Hemmington Scott Throws Down Challenge to Free Internet
21.07.1999, 12:04
Providers LONDON (PROTEXT) - -- Award-winning content owner shifts goalposts by making000's pounds sterling worth of data free to all on the Internet. -- Hemmington Scott demerges Internet and database activitiesas it prepares to raise additional capital for new venture. Hemmington Scott, which already operates one of the top siteson the web for company, investment and financial information, israising the stakes in the UK's explosive Internet sector. Todayit announces that it is to be the first major content owner tobecome an Internet Service Provider (ISP). Hemmington Scott isworking in association with UUNET, an MCI WorldCom company, tooffer free Internet access and create a business portal,unrivalled in content, branded hemscott.net Business. Hemmington Scott also announces that it proposes to demergeits Internet and database activities from its publishingoperations. A number of opportunities are currently beingconsidered for the demerged entity to access the capital marketsto fund expansion. Hemscott's ISP customers will have immediate access tothousands of pounds worth of free information, and even more willbe coming on stream over the next few weeks. Previously, much ofthis information was available only by subscription. It includesdetailed broker forecasts, financial data on all 2300 UK listedand AIM companies, up-to-date director information, directors'dealings, adviser/client relationships as well as share prices.hemscott.net Business will also provide news as it happens, fullycross-linked to all its other information streams. The 120,000 pages of information currently available onhemscott.com, which attract over 10 million page impressions oftraffic per month, will continue to be accessible to all internetusers free of charge. From today, the new level of enhancedvalue-added information will also be available free of charge --but exclusively to Hemscott's ISP customers. Users of other ISPservices can access this valuable information for a limited freetrial period until 30 September 1999. Thereafter, they willqualify for a reduced subscription rate of 5 pounds a month forunlimited access, instead of the normal rate of 10 pounds. According to Peter Scott, Chairman of Hemmington Scott: "Weare ready to meet the challenges of the new information age. Wewere the first to put up company information on the Internet in1995, and are continuing to play to our strengths by becoming thefirst major content owner to become an ISP. "By giving away literally thousands of pounds worth ofinformation absolutely free, and providing free Internet access,we are showing our commitment to delivering real value to our ISPcustomers, both at home and in the office. We aim to become theUK business user's first point of reference for information onthe web." Richard Kellett-Clarke, Managing Director of AFX News,commented: "AFX is delighted to be involved in this exciting newventure. We are particularly impressed by the way in whichHemmington Scott has integrated our financial and businessInternet news product with its own extensive database. Thecombination looks set to become a highly successful service" Joe Clift, UK Marketing Director at UUNET, commented: "We aremajor providers of ISP services and only last week announced theManchester United product. We are pleased to be working withanother key player in its sector. With the range of added valuecontent that hemscott.net Business offers, customers will haveaccess to a new category of service that, as yet, has beenunavailable. This partnership fits particularly well with UUNET'sbusiness focus as the leading provider of Internet services tocorporate Britain." As part of hemscott.net, customers will also receive fast dialup speeds (up to 56 kbps and ISDN) and reliable connectivity toup to 5 mailboxes, 20 MB of free web space, local call chargesanywhere in the UK and E-web allowing them to pick up e-mailanywhere around the world. The UUNET infrastructure is the most extensive and widelydeployed Internet service, rating consistently amongst the verybest for speed, performance and reliability. It has consistentlyoutperformed the industry average performance levels, receivingInverse's* coveted "A+" rating on web throughput for each monthto date in 1999. The hemscott.net Business ISP access software can bedownloaded from the home page, www.hemscott.net, or from a freeinstallation CD available direct from Hemmington Scott, tel: 800-320-548. *Inverse Benchmarking Methodologies Hemmington Scott Established in 1985, Hemmington Scott publishes guides anddirectories of information on UK stockmarket-quoted companies.The company is now the leading supplier of UK equityfundamentals, both in printed form and on the Internet. Hemmington Scott is recognised as providing the highestquality data to fund managers, City investment professionals andprivate investors, as well as corporate financiers, corporatetreasurers, bankers and the quoted companies themselves. AFX AFX News is a joint-venture of Agence France-Presse and theFinancial Times Group. Formed in 1990 and incorporating the 1872-founded Extel News, AFX originates professional business andfinancial news services. On a daily basis, AFX streams 4000 corporate, financial andmarket news stories in 6 languages to clients world-wide throughits global communications network (http://www.afxnews.com oremail: richard.kellet-clarke@afxnews.com). UUNET UUNET (http://www.uk.uu.net) is an MCI WorldCom company and aglobal leader in Internet communications, offering acomprehensive range of services to businesses, online serviceproviders and telecommunications firms. The network covers over1100 points of presence world-wide and offers connectivity in 114countries to more than 70,000 businesses. UUNET provides the dial Infrastructure for PIPEX, Gateway,Wilington, Manchester United, The Microsoft Network, AOL, andCompuserve. Leased line customers include companies such asBarclaycard, BBC, CNN, Legal & General, Abbey National, RoyalMail, The Telegraph, Thomas Cook and Trailfinders and Governmentservices such as HM Treasury, Royal Navy. ots Original TextService: Hemmington Scott Internet: http://www.newsaktuell.deContact: Peter Scott, John Suckling or Jane Andrew, all ofHemmington Scott, +44-171-278-7769, or jsuckling@hemscott.co.uk;or Janet Kilpatrick or Madeleine Thomas, both of Purple MoonPartnership, +44-7071-225-906 or purmoon@aol.com; or UUNET UKPress Centre, +44-171-287-5540 Web site: http://www.uk.uu.net
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