Asian Public Companies Now Reach Institutional Investors Through The PR Newswire-First Call Wire

Asian public companies can now, for the first time, distribute their news release in virtually real-time directly to 400,000 institutional investors, analysts and financial advisors through the PR Newswire-First Call Wire, a new supplement to all PR Newswire Asia’s distribution circuits, it was announced today.

The PR Newswire-First Call Wire, created through a strategic alliance between Thomson Financial and PR Newswire, enables public companies to send all news releases to Thomson’s influential First Call Network of buy-side analysts and portfolio managers. Since January 2002, the wire has been included automatically with all PR Newswire U.S. distribution circuits and is now available with all Asian circuits.

With recent economic and financial developments in Asia creating an enormous flow of inbound and outbound investment opportunities, the offering of the PR Newswire-First Call Wire to Asian public companies will be of significant value, Charlie Morin, PR Newswire’s chief executive officer, commented. “As the Asian markets continue to open up for foreign investment, Asian public companies will have increasing need for fast, cost-effective dissemination of their market-critical news to the group of investment professionals represented by Thomson’s First Call network. PR Newswire is in a unique position to provide a full range of products and services to meet both the regional and global communication needs of these companies.

Since 1998, PR Newswire has expanded operations in the Asia Pacific and established PR Newswire Asia, a joint venture with the Australian Associated Press, with offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. This expansion has reinforced PR Newswire’s commitment to growth in the region. “By extending our reach to the investment community, we believe that we can offer even better service to the ever-growing investor relations needs of Asian public companies. There is a focus on improved communication of corporate information and by our partnership with Thomson, we can help our clients adapt to this new environment,Morin emphasized.

“With PR Newswire’s strong Asian presence in the financial and technology driven nations of Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, Asian public companies will see an immediate benefit in distributing their business news directly to this extremely influential decision-making group,said Eric Frank, executive vice president of Thomson Financial’s Corporate Group. “Our strategic alliance has been extremely successful in the US and Europe and we anticipate it will be another major milestone for our penetration in Asia.

Following an assessment of the global market needs of public companies, Thomson Financial and PR Newswire formed this strategic alliance with a pledge to create first-of-a-kind products and services to support the financial information needs of companies worldwide. The initial offer between the two companies, launched in November 2001, provided First Call subscribers with real-time streamed webcasts of corporate earnings announcements. The PR Newswire-First Call Wire, launched in January 2002, made it possible, for the first time, for all publicly traded companies, worldwide, to distribute their company news releases directly to the Thomson First Call Network. The companies will continue to work together to bring industry-leading products to the Investor Relations marketplace.

PR Newswire, http://www.prnewswire.com, is a primary source of immediate information for journalists, investors and the general public through its world-leading distribution services and online and broadcast production capabilities. Its dedicated newswire, Internet, satellite and fax network is capable of pinpoint or mass distribution to satisfy the growing global demand for breaking news, photos, audio and video directly from 40,000 organizations worldwide. Companies, associations and governments use PR Newswire to reach their audiences in more than 135 countries in 27 languages and to measure the outcome of their communications programs.

PR Newswire issues some 1,000 news releases daily to its distribution system, which encompasses more than 22,000 newsrooms, nearly 50,000 journalists through its media web sites, 1.4 million equities terminals and 3,600 web sites and online databases.

Thomson Financial’s Corporate Group provides information and advisory services about ownership and market activity to more than 4,000 publicly traded companies and financial professionals in 45 countries. Its suite of services includes market surveillance, investor targeting, and investor relations consulting, as well as First Call broker research, notes, and earnings estimates. Thomson Financial is a US$2 billion provider of information and technology solutions to the worldwide financial community. Through the widest range of products and services in the industry, Thomson Financial helps clients in more than 70 countries make better decisions, be more productive and achieve superior results. Thomson Financial is part of The Thomson Corporation (www.thomson.com), a leading global provider of integrated information solutions for business and professional customers. The Corporation reported 2000 revenues of approximately US$6 billion and its common shares are listed on the Toronto and London stock exchanges (TSE:TOC).

Contact:

Rachel Asche

Director of Public Relations

PR Newswire

Tel: +1-212-282-1929

Email: [email protected]

Kerri Corbett

Manager of Public Relations

Thomson Financial

Tel: +1-646-822-2077

Email: [email protected].

Iris Wong

Marketing Director

PR Newswire Asia

Direct: +852-2892-9339

Main: +852-2572-8228

Mobile: +852-9033-1104

Email: [email protected]

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