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Fast Search & Transfer ASA

Fast Search & Transfer Announces Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2004 Results

Oslo, Norway (ots/PRNewswire)

- FAST Achieved Record Revenues in Q4 of $20.4 million, Boosting
Annual  Growth to 50%; At $5.2 Million in Q4, FAST's Year-to-Date
EBITDA Grew by  82%, Reaching 24% 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 fourth quarter and year ended
December 31, 2004.
    Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2004 Highlights
    - Q4 2004 revenues of $20.4 million, growing 24% over Q3 and 64% year on
      year
        - 50% annual growth driven by widening adoption of the FAST
          Enterprise Search Platform (FAST ESP(TM)), Search Derivative
          Applications (SDAs), and recently launched OEM solution
    - Q4 operating income of $2.8 million - more than doubling year on year
      and positive for 9th straight quarter
        - Increased year-to-date operating income to $7.2 million, growing
          89% year on year
    - EBIT of $3.5 million in Q4 - four times year on year & positive for 9th
      straight quarter
        - Increased year to date EBIT to $7.9 million, nearly three times
          year on year
    - EBITDA of $5.2 million in Q4 - more than doubling year on year &
      positive for 12th straight quarter
        - Increased year to date EBITDA to $15.5 million, growing 82% year
          on year
    - Launched new product in the fourth quarter: FAST ImPulse(TM), a new
      Search Derivative Application (SDA) representing the most complete
      enterprise search, navigation, and merchandising software solution
      for business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C)
      eCommerce applications.
    - Client News: Key wins in eCommerce, Government, Financial Services and
      Publishing markets
        - New enterprise search clients include: America Online, Inc.,
          Associated News Media, Factiva, FindWhat.com, Herefordshire
          Council, Herold (MediaTel), John Lewis, Oslo Kommune, SURFnet,
          Tenet Healthcare and 118.com.
    Q4 2004 Financial Highlights
              For the three months ended         For the year ended
    (Amounts  31          30          31         31          31
      in      December    September   December   December    December
    US$000's) 04          04          03         04          03
            (unaudited)  (unaudited) (unaudited) (unaudited)
    REVENUES  20,409        16,503     12,442     63,574     42,416
    EBITDA(1)  5,209         4,135      2,378     15,470      8,502
    EBIT(1)    3,481         2,155        869      7,910      2,877
    Net        2,847         1,742      3,945      6,395     67,596
    Income
    (1) EBITDA and EBIT exclude income (loss) from discontinued operations.
Financial Performance
Commenting on the results, Dr. John M. Lervik chief executive
officer of FAST stated, "In Q4 2004, FAST continued to deliver a
strong revenue performance with record level enterprise search
revenues of $20.4 million; this represents growth of 24% over last
quarter and 64% over the same quarter last year. We are encouraged
that FAST continues to set the pace for the Enterprise Search
industry. With numerous break-through advances being made to our
technology platform, a wealth of new customer installations and
global partnerships, and a dramatic growth in terms of our global
presence, revenue and leadership in the search market, 2004 was a
year of exceptional performance for FAST."
Ali I. Riaz, chief financial officer and chief operating officer
at FAST, remarked, "Our financial performance continued to strengthen
in Q4 indicated by the growth in new and recurring business, which
resulted in top line growth of 64% and more than doubling EBITDA over
last year. In 2004, revenues grew by an impressive 50%, EBITDA
increased by 82%, and the EBITDA to revenue margin pushed upward from
20% to 24%. In summary, FAST reached significant financial milestones
in Q4 2004 with the fastest growing revenues and leading
profitability in the industry."
Corporate Developments
"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, the Company unveiled FAST
ImPulse, the most complete enterprise search, navigation, and
merchandising software solution for business-to-business (B2B) and
business-to-consumer (B2C) eCommerce applications. Leveraging FAST
ESP, FAST's award-winning enterprise search platform, FAST ImPulse
gives eCommerce business managers an easy-to-deploy, out of the box
solution that provides unprecedented levels of control over site
navigation and merchandising. Furthermore, it enables buyers to
quickly find the products they are shopping for by using FAST's
best-in-class search capabilities.
In Q4, many global organizations including America Online, Inc.,
Associated News Media, Factiva, FindWhat.com, Herefordshire Council,
Herold (MediaTel) John Lewis, Oslo Kommune, Tenet Healthcare, SURFnet
and 118.com signed on or expanded their agreements with FAST as
enterprise customers to use FAST's search technology and expand their
utilization by deploying additional applications. These deals further
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 Q4, the Company received a number of prominent awards
from leading search and IT industry media for the Company's
innovation and technology advancements, as well as its corporate
growth. Online Information selected FAST ESP as "Best Search
Product," the Software & Information Industry Association (SIAA)
nominated FAST ESP for the second consecutive year in its "Best
Enterprise Search Engine" category of its annual Codie Awards
program, and for the fourth consecutive year, EContent magazine named
FAST to its annual EContent 100 listing. Formulated by EContent's
contributing editors, staff, and editors at fellow ITI publications,
the EContent 100 list includes 100 companies that matter most in the
digital content industry.
An expanding number of industry analyst groups, including Gartner,
IDC, Jupiter Research, The Patricia Seybold Group, Ballardvale
Research, The Delphi Group, The Kelsey Group and The451.com continue
to support and applaud the strategic directions and innovative
solutions that FAST continues to unveil to the market.
Innovation
In Q4, FAST has driven exponential innovation in the enterprise
search space, both from a technology and market perspective. FAST has
developed Search Derivative Applications (SDAs) that sit on top of
FAST ESP for specific vertical or task-specific applications,
including Market Intelligence, Online Directories, Publishing, Online
Retailing, and more. FAST's solutions have become a key enabler of
exponential innovations for our clients and partners in key areas
such as Business Intelligence (BI), Customer Relationship Management
(CRM), Enterprise Content Management (ECM), Knowledge Management, and
Storage.
The high profile product launch of FAST ImPulse demonstrates our
innovative and scalable technology, market leadership in the
eCommerce sector and the Company's increased focus upon delivering
solutions-oriented product offerings. At the time of launch, the
application generated strong praise and endorsements from industry
analysts as well as immediate interest from customers.
2005 Business Focus
"We are encouraged that FAST continues to deliver strong financial
results in a slowly recovering global economic environment," added
Lervik. "Our performance validates our approach to the market. Our
exceptionally strong technology, increased market recognition and a
rapidly growing top-tier global client and partner base, position
FAST for another year of very strong growth."
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
more than 1,500 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, Nordstrom, 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) 2005 Fast Search & Transfer ASA - Fast Search & Transfer,
FAST, FAST ESP, FAST Data Search, FAST Marketrac, FAST AdVisor, FAST
InStream, FAST ImPulse 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.
Q4-04 Press Release and Quarterly Report:
http://hugin.info/134564/R/979495/144951.pdf

Contact:

Media Relations Contact: Peter Gorman, +1-781-304-2495 ,
Peter.Gorman@fastsearch.com; Investor Relations Contact: Ali I. Riaz,
CFO, +1-508-904-7429, Ali.Riaz@fastsearch.com

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