Welland, ON., July 8, 2003 — Brilliant eSolutions, an Andromeda Media Capital Corporation channel partner, located in Queensland, Australia, has closed their doors due to the downturn in the Australian and Asian Tourism business caused by the SARS epidemic. As a result, e-commatrix.com inc. is nullifying its Licensee Agreement with this firm.
Brilliant eSolutions had provided Web-based booking, customer feedback, online merchandising and eMarketing solutions to the Australian hospitality industry.
“Regretfully, Brilliant eSolutions will cease operations in the wake of the SARS epidemic in Asia Pacific,” said Ian Van Kretschmar, Director, Brilliant eSolutions. “The hospitality industry on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts had represented our in-road for the sale and support of e-commatrix.com® inc.’s suite of hosted business applications – the very cornerstone of our business. It is disappointing that we must close our business after such a great introduction with e-commatrix.com® products into the Tourism Industry in Australia.”
Before SARS, the 600,000 Asian tourists expected to visit the Gold Coast this year would have accounted for two-thirds of the destination’s international tourist market. Japanese inbound tour operators estimate that the number of Japanese visiting the Gold Coast in May was down by 50 per cent from the same time last year. They project numbers for June will be down 40 per cent. Numbers of visitors arriving at the Brisbane International Airport from Hong Kong, in May, were down 70 per cent and visitors from Singapore were down 45 per cent from May last year.
Occupancy levels of hotels and unit complexes, which rely heavily on Asian clientele, are as low as 15 per cent and many have had to cut rates to stay competitive.
“As a result of declining tourism market, the purse-strings that would have been open to new and innovative ways to market hotel operations in the region will now remain firmly shut until the situation improves – longer than Brilliant eSolutions can weather,” added Van Kretschmar.
“We are disappointed to be losing a channel partner that had such great potential,” said Albert Iannantuono, President, Andromeda Media Capital Corporation. “We wish Ian the best in his future pursuits.”
Andromeda, through its wholly owned subsidiary, e-commatrix.com inc., is focused on providing breakthrough eBusiness and eCommerce proprietary products and services. These products are introduced to market through an international network of licensed partners as complimentary product lines to their existing solutions, and under a progressive revenue-sharing model. e-commatrix.com inc. aggressively sources new partners worldwide.
Issued and outstanding capitalization as at June 30, 2003 – 29,873,500 common shares.
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Certain statements contained herein constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and 21E of the Exchange Act of 1934. Such statements include, without limitation, statements regarding business and financing, business trends, and future operating revenues and expenses. Statements regarding the aforementioned are based on several assumptions and are not to be considered fact. Although Andromeda Media Capital Corporation and e-commatrix.com inc. believe that the statements are reasonable, it can give no assurances that such expectation will prove to be correct. Investors are cautioned that any forward-looking statements made by Andromeda Media Capital Corporation or e-commatrix.com inc. contain no guarantee of future performance and that actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forwardlooking statements. For additional information see the reports filed by the company in its securities filings with applicable securities regulators (currently available at www.sedar.com). Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, Andromeda disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.