Sweden's Nationalised Pharmacy, Apoteket, Selects Hypercom Solutions; POS Equipment Establishing Itself in Healthcare Industry

Business Wire, Feb 20, 2001

Business Editors/High Tech Writers

WOKING, United Kingdom and PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 20, 2001

Hypercom Corporation (NYSE:HYC), a global leader in electronic transaction solutions, today announced that Sweden's nationalised pharmacy chain, Apoteket, has purchased 3600 Hypercom(R) HFT 117 card payment terminals to be installed throughout this country. The HFT 117 devices will allow consumers for the first time to pay for medical supplies using either their credit or debit cards. These POS terminals have been purchased from Hypercom's Scandinavian subsidiary Hypercom Financial Terminals AB.

Apoteket, is one of Sweden's biggest enterprises with 10,000 employees and revenues of 24 billion SEK (US$2.6 billion). It controls, distributes and sells medicine and drugs through 900 shops all over Sweden. Last year Apoteket served around 60 million customers, with every medicine sale being reported to the Swedish government.

Hypercom's HFT 117 is a combined POS terminal and PIN pad. Designed for cardholder operation, it addresses the consumer's increasing desire to control handling of their payment card. Customers can enter their PIN numbers to verify transactions. Accepting all local and international credit and debit cards, the HFT 117 connects to in-store cash register systems, allowing transaction details to be sent automatically to the payment terminal and eliminating dual keying of details.

Hans Svedin, Operations Manager from Apoteket comments: "More and more cards are used for payment in pharmacies as the cost for medical products is ever increasing. The new system with a secure PIN pad makes payment much faster and more convenient for the customer."

Robert McLaughlin, Managing Director, Hypercom Europe says: "In addition to handling customer payments, this solution also provides a secure method of authenticating individuals and downloading prescriptions from a secure host database. Our customers are increasingly finding new uses for our electronic transaction processing equipment. The Healthcare industry has traditionally been heavily reliant on paper-based forms and systems, however attention is now shifting to automation, which may involve the use of smart cards. This is creating a demand for card reading appliances within pharmacies, surgeries and hospitals."

"Hypercom solutions are increasingly being linked to healthcare insurance providers and state organisations to verify eligibility and keep records up-to-date. They quickly authorise transactions online, speed up claims processing and reduce costs" comments Jairo E. Gonzalez, President, Transaction Systems Group, Hypercom Corporation. "This Swedish installation for Apoteket verifies this trend, as do recent sales to the Brazilian National Health card system, and medical insurers in the USA."

McLaughlin concludes: "The Apoteket sale has another significance. The Swedish banking authorities have some of the toughest rules in the world for the security of payment transactions. Hypercom products beat those standards; consequently we have made major sales in many sectors of the Swedish economy -- Statoil (forecourts), Ikea (furnishings), Kooperativa forbundet (grocery) and now pharmacies."

Hypercom Corporation (NYSE:HYC) is a leading global provider of electronic payment solutions that add value at the point-of-sale for consumers, merchants and acquirers. Hypercom's products include secure card payment terminals and web appliances, networking equipment and software applications for e-commerce, m-commerce, smart cards and traditional payment applications.

Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, Hypercom maintains an installed base of more than 3.5 million card payment terminals which operate in over 100 countries and conduct more than 2.5 billion transactions annually. Hypercom's Internet address is www.hypercom.com.

Photographs available. Electronic and hard copy photographs are available of a unit being used in a pharmacy store. Please contact Lucy MacDermott (above) if you would like a copy.

Hypercom is a registered trademark of Hypercom Corporation. All other products or services mentioned in this document are trademarks, service marks, registered trademarks or registered service marks of their respective owners.

Certain matters discussed within this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although management of Hypercom believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that its expectations will be attained. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include industry, competitive and technological changes; risks associated with international operations and foreign currency fluctuations; the composition, timing and size of orders from and shipments to major customers; inventory obsolescence; market acceptance of new products and other risks detailed from time to time in Hypercom's SEC reports, including the company's most recent 10K and subsequent 10Qs