Arnhold and S.Bleichroeder Inc. now contributing to First Call Services.

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 6, 1997--

Arnhold and S.Bleichroeder's earnings estimates and equity

research now available on First Call's RTEE, FIRST CALL Notes and

FIRST CALL Research Direct

Arnhold and S.Bleichroeder Inc. is now distributing its earnings estimates over First Call's RTEE (Real Time Earnings Estimates) database; its morning meeting comments, intra-day research broadcasts and special equity notes exclusively over FIRST CALL Notes; and its full-text equity research reports over FIRST CALL Research Direct. Boston-based First Call, which launched its first product in 1985, is a unit of Thomson Financial Services.

Arnhold and S.Bleichroeder is an international investment banking firm serving corporate and institutional clients as well as individuals of substantial net worth. Research is sector driven on a cross border basis and takes an opportunistic approach with an emphasis on finding undervalued, misunderstood or overlooked situations. This has enabled the firm to be particularly successful in identifying emerging growth companies around the world whose potential has not been widely recognized.

"We are very excited to make our earnings estimates and equity research notes and reports available to our clients electronically and in real-time," said Steven Gluckstein, senior vice president and director of research at Arnhold and S.Bleichroeder. "We are especially pleased to be able to make this variety of information available via First Call."

"We are very pleased to add Arnhold and S.Bleichroeder to the continuously growing list of high caliber brokerage firms distributing over First Call's services," said Rob Garrigan, executive vice president and general manager of Broker Services at First Call Corp. "Their research and earnings estimates will be a great complement to the information already available over our network."

First Call's flagship product, FIRST CALL Notes, is the industry standard in the delivery of global commingled morning meeting comments, intra-day research broadcasts and special equity notes. More than 2,000 institutional money management firms use Notes -- it is currently viewed at almost 9,500 desktops in the U.S. alone. More than 200 sell-side institutions worldwide, including 100 of North America's top brokerage and investment research firms, contribute to Notes. All of Institutional Investor's top 20-ranked firms (which included 22 companies in 1996) are current contributors, 17 of them exclusively. There is an average of 1,400 notes per day on the system and a peak of 3,000 notes per day during quarterly earnings reporting periods.

FIRST CALL Research Direct allows clients to electronically access more than 320,000 original, commingled, full-text equity research reports -- including all text, charts, graphs, color and formatting -- in real-time. With this agreement, there are now 164 leading brokerage firms from Asia, Australia, Europe, Japan, North America and South America that contribute to the service. All of Institutional Investor's top 20-ranked U.S. firms (which included 22 companies in 1996) are current contributors, 13 of them exclusively. All of the top 10 brokers in the United Kingdom, as ranked by FT Extel, also contribute to Research Direct. All of the top 10 Dutch brokers, as ranked by the 1996 Reuters Survey, are now distributing their research over the service as well. Twenty of Institutional Investor's top 22-ranked Asians firms are Research Direct contributors. Research Direct is used by more than 14,115 institutional money managers worldwide.

First Call's RTEE offers access to real-time earnings estimates on more than 17,500 companies as provided by more than 560 brokerage firms worldwide. From this RTEE database, First Call produces the FIRST CALL consensus estimate, a proprietary number often cited in leading financial publications. The RTEE database features more than 200 data items including earnings estimates, operating actuals, expected reporting dates, footnotes and company-issued guidelines. All earnings data is processed by computer-generated quality control tests, then verified by teams of professionals.

First Call products can be accessed through a desktop PC via a Windows-based LAN, a dedicated First Call terminal, or via other third party services. RTEE and FIRST CALL Notes can also be accessed through FIRST CALL On Call, a dial-up method. RTEE data is available on various hard copy reports and fax products as well. In addition to the delivery options already mentioned, Research Direct can also be accessed via the Internet at www.firstcall.com

Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder Inc. has almost 200 years of history behind it. Services offered include asset management, advice on mergers and acquisitions and other corporate finance matters, institutional brokerage and research, underwriting and trading in domestic and foreign securities. The firm currently makes markets for equities in 48 countries around the world.

First Call Corp. delivers real-time, commingled research, earnings estimates and corporate information to the worldwide financial community. The FIRST CALL Fundamentals Database compiles critical fundamental data on more than 7,180 public companies and the FIRST CALL Recommendations Database compiles individual by/sell/hold recommendations from Wall Street analysts. First Call also produces a proprietary FIRST CALL consensus recommendation from this collection. First Call is also a leader in delivery of commingled fixed income research notes, analysis and full-text research reports via FIRST CALL BondCall. In addition, First Call provides its products to investor relations professionals via its Corporate Services division, with more than 2,000 companies using FIRST CALL to send and/or receive financial news. For more information, visit First Call's web site at www.firstcall.com

Thomson Financial Services is a leading provider of quality financial information, research, analysis and software products to the worldwide financial and corporate communities.

CONTACT: First Call

Faye Fardshisheh, 617/856-1158

or

Dewe Rogerson

Jenna Focarino, 212/688-6840