Riding growing demand for big data analysis applications, business analytics software developer SAS Friday reported that sales grew 5.4 percent in 2012 to $2.87 billion.
SAS, the largest privately held business analytics company and one of the largest privately held IT vendors, indicated that it remained profitable in 2012 as it has for the previous 36 years. The company does not disclose earnings or other financial performance information.
The Cary, N.C.-based company cited its SAS Visual Analytics software, launched in March, as a key element of the company's growth in 2012. The software tools help analysts and business users quickly explore large amounts of data. The company said big data demands were driving sales of its other predictive analytical software as well across many industries and customer segments.
[Related: Report: Big Data Analytics Can Predict Attacks, But Necessary Skills Lacking]
"In 2012 many companies began to rethink conventional ways of doing business when they realized big data analytics could deliver results almost instantaneously," said SAS CEO Jim Goodnight, in a statement. "When high-performance analytics can solve the world's toughest business problems thousands of times faster, there's no limit to what organizations can achieve."
Forty-seven percent of SAS' 2012 revenue came from the Americas, the company said. Forty-one percent came from Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and 12 percent came from Asia.
SAS said sales of business analytics software for customer intelligence, fraud detection, risk management and supply chain management all posted double-digit growth. Revenue from the company's Solutions OnDemand Software-as-a-Service and hosted offerings grew 15 percent.
In terms of vertical markets, SAS reported sales growth in the communications, education, energy and utilities, financial services, health care, hospitality and travel, life sciences, manufacturing, public security and retail industries.
SAS reinvested 25 percent of its 2012 revenue into research and development, according to the company, and increased employee headcount by 7 percent, ending the year with 13,442 employees worldwide.
PUBLISHED JAN. 28, 2013
