Reuters Adds US Municipal Bond Data

Business Wire, June 27, 2005

NEW YORK -- Reuters (NASDAQ:RTRSY) (LSE:RTR), the global information company, will offer its fixed income customers enhanced US municipal bond data through an agreement with Mergent Inc, a leading provider of global corporate and financial information and a part of Xinhua Finance Group (TSE Mothers:9399). This announcement signals another step forward for Reuters wider fixed income market ambitions, and supports its US plans specifically.

Under the agreement, Reuters Station, Reuters Trader and Reuters 3000Xtra end users within the institutional sales & trading or asset management financial services segments will have access to Mergent's BondSource(TM) Municipal Bond Securities Data. BondSource is a complete database of over 1,400,000 security descriptions from more than 70,000 distinct issuers of US state and local tax-exempt debt including key material events.

This US bond data enhancement follows an extensive Q/A program completed by Reuters, Mergent and Morgan Stanley, the US-based investment bank. With the addition of Mergent's Municipal Bond Securities Data, Reuters customers will have access to a broad set of municipal information featuring Reuters editorial expertise in the US tax-exempt market with reporters covering the latest bond sales, political events and general news affecting the municipal markets. Reuters news is supplemented by i-Deal's municipal syndicate wire of competitive, negotiated and note pre-sales, sales and calendars. Pre-trade price discovery and compliance workflows access the real-time trade reporting from MSRB's secondary market price transparency data and Municipal Market Advisor's Consensus, the most consistent benchmark for daily municipal yield change.

Glenn Wright, Reuters Business Manager for Fixed Income in the Americas, said: "Mergent's professionalism and focus on quality has convinced us that we now can offer our clients a cost effective and timely source of comprehensive US tax-exempt reference data to institutional and retail professionals in this market."

Jonathan Worrall, Mergent's CEO, said: "Mergent is delighted to have worked closely with Reuters to bring this new innovative solution for fixed income data to their customers based upon more than a hundred years of data collection and analysis. The market has been demanding a new approach to meet this data requirement which Reuters will more than satisfy with this product launch."

Mergent's BondSource data is targeted to be available on selected Reuters desktops this summer. Customers can request a 30-day free trial through their account managers.

About Mergent

Mergent, Inc. a Xinhua Finance company (http://wwwxinhuafinance.com), is a leading provider of global business and financial information on publicly traded companies headquartered in New York, NY and Charlotte, NC, with sales offices in key North American cities as well as London, Tokyo and Sydney. Its products and services include: Mergent Online (TM); Mergent Manuals, Handbooks and Investment Guides; EventsData (TM), web-based reporting of corporate actions and events; BondSource (TM), access to municipal and corporate fixed income data and end-of-day pricing; Argus/Mergent, independent equity research; Active (TM), a financial analysis tool; Mergent Dividend Achievers (TM) Indexes, and licensed investment products including ETF's and other funds. Mergent's databases include information on more than 15,000 US public companies, and 20,000 non-US public companies in 100 countries. More information about Mergent, Inc. can be found at http://wwwmergent.com .

About Xinhua Finance Limited

Xinhua Finance Limited is China's premier financial services and media company, listed on the Mothers Board of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE Mothers:9399). The company provides financial news and information, as well as a broad array of financial products and services unique to the China markets. Xinhua Finance provides real time coverage of Chinese and Asian equity markets, delivering an integrated platform of China-specific indices, financial news feeds, credit ratings, and investor relations services to global financial institutions and re-distributors via leased line, Internet, and satellite technology. Founded in 1999, the Company is headquartered in Hong Kong and has 21 offices and 19 news bureaus across Asia, Australia, North America and Europe. For more information, see http://wwwxinhuafinance.com

About Reuters

Reuters (www.reuters.com), the global information company, provides indispensable information tailored for professionals in the financial services, media and corporate markets. Its trusted information drives decision making across the globe based on a reputation for speed, accuracy and independence. Reuters has 14,500 staff in 91 countries. This includes 2,300 editorial staff in 196 bureaux serving 129 countries, making Reuters the world's largest international multimedia news agency. In 2004, Reuters Group revenues were GBP 2.9 billion.

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