"Our quarterly revenue growth of 19% demonstrates continued momentum," said Harold Hughes, chief executive officer at Rambus. "We achieved record revenue for the year at nearly $145 million and our profitability continues to be solid. I am excited to be CEO at Rambus and look forward to leading this team as we help our semiconductor and systems customers deliver new levels of product performance."
Fourth quarter results reflected $6.0 million in contract revenues, up 31% over the fourth quarter last year and down 27% from the previous quarter. This increase in contract revenues over the fourth quarter last year primarily reflects revenues from contracts signed in 2003 for XDR memory and Redwood interface technologies. The decrease in contract revenue from the previous quarter primarily reflects a decrease in revenue recognized on one serial link contract. Fourth quarter results include $32.6 million in royalties, up 17% over the fourth quarter last year and up 7% from the previous quarter. The increase in royalties over the fourth quarter last year primarily reflects an increase in SDRAM and DDR royalties.
Total costs and expenses were $29.0 million compared with $21.3 million in the fourth quarter last year and $28.1 million last quarter. $5.2 million of this increase over the fourth quarter of last year was due to litigation expense. The provision for income taxes was down $0.1 million from the fourth quarter last year and was up $2.6 million from the previous quarter. The increase in the provision for income taxes relative to the previous quarter was attributable primarily to increased credits on foreign taxes withheld which were recognized in the third quarter of 2004.
Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities increased $17.3 million to $236.4 million since September 30, 2004. This increase was primarily a result of proceeds from the exercise of employee stock options of $10.6 million, cash generated from operations of $8.6 million which was partially offset by $1.4 million invested in property and equipment.
The earnings announcement call will be broadcast live on our website (www.rambus.com) at 2:00 p.m. PST today. Please log-on early if you do not already have the necessary software to listen to the call.
The conference call replay number is 800-642-1687 and the ID number is 3196579. For international callers, the number is 706-645-9291. The replay will be available on our website beginning at 5:00 p.m. PST today.
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About Rambus Inc.
Rambus is one of the world's leading providers of advanced chip interface products and services. Since its founding in 1990, the company's innovations, breakthrough technologies and integration expertise have helped industry-leading chip and system companies solve their most challenging and complex I/O problems and bring their products to market. Rambus's interface solutions can be found in numerous computing, consumer, and communications products and applications. Rambus is headquartered in Los Altos, Calif., with regional offices in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Taipei, Taiwan and Tokyo, Japan. Additional information is available at www.rambus.com.