Gordon Clubb, the Managing Director of the only provider of true Business Intelligence (BI), SAS, said the company had added an extensive list of new Australian and New Zealand clients to its already solid stable during the first quarter of 2004.

New deals and upgrades signed for SAS ANZ in the first quarter of 2004 included AXA, the Victorian Workcover Authority, the Transport Accident Commission, Victoria Police, Bonlac Foods Ltd, the Commonwealth Department of the Treasury, the Health Insurance Commission, the South Australian Department of Human Services, the National Centre for Vocational Educational Research, South Australian Water Corporation and Flinders University.

Mr Clubb said the wins and upgrades meant SAS Australia & New Zealand had exceeded its ambitious revenue projections for the first quarter. New Software Revenue (NSR) for the quarter was up 135 per cent.

“We are building on our 2003 success,” he said.

“In 2003 we showed global growth of 13.5 percent, reaching the $1.34 billion mark in annual revenue. In ANZ we were able to report a record 24 per cent profit increase in 2003,” he said.

“All indications are that we are on track for yet another record year and with the launch in March this year of our new business intelligence platform, SAS®9, we are already finding greatly increased sales activity.”

“We also expect 2004 to be a big year for Business Intelligence (BI), with significant software innovation being offered to our customers. The launch of SAS®9 is the most significant event in the area of true Business Intelligence, a concept that only SAS is able to offer the market.”

Mr Clubb said the increased profit performance for SAS in 2004 would mark the company’s 29th consecutive year of positive revenue growth.

“We must be doing something right,” he said.

About SAS SAS is the market leader in providing a new generation of business intelligence software and services that create true enterprise intelligence. SAS solutions are used at more than 40,000 sites — including 96 of the top 100 of the 2003 Fortune Global 500 — to develop more profitable relationships with customers and suppliers; to enable better, more accurate and informed decisions; and to drive organisations forward. SAS is the only vendor that completely integrates leading data warehousing, analytics and traditional BI applications to create intelligence from massive amounts of data. For nearly three decades, SAS has been giving customers around the world The Power to Know®.

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. Copyright © 2004 SAS Institute Inc. Cary, NC, USA. All rights reserved.

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