Q3 Revenues of $11 million yields Quarter on Quarter Growth of 15%;
At $2.9 Million, Achieves Positive Adjusted EBITDA for 8th consecutive quarter
OSLO, Norway – 28 October 2003 – Fast Search & Transfer‘ (FAST™), the leading developer of enterprise search and real-time alerting technologies, today announced financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2003.
Third Quarter 2003 Highlights
Q3 2003 revenues reached $11 million, an increase of 15% over Q2 2003
ß Year-to-date revenues grew 18% from same period last year, as new business grew 60% for the year
Achieved Adjusted EBITDA of $2.9 million, positive for the 8th straight quarter
ß Gap further narrowed with EBITDA at $2.6 million, as no losses recorded from discontinued operations or equity method investments
Operating results and cash flow positive for the 4th straight quarter
ß Both income and cash flow from continuing operations increased to $1.3 million
Client News: Record number of wins in eCommerce, Government, Financial Services and Publishing
ß New enterprise search clients include Alacritude, BJC Healthcare, Findexa, Goldman Sachs, North Carolina State University, ONS (UK), US Army, and TeliaSonera
ß Expanded enterprise search relationships with customers such as CareerBuilder.com, ODIN, and Thomas Publishing
ß Substantial list of former AltaVista enterprise customers renewed maintenance agreements or began migrating to FAST’s technology including Allegis Group, CNET, Dresdner Bank, Fidelity Investments, Grainger, Hindustan Times, and Indus International
ß New and expanded partner relationships launched with ACIS, Danet, Ferramentas de Busca, HP, IBM Life Sciences, iManage, Lava Group, Netegrity and Oracle
* EBITDA, excluding share-based compensation, equity in losses of investee and income (loss) from discontinued operations.
Financial Performance
Commenting on the results, Dr. John M. Lervik, chief executive officer of FAST, stated, "In the most recent quarter, FAST has demonstrated its continued ability to outperform the market in tough economic times. With year to date revenues of $30 million and adjusted EBITDA of $7.8 million, we continue our growth and are well positioned to take additional market share in the quarters to come."
Ali I. Riaz, chief financial officer and chief operating officer at FAST remarked, "Our financial condition continues to strengthen and we are meeting or exceeding all of the key financial indicators for the company.
Our year to date revenues grew 18% while new business grew by 60%. In addition, our current ratio of 15:1 remains the best in the industry."
Corporate Developments
In Q3 2003, FAST continued its focus on its core business of providing enterprise search solutions to a worldwide customer base. In addition to winning many new direct customers including Findexa, Goldman Sachs, the UK Office of National Statistics (ONS), and the US Army, several former AltaVista enterprise customers, such as the Allegis Group, CNET and Fidelity Investments, chose to renew maintenance agreements or migrate to FAST’s Data Search technology. Further migration of the over 200 customers FAST acquired from AltaVista in Q2 will continue to strengthen FAST’s leadership in providing enterprise search solutions to key sectors including Financial Services, eCommerce, and Government.
"FAST’s 2003 market performance has been exceptionally strong. We have added several marquee customers and partners to our base, and our enterprise wide deal with CareerBuilder.com provides evidence that there is the potential for continued growth within our existing customer list. In addition, market feedback has been very positive in regards to our movement towards developing Search Derivative Applications (SDAs™) that will solve very complex and critical business problems including money laundering, fraud detection and risk management," commented Riaz.
Innovation
Recent client wins demonstrate that FAST’s customers are continuing to deploy FAST Data Search in some very innovative ways. These companies are discovering that search is becoming a critical enterprise application that creates access to all kinds of information in any form across all applications, across the entire organization. These applications of FAST technology are delivering high ROI and lowered total cost of ownership (TCO) for FAST’s customers.
Strategic Partnerships
In Q3, FAST significantly increased its market opportunities by building and expanding its distribution channels through newly signed referral, alliance and developer agreements. The company solidified deep partnerships with some of its global partners including Oracle, IBM, and HP. FAST and Oracle have teamed up to offer a joint portal search solution based on OracleAS and FAST Data Search; FAST and IBM have entered into a joint global marketing agreement in the Life Sciences area; and FAST and HP have created a developer partnership. In addition, the company signed new agreements with Netegrity and iManage in the U.S., and with the Lava Group in Norway.
"The right strategic partnerships will drive FAST’s business to unprecedented levels. Each quarter, we continue to strengthen our foundation for a global network of partners and resellers," said Riaz. "Through our expanded relationships with top-notch partners, including IBM, Oracle and HP, and our investment in new relationships with companies such as Netegrity, iManage and the Lava Group, FAST is positioning itself to accelerate its revenue growth with unique and outstanding joint value propositions to a targeted client base."
2003 Business Focus
"FAST is delivering strong financial results and continues to outperform the market while dealing with an uncertain and difficult global economic climate. Our business is evolving in some very exciting areas. We have started to see some of the benefits from our acquisition of AltaVista’s enterprise search business and we are, as always, investing in FAST’s future by focusing our efforts on developing and delivering new enterprise search technology solutions to the marketplace. An increasingly positive financial performance, grouped with a rapidly growing top-tier global client and partner base, leaves FAST well-positioned for the remainder of the year and on into 2004," added Lervik.
About FAST
Fast Search & Transfer (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 enables enterprise customers to elevate their search capabilities to unprecedented levels. FAST closes the gap between information and action, connecting people to the relevant information they seek regardless of medium, in turn driving revenue and reducing total cost of ownership by effectively leveraging IT infrastructure for our clients and world-class partners. A wide range of global customers and partners, including the Allegis Group, AT&T, Cardinal Health, CareerBuilder.com, Chordiant, CIGNA, CNET, Dell, Fidelity Investments, Findexa, FirstGov.gov (GSA), Freeserve, Goldman Sachs, IBM, LexisNexis, The National Library of Norway, the UK Office of National Statistics (ONS), Overture, Reed Elsevier, Reuters, SBC Communications, Tenet Healthcare, T-Online, US Army, University of Bielefeld (Germany), and Virgilio (Telecom Italia) currently use FAST’s powerful enterprise search technology solutions.
FAST operates globally with presence in the United States (Boston, Washington DC, Chicago, Cleveland, San Francisco), Europe (Norway, France, Germany, Italy, UK), and Japan. FAST is publicly traded under the ticker symbol `FAST` on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Please visit www.fastsearch.com for more information.
© 2003 Fast Search & Transfer ASA - Fast Search & Transfer, FAST, 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.
Media Relations Contact:
Peter Gorman
+1 781 304 2495
Peter.Gorman@fastsearch.com
Investor Relations Contact:
Ali I. Riaz, CFO
+1 508 904 7429
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