Reckon Sales Increase Five-Fold

MEDIA RELEASE

5 September 2000

RECKON SALES INCREASE FIVE-FOLD

Reckon Limited, the listed company that distributes Quicken products throughout Australasia, has announced half year results well over 1999 prospectus projections.

The company maintains its market leadership position by ending the half year with software revenues of over $35m - five times that of the previous operating half year.

According to Quicken New Zealand's Country Manager Kerry Wood, the introduction of GST in Australia drove sales of SME accounting software such as Quicken's QuickBooks and CashBook and significantly contributed to Reckon's impressive sales figures.

"In the period leading up to the introduction of GST in Australia, Quicken's brand awareness increased by 51%," says Mr Wood.

"This helped to build the popularity of QuickBooks amongst SMEs and resulted in over 139,600 units being sold, with over 105,000 units of QuickBooks and Cashbook sold in June alone."

Reckon believes its new market share leadership position and half yearly results reflect the company's philosophy of listening to customers needs and providing products and services that make their lives easier.

"QuickBooks continued to prove popular due to its focus on being easier to use and was rated as number one in four independent tests for its ease-of-use," says Mr Wood.

"The company anticipates further market share gains in July and beyond as more small businesses hear about the easier alternative available with QuickBooks and as awareness increases for Cashbook."

Reckon now has a customer base of close to 400,000 registered software users throughout Australia, and based on historical trends, between 25-33% are expected to upgrade annually.

The company's strategy is to gain and maintain market leadership in selected market segments in the medium term. Its immediate focus will be on developing and launching innovative products for the personal investment market including Quicken Share Analyser, dominating the retail point-of-sale market with QuickPOS both in Australia and internationally and taking ownership of the cashbook segment of the micro end of the SME market.

Reckon Limited provides financial management software and online financial services for the personal and small to medium business markets and has offices in New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

In Australia the company has sold over 500,000 copies of its Quicken products.

Ends

PREPARED ON BEHALF OF QUICKEN.CO.NZ BY DRUM.

For further information please contact:

Kerry Wood Jill Beasley

Country Manager - New Zealand Drum kerry.wood@quicken.co.nz jillb@drum.co.nz

(09) 489 9440 (09) 914 6001

(025) 837 499 (021) 614 531

© Scoop Media