Sep 9, 2008 : Rackspace Call Keys on Growth

📅 September 9, 2008 - IT hosting provider Rackspace (rackspace.com 👉 Total Reviews: 16
🙌 Average Rating: 3.3 / 10
👍 Good Reviews: 4
👎 Bad Reviews: 12
👈 Official Responses: 0) issued its earnings report for the second quarter of 2008 and held the first earnings conference call since its IPO, which took place in August of this year.


Both the company's earnings report and the call focused on the growth Rackspace has experienced in the just-completed quarter, as well as in the past year, pointing to revenue of $130.8 million in Q2 2008, an increase of 9.4 percent over the previous quarter and 55.7 percent over the second quarter of 2007.

The complete report is posted on the company's website.

"We delivered strong growth despite a challenging macroeconomic environment, which demonstrates the strength of Rackspace's fanatical support and its ability to win and keep customers in a tough climate," said Lanham Napier, president and chief executive officer, in the press release that accompanied the results. "We are seeing significant global growth, and we will continue to make disciplined, long-term investments in order to capitalize on the demand for hosting."

The company also saw growth in customers, which increased by 6.1 percent from quarter to quarter to 33,600; servers, which increased 6.7 percent to total 42,400; and facilities, with the opening of a new UK data center in June and a new Hong Kong data center earlier this week.

According to Rackspace, the IPO raised $144.9 million, which will be used primarily to fund the company's growth, including investments in infrastructure.

On the conference call, the company's first, Napier expanded on what the company considers the keys to its competitive advantage, foremost among which is its oft-repeated focus on "fanatical support."

"Complete customer satisfaction is our sole ambition," he says, "and anything short of that is insufficient."

He says the customer support claims aren't just lip service, and that they're ingrained at a cultural level within the company. Customer satisfaction, he says, leads directly to sustainable revenue.

The hour-long call will be available for streaming from the company's website until midnight on September 24.