PRESS RELEASE
Wednesday April 7, 8:49 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Bridges Initiatives
Corporate Update
KELOWNA, BRITISH COLUMBIA--
MANITOBA PROVINCIAL RESUBSCRIPTION SUPPORTS $467,000 IN REVENUES FOR MARCH
March came in like a lion for The Bridges Initiatives Inc. ''Bridges.com'', due to a variety of sales
achievements. Manitoba's decision to re-purchase 350 site licences for 300 schools and 50 non-school
sites. In addition, a 39-site sale in Virginia cappe d a 141-sale month by the company's sales team. These
new sales plus a few resubscriptions carried revenues in March to $467,750. This compares to $124,500
in revenues in March of 1998. ''Our sales team continues to be very effective'', said Mike Martin,
VP of Sales. "They consistently achieve sales expectations with their good selling skills and strong belief
in our quality Career Explorer service."
Trading Symbol BIT
Stock Exchange ASE
30 Day High $4.25 / share
30 Day Low $2.60 / share
Mar. 31, 1999 close $3.60 / share
RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Manitoba Re-Purchases CX for One More Year
All secondary schools in Manitoba will receive access to the Career Explorer resource for one more year,
thanks to the decisions of The Ministry of Education and Training (MET) and Human Resources
Development Canada in the province. Tom Glenwright from the MET indicated, ''The greatest benefit of
the CX service is the ''customization'' of the information to Manitoba's labour market conditions. Young
people get Manitoba examples, Manitoba wage information and outlooks that are relevant to Manitoba's
econom y. That kind of specificity is invaluable.''
Perspectives Aujourd'hui - Bridges.com's First French Site
Prospects Today, the daily labour market information website provided by Bridges.com to the National
Graduate Registry in Canada, now has a French version available to job-seekers and students.
Perspectives Aujourd'hui can be viewed at perspectives.br idges.com. This brings up-to-date,
user-friendly labour market data to people of both languages in Canada.
''We hope we will someday be able to adapt all our career content for the French-speaking population of
Canada'', said Louise Logie-Verkerk, VP of Publishing for Bridges.com. The English version of this service
can be viewed at prospects.bridges.com.
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1999 1998
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Sites Accessing as of Mar. 3,335 1,542
Total Pages Viewed In Mar. 3,376,698 872,985
Total Hits In Mar. 14,128,844 NA
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EVENTS, TRENDS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Name Change Proposed At AGM - Bridges.com
For the past several months, Bridges.com has been the ''nickname'' of The Bridges Initiatives Inc. At the
April 7 Annual and Special Meeting of the Shareholders will decide whether they believe Bridges.com
should become the official name of the Company. A 66 2/3 percent majority is required to implement the
name change.
Bridges Sales Initiatives to Increase in 1999
Career Explorer is presently used in 32 percent of Canadian and 6 percent of American middle and
secondary schools. In order to more ambitiously distribute CX into this market, additional sales initiatives
will be implemented in preparation for the 1999 /2000 school year. Sale of the new Career Advantage
information service to libraries, post-secondary institutions, and employment centers will be incorporated
into these new sales ventures. Specific plans for sales expansion will be finalized in April.
CX Usage Rates Increasing
In March of 1999, 3335 subscribing sites averaged 1013 page views/site for the month. This compares
with 1542 sites averaging 566 page views/site in March of 1998. This indicates increased usage of the
CX resource by subscribers.
Contact:
The Bridges Initiatives Inc.
Norman Thompson
Investor Relations
(250) 862-8722
(250) 862-8771
info@bridges.com
bridges.com |
