ARCOURT: FINANCING

ACCELERATED REVENUE AND PROFIT GROWTHCrispin Davis, CEOBarcelona, 2 April 2001

STRONG PLATFORM FOR GROWTH

• Focus on four core businesses

• Attractive global growing markets

• Targeted at professional users

• Proprietary, must have content

• Annual subscription model

• Internet accelerating growth opportunities

KEY FOUNDATIONS OF GROWTH STRATEGY

UpgradeManagementEffectiveness

AddAcquisitions/

Alliances

BuildGlobal

Capability

SubstantialInvestment

Major CostSavings

DemonstrablySuperiorProducts

UpgradeSales &

Marketing

UPGRADEDSCIENCEDIRECT

PRODUCT

INTERNET MIGRATIONCUSTOMER PREFERENCE

MODERATEPRICINGPOLICY

AGGRESSIVESALES ANDMARKETING

HIGHERPENETRATION

HIGHER USAGE

STRONGER RENEWALS

ACCELERATED REVENUE GROWTH

SCIENCE & MEDICAL: STRATEGY FOR GROWTH

NAVIGATION

Abstracts & Indices (30m)

Print Journals

Full text searchable database

ARCHIVE

Growing electronic archive

SUBJECT PORTALS

Physics, Engineering,

Chemistry etc.

SCIRUS

Linkage to web

scientific data

ACADEMIC WORKBENCH

Authorship and pre-

publication tools

SCIENCE & MEDICAL: EXPANDED SCIENCEDIRECT OFFERING

1015

25

35

4552

65

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Mar 99 Aug 99 Feb 00 Aug 00 Dec 00 Feb 01 Dec 01

%

SCIENCEDIRECT: INCREASE IN PENETRATION

SCIENCEDIRECT: INCREASE IN USAGE

02468

101214161820

Jan

99

Feb 9

9

Mar

99

Apr 99

May

99

Jun 9

9

Jul 9

9

Aug 99

Sep 9

9

Oct 9

9

Nov 99

Dec 99

Jan

00

Feb 0

0

Mar

00

Apr 00

May

00

Jun 0

0

Jul 0

0

Aug 00

Sep 0

0

Oct 0

0

Nov 00

Dec 00

Jan

01

Feb 0

1

mil

lio

ns

No of Page Views

SCIENCE & MEDICAL: REACHING NEW USERS

• All 12 universities and national library

• Upsold from 450 to all 1,100 journals

• 5 year contract

• Potential for additional revenues

- New customers (lower level colleges)

- Upselling (backfiles, additional functionality, abstract databases)

Example: Dutch Consortium

SCIENCE & MEDICAL: REACHING NEW USERS

Ohio State University

China

KoreaAustralia

Taiwan

Brazil

Canada

Bavaria

Vale (USA)

Nord Rhein Westpahlia

SCIENCE & MEDICAL: 2001 PRIORITIES

• Further upgrade of ScienceDirect

• Broaden user base

• Successfully integrate Harcourt STM

LEGAL: US STRATEGY FOR GROWTH

ACCELERATED REVENUE GROWTH

US LAW SCHOOL PREFERENCE

SMALL LAWPROGRAMME

UPGRADEDSALES AND MARKETING

COMPETITIVEPRODUCTlexis.comnexis.com

STRONGERRENEWALS

HIGHER PENETRATION

HIGHER USAGE

INTERNET MIGRATIONCUSTOMER PREFERENCE

LEGAL : PRODUCT UPGRADE PROGRAMME

TAXCCH/Tax Analysts

LEGALExpanded E-treatises

Improved Linkages

CITATORFunctionality

Upgrade

CASE SUMMARIES300 700 Editors

$19m Investment in 2001

WEB RELIABILITYPrivate Nodes

EASE OF USENew lexis.com

New WebSphere Platform

NEWS & BUSINESSFT Profile/

Company Dossier

PUBLIC RECORDSRiskwise/Corp America

Acquisitions

LEGAL: MIGRATION TO ELECTRONIC INFORMATION

60

62

64

66

68

70

72

74

1999 2001 2003

%

US: % Electronic Revenues

LEGAL: US LAW SCHOOL PREFERENCE PARITY

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Fall 1997 Fall 1998 Spring1999

Fall 1999 Spring2000

Fall 2000

%

LEXIS Preference Overall

1519

22

3235

54

LEGAL: CUSTOMISED SOLUTIONS

CUSTOMISED E-SOLUTIONS

KNOWLEDGEMANAGEMENTPORTALSpecialised portal for law firms

CUSTOMWEB PAGESEasy access tospecific forms and sources

INTRANET SOLUTIONSCustomisedlegal intranets

PRACTICE PAGESCustomised approachto specific practiceareas

LEXIS - NEXIS DATABASE/CONTENT

LEGAL: KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PORTAL

• “One search” technology for simultaneous search of legal resources, website, news feeds and internal documents

• Enhanced productivity

• Simplified navigation

• Improved client communication tools

• Proven software

Lawyer receivesLawyer receivese-maile-mail

ContentContentSuggestedSuggested

Answer oneAnswer oneClick awayClick away

LEGAL: BUTTERWORTHS LEXIS DIRECT

Pre-emptive Search

• Automatic alerting to highly relevant Butterworths Lexis direct content

LEGAL: BUTTERWORTHS LEXIS DIRECT

• 2000 revenues £4.5m, up 400% on 1999

• 85,800 current paying customers

• 1,000 new individual subscribers each week

• 1.25m page impressions per week

LEGAL: 2001 PRIORITIES

• Continued product upgrade

• Monetise increased usage

• Adopt Lexis Nexis as global brand and product platform

• Expand geographical presence in key markets

BUSINESS: STRATEGY FOR GROWTH

ACCELERATED REVENUE GROWTH

PRINT LAUNCH AND EXTENSION

LEADING INTERNETPORTALS

UPGRADEDSALES AND MARKETING

CONTENT AND DATA AQUISITION

NEW REVENUESOURCES

STRONGER ADVERTISING PROPOSITION

HIGHER VOLUMES

EXPANSION OF SERVICES CUSTOMER PREFERENCE

BUSINESS: NEW AND UPGRADED PORTALS LAUNCHED

0

20

40

60

80

1999 2000 2001

£ st

erli

ng

mBUSINESS: INTERNET B2B REVENUE GROWTH

• Traffic and revenues building

• Size of market opportunity smaller

• Investment slightly reduced and reprioritised

Organic Including Acquisitions

15

39

70

Performance Chemicals

Europe

European Chemical

News

Asian Chemical

News

Asia Pacific

Chemical

BUSINESS: BUILDING ON PRINT STRENGTHS

CNI

Real time news

Data bases

Magazine archives

CNI

Chemical News &

Intelligence

Global chemical business

news, analysis

and data 24 hours a day

BUSINESS: BUILDING ON PRINT STRENGTHS

Vertical Portals- sector focused information

Hospitality

Horizontal Portals Tax, Finance, Legal, Marketing, HR

Comprehensive business solutions

Agriculture

Horticulture

Food

etc.

ZIBB.NL

BUSINESS: ZIBB.NL WEEKLY PAGE VIEWS

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Oct 00 Dec 00 March 01

(000)

BUSINESS: PORTFOLIO REFOCUS AND EXPANSION

+13% REVENUE; STRONG SHARE GROWTHFEWER, FASTER GROWING, HIGHER QUALITY SECTORS

Construction

Entertainment

Global Chemicals

European Exhibitions

Travel

US Auto, Metals, Food Processing

Tuition Businesses

Bowker Directories

Non Core Titles, Exhibitions, Reference

+ -

Electronics

• Maintain print momentum

• Maximise revenues and returns from internet

• Drive global strategy

• Respond quickly to changing economic environment

BUSINESS: 2001 PRIORITIES

PROGRESS ON HARCOURT ACQUISITION

• Results (year to October 2000) reaffirmed very positive momentum

• Meetings with management encouraging and confirmed opportunity

• Integration plans well advanced

• Strategies and programmes for growth developing well

• Regulatory process targeted for mid year completion

KEY OBJECTIVES FOR 2001

• Drive benefits from strengthened management structure

• Continue to execute effectively against strategic milestones

• Accelerate revenue growth, exceeding market growth in 75% of businesses

• Grow operating margin through increased efficiency

• Accelerate profit growth strongly towards double digit

• Integrate Harcourt successfully

STRONG PLATFORM FOR GROWTH

+

Attractive global growing businesses

Targeted at professional users

Proprietary, must have content

Annual subscription model

Internet accelerating growth opportunities

Clear strategy

Management in place

Resources applied

Execution firmly on track