Adjoined Consulting Acquires Plaut Outsourcing.

Business Editors

MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 9, 2003

Integrates Resources, Technology and Services of Two

Successful Outsourcing Teams into a Full Life Cycle Outsourcing

Solution for Global 2000 Companies

Adjoined Consulting, a full-service management consulting firm, and Plaut Consulting, Inc., an international management and IT consulting firm and a Global SAP Implementation Services Partner, today announced the acquisition of Plaut Outsourcing, a division of Plaut Consulting, Inc., by Adjoined.

As a result of the acquisition, Adjoined Consulting has significantly expanded its outsourcing capabilities and is poised to capitalize on large-scale outsourcing engagements with Global 2000 clients. By integrating the resources, technology and methodology of Adjoined Consulting's Outsourcing team and Plaut Outsourcing, a new, comprehensive suite of services will be available to clients effectively addressing all aspects of the burgeoning outsourcing market, from IT infrastructure management to application management and hosting. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"Unlike distress-oriented acquisitions forced by the current economic environment, our acquisition of Plaut Outsourcing represents the addition of a profitable, established team, along with state of the art data center infrastructure, enabling us to extend our service lines and further address market demands," said Rodney Rogers, CEO of Adjoined Consulting. "We are one of the only medium-sized consulting firms, if not the only such firm of our size, truly able to execute through a full suite of strategy, technology and outsourcing services on a significant scale while staying true to our ultimate objective of delivering a superior return on our client's deployed capital. We believe this positions Adjoined Consulting as a uniquely efficient and compelling alternative to today's large integrators."

David Northington, President and CEO of Plaut North America commented: "This acquisition effectively supports the long-term strategy of each company. Plaut has a solid 50 year history, and has evolved into a recognized leader in supporting clients in the manufacturing, consumer products, and services industries. We help our client achieve success with technology in an aggressive cost effective and results oriented manner. Plaut Consulting, Inc., is an SAP Global Services Partner, and has been engaged in supplying SAP services for more that 20 years." Northington continued, "This strategic divestiture of our outsourcing division enables us to sharpen and deepen our focus on the CPG, manufacturing and services industries. While we are proud of what was achieved in our development of Plaut Outsourcing this divesture will allow us to expand our record of more than 1600 successful SAP implementations."

Track Record of Growth

At a time when the entire professional services industry is experiencing an extended period of contraction and downsizing, Adjoined Consulting is profitable and has continued to grow organically, realizing more than 50 percent compounded annual growth rate since its inception in 2000. Adjoined Consulting is an innovator in the professional services industry led by consulting veterans with deep, industry-specific expertise. With over 200 professionals, it is one of the few medium-sized management consulting firms that offers an end-to-end delivery capability across strategy, technology and outsourcing. The acquisition of Plaut Outsourcing gives Adjoined Consulting additional resources, technology, services and methodology to drive rapid growth in the outsourcing market. Since the launch of Plaut Outsourcing in 1998, the division has experienced excellent growth - last year alone the division grew 18 percent.

Plaut Perspective

The strategic decision to focus on industry expertise, management consulting, SAP implementation services and Application management, is central to Plaut's future direction. As a recognized Global SAP Partner, this is another positive step in Plaut's 50 plus year history of providing support to clients. This will help Plaut achieve its objectives by allowing increased focus on client services that facilitate change in their business process and operations. Plaut Consulting, Inc., is wholly owned by Plaut AG, a leading management consulting firm and SAP Partner in Europe, and has gained a strong foothold in North America since its entry into the market in the mid 1990s. Plaut has successfully completed more than 1600 SAP implementations, and is differentiated through its decades of core competency in cost accounting and controlling.

Impact of the Acquisition

Adjoined Consulting is expanding its current base of outsourcing services, utilizing Plaut's Class A Data Centers in Phoenix and Boston acquired in the transaction. The complete suite of outsourcing services will include:

-- IT Infrastructure Management

-- Business Application Management and Support

-- Business Performance Management Services

Critical Role of Outsourcing

While outsourcing has historically been a tactical move for many businesses over the past decade, it is now becoming a strategic initiative that improves performance, reduces costs and allows enterprises to focus on their core competencies. Industry analyst Gartner Group estimates that more than one-third of businesses with more than $50 million in revenue will utilize outsourcing services for some portion of their business functions. Thus, outsourcing represents more than $345 billion of corporate spending.

The outsourcing adoption trend will continue to escalate as more tools become available to facilitate a seamless transition to externally outsourced or co-sourced environments. Adjoined Consulting is poised to capitalize on the outsourcing trend by continuing to leverage its human capital and its newly acquired technology and services.

About Adjoined Consulting

Adjoined Consulting is a full-service management consulting firm delivering innovation and business value to its Global 2000 client base. Adjoined deploys industry-specific and operational consulting skills in conjunction with leading-edge technology integration and outsourcing expertise to drive uniquely complete client solutions. Its portfolio of consulting services is targeted to four industries and six specific industry sub-segments within them. In the Products industry they provide innovative solutions to the Food and Beverage, Pharmaceutical, Consumer Goods and Industrial Supply industry sub-segments. Adjoined also services the Financial Services Industry, specifically in the areas of Banking and Capital Markets and Insurance, and the Travel & Leisure and Telecommunications industries from supply chain intelligence through software application management. The company is headquartered in Miami and has offices in Atlanta and New York City. For more information, visit www.adjoined.com.

About Plaut Consulting Inc.

Plaut Consulting Inc. is the U.S. subsidiary of Plaut AG, an independent, internationally operating, management-consulting group with a global presence in 16 countries. As a full solution provider offering a suite of services from strategy consulting to SAP Design and Implementation Projects to Application Management, Plaut offers 50+ years of business process expertise, 20+ years of SAP experience, and in-depth industry knowledge. In North America, Plaut is one of the very few Global SAP Partners with business units that are authorized to sell SAP licenses, as well as deliver implementation services. With sales revenues amounting to 216 M EUR (in 2002), it is one of the leading management consulting companies worldwide. Plaut AG, Salzburg, has been listed in the General Standard segment of Frankfurt stock exchange since January 2, 2003 (PUT; SCN 918 703, ISIN AT0000954359). The company traded on Frankfurt's "Neuer Markt" from 1999 to 2002. Plaut Consulting, Inc. is headquartered in Atlanta and has offices in Boston and Toronto. More information about Plaut Consulting is available at http://www.plaut.com.