The Planet Adds 1,400 Customers in 4Q08

theplanet-hq

The Houston headquarters building for The Planet.

The brutal economic conditions in late 2008 don't appear to have slowed The Planet. The Houston company says it added 1,400 new customers for its dedicated servers and managed hosting services in the fourth quarter.  

The Planet didn't disclose its revenue numbers, but its performance was notable on several fronts. In the midst of an historic credit crunch, it arranged a new $45 million credit facility with Wachovia Corp. and Bank of America. Its strong customer growth also highlighted the company's resilience, coming just months after a major data center outage following an electrical explosion.   

“We had a record year and a record quarter,” said Chief Financial Officer Kevin Klausmeyer. “Our cash flows remain healthy, and, in fact, were stronger in the fourth quarter than in all prior quarters, despite a difficult economic climate. We reached high-water marks in virtually all of our efficiency metrics, as a result of continued process improvements and investment in our systems. Our EBITDA came in right on plan for the year and the quarter, and our balance sheet is very strong.”

“Across every unit in the company, we made significant gains," added Chairman and CEO Doug Erwin. "Within customer service, data center operations, network development, marketing and product management, our metrics indicate extraordinary improvements."    

Here's are some of the items the company highlighted in today's announcement:

“Despite the challenging economic environment, we are confident that we will again set new standards for our operations and deliver solid revenue growth in 2009," said Erwin.