PRESS RELEASE

Foundation of "Ormecon International"

Growth for the Organic Metal polyaniline in electronics / Nanotechnology in action

Ormecon GmbH has realised a major expansion of their entrepreneurial activities. Two new subsidiaries in which Ormecon is holding a majority have been founded. Both companies are active on the area of solderable surface finishes for printed circuit boards, an area, to which Ormecon is supplying intensively various products based on their Organic Metal polyaniline.

• In Germany, the chemical business of Unicron GmbH (a subsidiary of Cimatec GmbH) has been acquired including production facilities. The business and the production will be continued in a new company called "Electronic Chemicals Unicron GmbH" in Kirchheimbolanden (near Alzey / Rheinland Pfalz, Germany); 9 employees have been taken over.
• In USA / Colorado, the "Ormecon Cirtech" has been established, which has acquired the "OMICRON" business of Florida Cirtech (FCT), a company who has been working in sales and licence alliance with Ormecon since several years. FCT will be active as a partner also in the next time, so that Ormecon Cirtech (OCT) will work with about a dozen of sales people active for FCT and OCT in US and Asia.

Together with their own customers, Ormecon now has more than 120 customers in the printed circuit board industry, using their product ORMECON CSN, OMIKRON PLUS or a comparable product based on electroless tin for a solderable surface finish. Customers can be found in whole Europe, USA, Canada, Asia (especially China, Korea, Taiwan and Japan) and Australia.

Now, the Organic Metal which is being produced and sold by Ormecon as the world-wide first company, has a significantly improved market access. Ormecon will install a world-wide homogeneous marketing for its products for the printed circuit board industry and will serve the customers with its technology and know-how on a world-wide basis.

In spite of 2 years of a strong recession in the international electronics market (the PCB industry has realised a downsize by about 50% world-wide), Ormecon has grown by 100% in 2001 to 2003. The world-wide consolidation of the supplier market has allowed the formation of this new company group, which will be a basis for an enhanced growth.

Besides the products for the printed circuit board industry, which have been introduced on a world-wide scale, Ormecon is offering numerous additional products and services on the basis of its technology. These include hole

injection for OLEDs, highly conducting materials for organic or polymeric integrated circuits ("polymer electronics"), printable electrode materials for electroluminescence, but also antistatic and conductive paints as well as paints for corrosion protection. All Ormecon products contain the Organic Metal as nanoparticles – it’s nanotechnology.

"Ormecon International" is now a small but world-wide operating group of companies for which around 40 people are working. It consists of Ormecon GmbH as the core and mother company, the Electronic Chemicals Unicron GmbH (also in Germany and both with an export rate of more than 60%), the Ormecon Cirtech (USA) and the Nippon Ormecon (Japan).

In addition, more than 25 sales partners (mainly producers of speciality chemicals or trade companies) are working with Ormecon International and are selling their products in all major industrialised countries in the world.

Ormecon GmbH, a spin-off from Zipperling Kessler in 1996 as a 100% subsidiary, is actually the world-wide only company producing an Organic Metal. It continues to perform scientific basic research in order to maintain and expand the pioneering position on this area.

Since early 2003, 5 Venture Capital-Fonds from Canada, Switzerland and Germany have invested in Ormecon and own a little more than 20% of the shares. With these investments, it is intended to support the growth plan financially. President and CEO is Dr. Bernhard Wessling, who at the same time is shareholder and president of Zipperling Kessler (still the major shareholder in Ormecon GmbH). He is active in basic and applied research on the area of conductive polymers and Organic Metals since more than 25 years.

Ormecon has granted licenses to international companies such as Bayer AG, Dupont (USA), Avecia (GB, a company spin-off from ICI) and Covion (Germany, a subsidiary of Avecia and spin-off of the former Hoechst AG) as well as Panipol Oy (Finland, a spin-off from Neste Oy).

Ammersbek, August 2003

(Dr. Bernhard Wessling)