POMONA, CA., January 10, 2000 - - AUTO-GRAPHICS, INC. ("AUGR"-OTCBB) reported that it organized two new subsidiaries which will own, continue the development and operate the Auto-Graphics' proposed new LibraryCard.com and web publishing and content management software system businesses. The two new subsidiaries are named LibraryCard, Inc. and Dataquad, Inc., respectively.
Each of the two new corporations recently completed a year-end 1999 placement of stock with a single private investor who purchased a twenty-seven percent interest in the two corporations for $1 million each. Auto-Graphics, as the parent company, named Corey M. Patick as the chief executive officer of the two new subsidiary corporations. Mr. Patick has a six percent stock ownership interest in each of the two new companies, which will initially operate out of the Auto-Graphics' offices in Pomona, California. Auto-Graphics plans in the future to be able to organize and arrange for funding additional "incubator" type companies. Subject to dilution, attributable to a planned employee stock option plan covering ten percent of the initial outstanding shares of each of the two new companies and further financing for the companies to be secured from outside sources anticipated to be required, Auto-Graphics owns sixty-seven percent of the issued and outstanding stock of such companies.
LibraryCard.com is a planned Internet portal site, which will make library bibliographic and other reference type information and services available to the public. Plans for LibraryCard include e-commerce capability offering information-related products/services consistent with the site's "library" orientation. The site will endeavor to help educate the general public as to the book lending and related information and other services available from their local libraries and assist them in taking advantage of such resources. The site will offer users the same "online resource center" finding service which Auto-Graphics currently makes available to the approximately 7,000 libraries currently using the Auto-Graphics Impact Online public access Internet service. See www.LibraryCard.net.
Dataquad, Inc. is developing a substantially upgraded version of Auto-Graphics' existing CMS "editor" product. The planned new product to be marketed under the "Dataquad" trade name will provide users with a single software system allowing users to convert and create, edit and manage data on a dynamic basis using eXtensible Markup Language ("XML") and Standard Generalized Markup Language ("SGML") as its technology backbone. The customer can then distribute and publish such enterprise-wide database information in simultaneous multi-media formats including print, CD-ROM and over the Internet including in an e-commerce environment using the user's own computer system or on an outsourced "host" basis using Dataquad.
Results of LibraryCard, Inc. and Dataquad, Inc. will be reported by Auto-Graphics on a consolidated basis beginning in 2000. Neither of these "incubator" type companies is expected to have significant impact on Auto-Graphics' revenues in the current year and expenses attributable to the continued development and introduction of the two new companies' offerings, estimated to total approximately $2 million, will have an adverse impact on Auto-Graphics' reported results of operations in at least the current year. For 1999 year-end, Auto-Graphics anticipates reporting net income of approximately $75,000 on revenues of approximately $8.3 million.
