2009 Annual Report (PDF) - FTI Consulting

We have a staff of seven marketing professionals who are tasked primarily with marketing the services ofour Forensic and Litigation Consulting, Strategic Communications and Technology segments. Our segments alsodirectly market their services.We have been investing in our FTI brand and our visibility to reinforce recognition of our brand in themarketplace and plan to continue to make such expenditures in 2010. Our branding initiatives include investmentin corporate sponsorships, such as our recent sponsorship arrangement with Padraig Harrington, which started inlate 2008, strategic placement of print media in specialty journals, the publication of the FTI Journal, a dedicatedmagazine that is available on the Internet and free of charge to our clients and stakeholders, which beganpublication in the Fall of 2009. Also introduced in 2009 was FTI — TV, a web-based video broadcaster ofinformation relating to FTI expertise and of interest to the global business community, and brand placement instrategic locations where our clients are likely to congregate. In 2009, we advertised on select network and cabletelevision programs that we believe were of interest to the companies that use or have need of our services andexpect to continue selective advertising in 2010. We also host and participate in seminars, conferences and otherevents. These events help us promote brand recognition, discuss events of interest to our clients and target clientgroups, discuss our company and business segments, facilitate client development, and strengthen ourrelationships with existing clients.ClientsWe provide services to a diverse group of clients, including global Fortune 500 companies, FTSE 100companies, major law firms and local, state and national governments and agencies in the U.S. and othercountries throughout the world.A substantial portion of our revenues are derived from repeat or referral business. In 2009, no single clientaccounted for more than 10% of our total revenues. No single client accounted for more than 10% of the 2009revenues of any of our business segments, except for one client that accounted for approximately 17% of therevenues of our Technology segment and one client that accounted for approximately 11% of the revenues of ourForensic and Litigation Consulting segment. The loss of such client by such segment would not have a materialadverse effect on FTI and our subsidiaries as a whole but could have a material adverse effect on such segment ifthat business was not quickly replaced. Among our top ten clients were four internationally recognized law firms,which engaged us to assist with the representation of multiple clients on multiple matters. In some cases, we mayhave engagements with law firms that represent a larger percentage of our overall revenue or the revenue of asegment; however, each law firm engages us on behalf of multiple clients. For this purpose, we recognize theultimate client of the law firm as our client.CompetitionWe do not compete against the same companies across all of our segments or services. Instead we competewith different companies or businesses of companies depending on the particular nature of a proposedengagement and the requested service(s). Our businesses are highly competitive. Our competitors include largeorganizations, such as the global accounting firms and large management and financial consulting companies,which offer a broad range of consulting services, investment banking firms, consulting and software companies,which offer niche services that are the same or similar to services or products offered by one or more of oursegments, and small firms and independent contractors that provide one or more specialized services.We compete primarily on the basis of institutional and individual reputations, ability to immediately staff asignificant engagement, performance record and quality of work, range of services provided, geographic reachand existing client relationships. Our Technology segment, and to a lesser extent our other segments, may alsocompete on price, although the critical nature of our services, particularly those provided by our CorporateFinance/Restructuring, Forensic and Litigation Consulting and Economic Consulting segments, typically makesprice a secondary consideration. Since our businesses depend in a large part on professional relationships, thereare low barriers of entry for professionals, including our professionals electing to work independently, start theirown firms or change employers.19