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Hong Kong (March.14, 2007) – Strong demand for
industry-specific and packaged solutions fueled the 30th
straight year of revenue growth for SAS, the leader in business
intelligence. Total revenue in 2006 was US$1.9 billion, up 12
percent over US$1.7 billion in 2005, SAS announced today. New
software license revenue increased 20 percent, nearly twice the
growth rate expected in the market this year.
SAS Asia Pacific had another strong growth performance in 2006,
especially in SE Asia, India and Korea. Asia, as a region
(excluding Japan and ANZ) grew new license revenue by 29%. SAS
Asia Pacific had more than 350 new customers in 2006 including:
Australian Federal Police, Dah Sing Financial Holdings, National
Stock Exchange of India, UTI Bank, Alliance Bank and Sony
(Singapore). There were 6 new contracts in Asia Pacific that
exceeded US$1million. The financial services sector remained the
strongest, including Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Samsung
Life Insurance. Manufacturing showed a strong growth performance
with customers such as Honda Motor Co Ltd. and Baosteel. Public
Sector also saw continued success with NSW Health, People's
Association and Australia Department of Health & Aging.
”SAS Asia Pacific has seen accelerated double digit growth over
the last five years," said Phillip Beniac Vice President, SAS
Asia Pacific. "This has enabled us to strengthen our leadership
position and to continue investing in the local infrastructure
and people to support over 6000 customers."
“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,” said 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.”
Greater China is one of the fastest growing regions. According
to IDC1 the market is expecting a 31% growth from
2005 to 2007. “Businesses are increasingly alert to the need for
advanced business intelligence technologies and are looking for
an end-to-end platform which can ensure data quality and
seamless integration. Capitalizing on its global leadership in
the provision of comprehensive business intelligence and
performance management solutions, SAS is well positioned to be
the market leader in this region,” said Alex Wong, president for
SAS Greater China.
In its most recent business intelligence report2,
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, said:
"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.
In Hong Kong, SAS has demonstrated strong growth in the banking
and financial sector, with increased demand of risk management
solutions.
“The majority of banks in the region are using SAS’ solutions.
Given the myriad of challenges that they face today, it is
critical that they have a comprehensive system for ensuring
compliance, efficiency, profitability and performance, as well
as leveraging risk-related opportunities and detecting potential
hazards. SAS has proven to be the ideal choice,” said Wong.
GLOBAL BREAKDOWN
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.
More than 1,300 customers were new to SAS in 2006. Among them
globally were are Citi Info, Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc., Google
Inc., Honda Motor Co., Ltd., HSBC Bank Canada, Macys.com,
Netflix, Norwegian Cruise Line Ltd., and Texas Instruments
France.
SAS® ENTERPRISE INTELLIGENCE PLATFORM: COMPREHENSIVE
The SAS Enterprise Intelligence Platform provides an integrated
platform for delivering enterprise intelligence. “SAS customers
are using the industry’s most comprehensive enterprise
intelligence platform,” said 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.”
Analyst firm Gartner recently positioned SAS in the Leaders
Quadrant in its “Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence
Platforms, 1Q07”3 report.
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 said. “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
said. ”Global system integrators and members of the SAS Alliance
will accelerate our growth.”
Stephen Graham, IDC Group Vice President for Global Software
Business Strategies, said: “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."
About the Magic Quadrant
The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted Jan. 26, 2007, by Gartner Inc.
and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical
representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time
period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors
measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by
Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service
depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology
users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders"
quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research
tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner
disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to
this research, including any warranties of merchantability or
fitness for a particular purpose.
About SAS
SAS is the leader in business intelligence software and
services. Customers at 40,000 sites use SAS software to improve
performance through insight into vast amounts of data, resulting
in faster, more accurate business decisions; more profitable
relationships with customers and suppliers; compliance with
governmental regulations; research breakthroughs; and better
products. Only SAS offers leading data integration, intelligence
storage, advanced analytics and business intelligence
applications within a comprehensive enterprise intelligence
platform. Since 1976, SAS has been giving customers around the
world THE POWER TO KNOW®. www.sas.com
-END-
SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names
are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in
the USA and other countries. ® indicates USA registration. Other
brand and product names are trademarks of their respective
companies.© 2007
1. IDC Asia/Pacific Semi-Annual Software Tracker, Nov 2006
2. Worldwide Business Intelligence Tools 2005 Vendor Shares, IDC
#202603, July 2006.
3.Gartner Research, “Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence
Platforms, 1Q07,” by K. Schlegel, B. Hostmann and A. Bitterer.
Jan. 26, 2007.
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