Press conference
ThyssenKrupp Information Services
Thursday, March 22nd 2001, 1:00 p.m.
CeBIT 2001, hall 4, booth A 22/C 22

- The spoken version is valid -

Ladies and Gentlemen,

the future belongs to digital markets, and neither the slump on the "Neue Markt" nor the New Economy`s market correction processes will influence Xtend`s objectives. Our actions are based on proven concepts and we usefully combine these concepts with the instruments of eBusiness.

Under the umbrella of the Xtend Group, our companies offer all digital services from a single source. Short, we call this one-stop shopping.

The Xtend new media develops and operates solutions for e- and mCommerce.

We construct Internet shops, assume hosting, and integrate secure Extranets into the World Wide Web. Xtend new media also programs WAP portals for mCommerce via mobile phone and PDA.

Our subsidiary Xtend broadcast digitizes contributions for private digital television stations and for the business TV channels of large enterprises. The data is transmitted over satellite from Krefeld, to end-users or into the cable network. The synergy effects are obvious: The viewer will in the future watch TV interactively and, for instance, over additional Web sites, order products shown in the course of the program. International companies stay in touch via videoconferencing and exchange data in the course of a TV meeting. We offer our partners these digital tools.

In the new millennium, an ever increasing number of things will be ordered per mouse click: Especially digital raw materials, for instance sounds, photos or transmittable videos, can be delivered worldwide with ever increasing speed. Our subsidiary ContentGate keeps an online repertoire of over 300,000 high-resolution illustrations and photos on stock for creative individuals of all industries. The material stems from international producers. Customers can now also download transmittable video footage from contentgate.com. This way, New Media providers, for instance Web or digital TV, can access material within seconds, saving production time and money.

We round off our digital offers with our stake in the INFOSCREEN GmbH. The German market leader in outdoor multimedia advertising offers our partners over 100 large-screen monitors in railway stations. We`ve installed an additional 1,200 flat digital screens in public short-distance transportation. Our customers place news from politics, business and sports here. Information on events, weather forecasts and entertaining short films attract each waiting passenger`s attention.

Internationalization

Since its foundation last year, Xtend has consistently oriented its subsidiaries on internationalism. Besides locations in Cracow and in Zielona Gora in Poland, we are now also represented in Europe`s fourth largest market, in Italy. Thanks to the integration of the acomedia Italia AG into the Xtend new media Group, we now offer high-quality eBusiness solutions in Italy. The work is carried out by our branch offices in Bozen, Milan, Verona and Rome. From here, for instance, we developed the WAP offer for the "Dolomiti Super Ski" region. Winter sports friends simply dial into the portal via mobile phone and then access the latest weather data or slope information. Hotels can be booked wirelessly as well.

Xtend broadcast supplies the television station DigiTurk in Turkey with ten digital television programs. So ten million television viewers are especially pleased about feature films, available in the English or Turkish language. A satellite receiver suffices.

ContentGate in Essen has long since crossed the "big pond". Through its American subsidiary ContentGate Inc., it cultivates partnerships in San Francisco.

Business Development

The Xtend Group`s revenues amounted to 52 million marks in the past fiscal year. We want to develop this further, to 90 million marks in revenues for the fiscal year 2000/2001. In view of the downward trend that other eBusiness service providers are experiencing, this is a positive prospect.

As in the past year, our growth will be generated through organic growth and acquisitions, each accounting for half.

In the DMMV "Ranking 2000", our subsidiary Xtend new media ranks No. 9 among the German multimedia service providers. The next ranking is due in April and I place a great deal of hope in our ability to perhaps even improve our position by then. That would pay a well-earned compliment on our total of over 500 employees.

Among other things, they handle long-term large contracts, for instance for RWE, the GARANT SCHUH & MODE AG or, as mentioned previously, for Dolomiti Super Ski. We gave the RWE Group in Essen a new face in the Web. In three portals, business and private customers now inform themselves on the energy giant. In addition, they can conveniently click on the desired service, from electric power to telecommunication. On a well structured extra site, the RWE Group presents additional services from an energy check over environmental services up to the provision of measured values. We realized the project of over 600 pages in only three months. The results are worth seeing: After one week in the Net, the number of visitors doubled. From October 2000 to January 2001 alone, RWE Online registered a total of ca. 34 million hits. Similar successes are also manifesting in other large projects. GARANT-SCHUH+MODE AG`s electronic shoe store is among them. Europe`s largest purchasing cooperative of independent shoe, sporting and leather goods manufacturers now supplies its dealers with the latest shoe creations and store interiors online. Over the GAR@NT-NET, a protected Extranet, 4,800 dealers order merchandise and settle accounts. With n-tv, we operate one of Germany`s most frequently visited Web sites as well.

A good example of the importance of mCommerce is Dolomiti Super Ski. With the slogan "It`s my world", besides the WAP offer, we gave the winter sports region an interactive user presentation. The online offer under www.dolomitisuperski.com consists of over 17,000 Web pages in German, Italian and English. Here, twelve tourism associations, 44 other associations and over 4,000 hotels communicate with customers on a virtual basis. The measurable success: 6 million page views per month.

The future belongs to digital markets, Xtend - The eCommercialist - realizes the future. Thank you very much for your attention.