SAS Achieves Record $1.9 Billion Revenue

Strong demand for industry-specific and packaged solutions fueled the 30^th straight year of revenue growth for SAS. Total revenue in 2006 was US$1.9 billion, up 12 percent over US$1.7 billion in 2005. New software license revenue increased 20 percent, nearly twice the growth rate expected in the market this year.

“This year’s strong financial results validate the new course we set for the company several years ago when we began investing heavily in business and industry-focused applications built on an enterprise intelligence platform,” says SAS CEO Jim Goodnight. “We had a good year. Industry and packaged business solutions were up 49 percent over 2005. One of our core strengths, powerful predictive analytics, continued to represent a significant stream of revenue at 19 percent growth. Sales of business intelligence and data integration/warehousing were each up by nearly 50 percent, demonstrating the importance of an integrated intelligence portfolio.”

SAS dominates packaged analytics applications
In its most recent business intelligence report¹, analyst firm IDC wrote that "in the short term, IDC does not see any serious challenge to SAS' dominance of the advanced analytics market and expects the company to continue to experience above-market growth rates for query, reporting, and analysis. However, at the same time there is likely going to be a long-term, continuous shift toward more packaged analytic applications."

Dan Vesset, Research Director, Business Analytics, IDC, says: "Given SAS' latest financial performance announcement, it is clear that the shift toward packaged analytic applications has benefited the company faster than we expected. Over the recent years, SAS has transformed itself from a company known primarily for its advanced analytics tools to a provider of a broad portfolio of packaged analytic applications that incorporate the company's advanced analytics, query and reporting and data management expertise as well as industry and process-specific content." 

Industry, cross-industry solution sales increase
SAS saw strong increases in key vertical markets. The retail-based sector grew 18 percent as retailers continue to recognize the competitive advantage they gain from applications such as forecasting and optimization. Revenue from financial services jumped 17 percent, demonstrating strong growth in risk management and SAS' dominance as a provider of Basel II compliance software.

Life sciences revenue grew 12 percent − a result of organizations increasing investment in advanced analytics to improve business operations. In the public sector, where fraud detection solutions drove increases, revenue rose 10 percent. Cross-industry business solutions saw total gains of 45 percent because of high demand for marketing automation, performance management, and risk and IT management software.

Global sales
As in 2005, SAS’ 2006 results remained globally balanced. The Americas accounted for 45 percent of total revenue; Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) 45 percent; and Asia Pacific 10 percent. Revenue from the Americas increased 14 percent. Revenue in EMEA and Asia Pacific each rose 13 percent.

More than 1,300 customers were new to SAS in 2006. Among them are AllianceBank, Ambank, Citi Info, Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc., Google Inc., Hanaro Telecom, HSBC Bank Canada, Macys.com, National Stock Exchange of India, Netflix, Nippon Paper, Norwegian Cruise Line Ltd., Texas Instruments France and UTI Bank.

SAS ^® Enterprise Intelligence Platform: Comprehensive
With the SAS Enterprise Intelligence Platform, SAS takes its customers beyond traditional BI, which provides limited insight and hindsight in the form of historical reports. SAS predictive analytics provide clearer foresight.

Analyst firm Gartner recently positioned SAS in the Leaders quadrant in its “Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence Platforms, 1Q07” ² report. “SAS customers are using the industry’s most comprehensive business intelligence platform,” says SAS Senior Vice President Jim Davis. “They’re investing in the best. No other vendor comes near SAS for advanced analysis, business intelligence, and data integration.”

Via the SAS Enterprise BI Server, SAS offers users at any level immediate access to cleansed, reliable data through targeted user interfaces that match the skill level of the individual user. Adoption of the SAS BI Server, which addresses the needs of IT management as well as business users , jumped 80 percent in 2006.

Outlook for 2007
“Based on the success of our packaged analytic applications and comprehensive enterprise intelligence platform, we expect to be a $2 billion company in 2007,” Goodnight says. “Additionally, we have set the stage for increased sales by implementing our first-ever partner channel.”

Launched in 2006, a burgeoning reseller network will increase SAS’ routes to the market. “Combining market-leading technology and industry solutions with our strategic partners’ domain knowledge will continue to be top priority this year,” Goodnight says. ”Global system integrators and members of the SAS Alliance will accelerate our growth.”

Stephen Graham, IDC Group Vice President for Global Software Business Strategies, says: “Coming off another year of revenue growth, SAS has taken some important steps to align its resources with partners to extend market reach. Developing a presence within the reseller channel is an important step for SAS to achieve continued revenue growth and increase their market share in 2007."

SAS scored its 30th straight year of revenue growth with new license revenue up 20 percent, outpacing industry predictions.