterprises that have very real and substantial problems for which there seemed no practical solutions are discovering FAST technology to be the pivotal enabling factor, mostly due to the infinitely scalable and flexible architecture that is available through FAST ESP. To FAST's ongoing benefit, we are able to replicate the innovative solutions that have been tailored for our customers into packaged applications that can serve the marketplace at large. "FAST's vision for enterprise search is supported by many of the leading industry analysts. They view FAST as a visionary and innovative vendor in the enterprise search market. This, along with strong customer testimonials - stating that FAST is the only company that could solve their mission critical problem - gives us the confidence to continue pushing the technology envelope," commented Bjorn Olstad, chief technology officer at FAST. Strategic Partnerships FAST's focus upon strategic partnerships is a cornerstone of its future growth. FAST's strategic OEM agreement with Computer Associates (CA) in Q2 is a key example of the types of partnerships it plans to develop throughout the remainder of 2004 to further expand its presence in a wider variety of markets. Other newly signed referrals, alliances and developer agreements, including those with CIBER, Ementor ASA, and INSCI, have increased FAST's market position by building and expanding the Company's distribution channels. "FAST is dedicated to being a strong partner to our global OEM dealers and resellers, offering them the most extensive and flexible search solutions based on our FAST ESP technology. Whether licensed directly or deployed as a hosted applications, FAST delivers solutions based on our partners business needs," said Riaz. 2004 Business Focus "We are encouraged that FAST continues to deliver strong financial results in the face of a slowly recovering global economic environment," added Lervik. "This last quarter has proven to be quite a validation for our market approach. Our increasingly positive financial performance, increased market recognition, exceptionally strong technology, as well as a rapidly growing, top-tier, global client and partner base positions FAST well for the remainder of 2004." About FAST FAST creates the real-time search and filter technology solutions that are behind the scenes at the world's best known companies with the most demanding search problems. FAST's flexible and scalable integrated technology platform elevates the search capabilities of enterprise customers and connects people to the relevant information they seek regardless of medium. This drives revenues and reduces total cost of ownership by effectively leveraging IT infrastructure. FAST's powerful enterprise search technology solutions are used by a wide range of global customers and partners, including AT&T, Cardinal Health, CareerBuilder.com, Chordiant, CIGNA, CNET, Dell, Fidelity Investments, Findexa, FirstGov.gov (GSA), IBM, Knight Ridder, LexisNexis, Overture, Rakuten, Reed Elsevier, Reuters, Sensis, Tenet Healthcare, Thomas Industrial Networks, T-Online, US Army, Virgilio (Telecom Italia), Vodafone, and Wanadoo. 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, and Japan. Additionally, the FAST Group has business partners and customers in a number of other locations, such as Brazil, Canada and Australia. For further information about FAST, please visit www.fastsearch.com. (C) 2004 Fast Search & Transfer ASA - Fast Search & Transfer, FAST, FAST ESP, FAST Data Search, FAST Marketrac, and the FAST four-colored logo are trademarks of Fast Search & Transfer ASA. All rights reserved. FAST disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. |
