SAS revenue jumps 2.2 per cent to record US$2.31 billion

Australia & New Zealand contribute strongly to 2009 global results.

SYDNEY, Australia  (02 Feb 2010)  –  SAS, the leader in business analytics, achieved global revenue of US$2.31 billion in 2009, up 2.2 per cent over 2008 results.  Despite poor economic conditions, SAS maintained its unbroken chain of growth and profitability for 34 years since the company was founded.

The Australian and New Zealand arm of the company contributed to the impressive global result with total revenue growth of 3.0 per cent last year.  See below for more detail about the local operations’ results.

Announcing the global results, SAS CEO Jim Goodnight said, “Our continued growth in 2009 is further proof that investing in long-term relationships with customers and employees and maintaining a deep commitment to R&D pays.  We not only weathered the downturn, we came out ahead.”

Globally, SAS revenue from software sales alone jumped 3.3 per cent at a time when software revenue of major vendors has been declining.  SAS reinvested 23 per cent of 2009 revenue in R&D and as Goodnight promised a year ago, ended the year with no layoffs due to economic pressures, underscoring the company’s commitment to innovation and employees.

“In January [2009] I told employees there would be no layoffs,” Goodnight said.  “I wanted them to stay focused on customer needs and not be distracted by issues related to corporate viability.  The result is that we continued to grow in the downturn and we are ready to launch exciting new products in 2010.  The momentum is greater than it’s ever been for this company.”

Australia and New Zealand

Gordon Clubb, Managing Director of SAS in Australia and New Zealand (SAS ANZ), had equally positive comments to make about the local operations saying, “We also grew software revenues in line with our total revenue growth of 3 per cent last year and it was particularly gratifying to see licence renewals growth at 6 per cent – a clear indication that customers place even more importance on SAS solutions when times are tough”.

Clubb added that SAS ANZ increased operating profit in excess of 20 per cent for 2009 and that while the year started slowly, “Business picked up strongly thereafter with year-on-year local growth of 24 per cent in the second half and 33 per cent in the fourth quarter”.

Other SAS ANZ highlights in 2009 were:

• Market share gain of 4 per cent
• Strong uptake of Customer Intelligence and the launch of Social Network analysis solutions which have already achieved significant levels of interest from the Australian and New Zealand market
• Major wins with customers such as BUPA, Coles, South Australia Health, Telstra and Loyalty New Zealand
• Listing as one of Australia’s ‘Best Companies to Work For’ by The Great Place to Work Institute Australia – complementing the No. 1 spot on the FORTUNE ‘Best Companies to Work For’ 2010 list in the USA, and the 18 other countries where SAS has achieved a listing in the ‘Best Companies to Work For’ honours
• The opening of a new state-of-the-art regional education centre in Sydney 
• Major year-on-year ‘green’ achievements – water use down 15 per cent; electricity consumption down 18 per cent; travel down by as much as 27 per cent;
• Continuing support of many not-for-profit bodies in the communities where SAS has offices
• Recognition by Victoria Police for donated software and expertise to quickly assist with its vital ‘missing persons’ determination at the time of the Black Saturday bush fires

For the full global results media release posted by SAS’ head office in the USA, please  go to –
http://www.sas.com/news/preleases/2009financials.html 

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