Advanced Card Systems receives Frost & Sullivan's "Growth Strategy Leadership" Award

In a ceremony at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Hong Kong on October 16, Advanced Card Systems, the world's 4th leading supplier of smart card readers used with personal computers, received the "Growth Strategy Leadership" Award from Frost & Sullivan, the independent market consulting and research organization, for its exceptional growth strategy within the industry.

Chief Executive Officer of ACS, Mr. Denny Wong said, "We are delighted to stand out from our competitors around the world to receive this award. This reflects not only the efforts we have made in product design and our research and development, but also the success of our business model and development strategies which have facilitated continuous business growth in the past few years."

Mr. John Ryan, Director of Client Services, Asia Pacific of Frost & Sullivan, said, "This Growth Strategy Leadership Award is selected based on rigorous methodology and specific criteria. The award is given to companies, like ACS, who have bolstered their position and whose strategies have a lasting impact on the market. Though ACS is smaller in terms of employees in comparison to its competitors, its success lies in its cost advantages and ability to customize products over other industry players, who primarily come from Europe and the United States."

Accreditation of the award is based on: 1) the ability to grow; 2) the implementation of a unique sales strategy; 3) technological innovation and leadership; 4) discovery of new venues for established products; 5) an effective Internet strategy; 6) strategic mergers, acquisitions, or joint ventures to penetrate new markets and 7) reorganization structured around the growth strategy.

With amazing growth of 116% in turnover in 2002 in comparison with the previous year, together with its strong technology know-how, ACS surpassed other candidates to receive this "Growth Strategy Leadership" Award. Additionally, in the research report titled "Strategic Analysis of the PC Link Smart Card Reader Market" issued by Frost & Sullivan in the second quarter of 2003, ACS was also named as the world's fourth leading industry participant for smart card readers linked to personal computers in 2002. The top three companies are either based in the United States or Europe.

ACS's product portfolio includes PC link readers and their core ICs, balance and data readers, integrated fingerprint and smart card readers, smart card readers with pin-pads and display. These products are widely applicable to online payment, Internet security, national healthcare programmes and identity cards and are sold to customers in over fifty countries around the world, including smart card manufacturers, smart card solution providers, financial institutions, OEM clients and distributors. Most of the smart card readers developed by ACS meet international standards, including Microsoft PC/SC and EMV (Europay, MasterCard, Visa).

To capture the tremendous opportunities in this expanding smart card reader market, we will continue to driver our business growth by equipping our lead—edge products with the diversified product applications developed by our business partner and customers. We will enhance our sales network, technology know-how and solid relationships with our business partners. We are eagerly looking forward to the Group’s next stage of growth and the resulting mutually beneficial relationships with our business partners.