Business Objects Expands Presence in Australian e-Business Intelligence Market; Company Acquires Distribution Rights in Australia and New Zealand

Business Wire, August 2, 2000

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif. & SYDNEY, Australia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 2, 2000

Business Objects (Nasdaq:BOBJ), the world's leading provider of e-business intelligence (e-BI) solutions, today announced the acquisition of the Business Objects unit of its Australian distributor, Executive Computing Group, for a cash transaction of approximately $5.2 million Australian dollars. The acquisition will be accounted for under the purchase method of accounting.

The combined operation will be headquartered in Sydney, with offices in Melbourne and Auckland. Business Objects will also open a customer support center in Sydney, to support the Asia Pacific region.

"Our increased investment and expanded presence in Australia will allow us to further deliver on the benefits of e-business intelligence -- allowing employees, customers, partners and suppliers to access, analyze, and share key corporate information," said David Runacres, vice president, International Distribution Division at Business Objects. "By developing a direct sales channel and extending our strategic partnerships with other vendors and consulting organizations, we are able to increase our presence in the region and expand our offerings."

Key customers of Business Objects include Coca-Cola Amatil, Mercantile Mutual, Qantas, Shell, and Telstra. The company also has several certified consulting and training partners in the region, including PricewaterhouseCoopers, Andersen Consulting, and former distributor, Executive Computing Group. In addition, the company has a strategic reseller agreement with IBM whereby IBM sells Business Objects as a component of their e-business offering.

Statements in this press release regarding Business Objects that are not statements of historical fact may include forward looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Any such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements include statements concerning the ability to grow revenues in the region. Important factors that may cause actual results to differ include: the ability of the company to integrate employees transferring over from Executive Computing. For a further discussion of the other risk factors facing Business Objects business, please refer to the documents filed by Business Objects SA with the SEC from time to time.

About Business Objects

Business Objects is the world's leading provider of e-business intelligence (e-BI) solutions. The company coined the term e-business intelligence in 1998 to describe the intersection of business intelligence and the internet. Using e-business intelligence, organizations can access, analyze, and share information in intranet, extranet, and e-business environments. In intranets, the company's products provide employees with information to make better business decisions, and are used in environments ranging from workgroups of 20 users to enterprise deployments exceeding 20,000. In the extranet environment, the company is pioneering the use of e-BI in applications that allow organizations to build stronger relationships by linking customers, partners, and suppliers via the internet. In addition, the company's products can improve the performance of an e-business by providing reporting and analysis against the ever-expanding amount of transaction and profile data that is collected each day throughout the world wide web.

Founded in 1990, Business Objects pioneered the modern business intelligence industry by inventing and patenting a "semantic layer" that insulates users from the technical complexity of database systems. Today, the company has sold more than 2,268,000 licenses to over 10,900 organizations in more than 80 countries. The company's stock is publicly traded under the ticker symbols NASDAQ: BOBJ and PARIS BOURSE: code SICOVAM 12074, and included in the SBF 120 and IT CAC 50 French stock market indexes. Business Objects can be reached at 408-953-6000 and www.businessobjects.com.

Note to Editors: BusinessObjects is a trademark of Business Objects SA. WebIntelligence is a registered trademark of Business Objects SA. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

A full-text copy of this announcement may be obtained by calling the Company's fax retrieval line at 800-414-2114 and selecting option "two." The announcement may also be downloaded from the web; access http://www.businesswire.com/cnn and search on "Business Objects." Business Objects product inquiries should contact 800-527-0580.