Complet-e Holding AG Opens At CHF 177.50

The shares of Complete-e Holding AG, a producer of business software for small- and medium-sized companies, were traded today for the first time on the SWX Swiss Exchange. The offering price was set Sunday evening at CHF 180.00. The opening price in SWX dealings stood at CHF 177.50, representing a total market capitalisation for the company of CHF 88.75 mio. According to the offering prospectus, of the 500,000 registered shares shown in the Commercial Register, up to 200,000 were to be offered to the public. Of that number, 100,000 shares were part of a capital increase associated with the IPO, while 100,000 came from the holdings of previous shareholders. The Complet-e Group employs approximately 50 people and markets its products via specialised dealerships in Switzerland and Germany. The firm targets primarily small- and medium-sized companies, whereby particular emphasis is placed on customers in the retail, office supply and IT sectors. In Switzerland, roughly 30,000 WinOffice packages had been sold through year-end 1998, while in Germany approximately 1,000 were sold between 1996 and 1998. Due to extensive investments in new products - mainly in the recently announced WinShop e-commerce package - and the company's expansion into new markets, a loss of CHF 3.4 million is budgeted for the current year. Break-even results are expected for 2001 on revenues of CHF 40 million as the company solidifies its market position in Germany and Switzerland.