Diligent Board Member Services Announces Ninth Consecutive Record Breaking Quarter

NEW YORK, July 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Diligent Board Member Services (NZX.com: DIL) (www.boardbooks.com) recently closed its ninth consecutive record breaking quarter, recording net new sales of $US 7 million for the second quarter of 2012. Drivers of customer demand for Diligent Boardbooks^® include iPad adoption and organizations making a continued move to the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model. These factors have helped Diligent deliver on dramatic top line growth and profitability. Cumulative sales increased 52% in the first half of 2012, from $US 25.7 million to $US 39.2 million, while the company's operating margins and cash flow continued to improve over the same period.

During the second quarter Diligent signed a total of 216 net new Client Agreements versus 133 in the same quarter last year – an increase of 62%. Diligent now serves 1,447 public and private companies, encompassing more than 2,000 boards and 39,000 individual users worldwide on Diligent Boardbooks. The client roster includes 224 Fortune 1000 companies and 30% of companies on the FTSE 100 Index. A sustained growth surge over the past nine record-breaking quarters has solidified Diligent's position as the world's leading provider of board portals.

In addition, client upgrades are a valuable source of new sales as well as an important indicator of customer satisfaction with the Diligent Boardbooks product and service. In the second quarter of 2012, client upgrades totaled $US 1.4 million, which is an extraordinary increase of 539% over client upgrades in the second quarter of 2011. For the first six months of 2012 client upgrades totaled $US 2.9 million. In addition to new sales, another critical factor driving the continued strong revenue growth at Diligent is ongoing client retention rates. Diligent's trailing 12-month client retention rate of 97% is among the best in class for Software-as-a-Service model companies.

Diligent's senior management continues to deliver on both profitability and revenue growth. This exceptional accomplishment is a testament to the company's commitment to execution and to delivering a superior customer experience. Its operating margins and cash flow have continued to improve throughout 2012, as evidenced by a cash position at the end of the second quarter that increased by $US 5.0 million to $US 17.2 million. These rapidly improving financial metrics are an important validation of the internal leverage in Diligent's Software-as-a-Service business model. These favorable trends also suggest the likelihood of continued improvement as the company builds its business and scales it operations.

"Our easy-to-use yet amazingly secure and mobile Diligent Boardbooks iPad app, combined with our commitment to unlimited concierge-level training and support, has given Diligent Boardbooks a distinct competitive advantage over other board portal products," said Alex Sodi, president and CEO of Diligent Board Member Services. "We provide the largest board portal in the world, serving more boards and users than any other provider in this category."

For the full Quarterly Update for second quarter 2012 visit http://www.boardbooks.com/diligentbooks/nz-reporting.shtml.

About Diligent Board Member Services, Inc. (NZX: DIL.NZ) www.boardbooks.com

Over 2,000 boards and 39,000 individual directors, executives and administrators worldwide rely on Diligent Board Member Services, Inc. to speed and simplify how board materials are produced, communicated and reviewed. Diligent Boardbooks^® is the world's largest board portal. Through it, we have pioneered ease of use, stringent security, and superior training and support since 2001. Today we are a public company with cumulative sales of $US 39.2 million. Our ranking in the 2011 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 places us among the fastest growing technology companies in America. Diligent has offices located in New York (headquarters), London, Sydney, Christchurch, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Diligent Boardbooks® is a registered trademark of Diligent Board Member Services, Inc. with all rights reserved. ©2012 Diligent Board Member Services, Inc.

Note: In addition to historical information, this release contains "forward-looking statements." The words "forecast," "estimate," "project," "intend," "expect," "should," "believe" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements included herein are made only as of the date of this release, and we do not undertake any obligation, other than as required by law or regulation, to release publicly any revisions to such forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

SOURCE Diligent Board Member Services