RoweCom Completes Acquisition of Dawson Information Services Group.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 5, 1999--

RoweCom Inc. (Nasdaq: ROWE), whose flagship Knowledge Store (kStore) and Knowledge Library (kLibrary) are the leading business-to-business e-commerce solutions for managing the acquisition of knowledge resources, announced today that it has completed the acquisition of Dawson Information Services Group in a cash and stock transaction accounted for under the purchase method. Shareholders of parent company Dawson Holdings Plc (London: DWN.L) have approved the acquisition.

Dawson Information Services Group is one of the world's largest information services organizations, serving over 20,000 clients in all five of RoweCom's target vertical markets. RoweCom expects to add more than $350 million to its revenues as well as enhance gross margins and accelerate profitability. The acquisition creates for RoweCom a strong international presence, with significant market share in the United Kingdom, France and Spain and a global content offering of 240,000 titles from over 20,000 publishers, and millions of books via RoweCom partner barnesandnoble.com.

"The acquisition approval process went extremely well," said Dr. Richard Rowe, RoweCom's chairman and CEO. "We are confident that the integration of our two companies will proceed just as efficiently. We look forward to bringing the advantages of our Web-based services to our new clients, and the benefits of an expanded international catalog to our existing ones."

About RoweCom Inc.

A first mover in business-to-business e-commerce, RoweCom Inc. develops and operates Web-based services that enable businesses to manage the acquisition of knowledge resources such as magazines, newspapers, journals and books. RoweCom's flagship services, Knowledge Store (kStore) and Knowledge Library (kLibrary), provide new levels of control, convenience, and cost-savings, allowing companies to order, pay for and manage 240,000 subscription titles and 2,500 market research reports online as well as millions of discounted books via RoweCom partner barnesandnoble.com. With clients ranging from Fortune 1000 companies to academic libraries, RoweCom serves organizations with intensive knowledge requirements and high-volume purchases. The publicly-held company (Nasdaq: ROWE) is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. and has many offices across North America, Europe and Australia.

RoweCom focuses on knowledge intensive industries such as professional services, financial services, health services and high technology. RoweCom's over 20,000 clients include industry leaders such as PricewaterhouseCoopers, Arthur Andersen, Ernst & Young, KPMG LLP Prudential Securities, John Hancock, Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCH), Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE: DNB), BASF (GF: BAS), Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HWP), Owens Corning (NYSE: OWC), First Union (NYSE: FTU), Aurora Healthcare and Johns Hopkins University. RoweCom also has an impressive partner list that includes barnesandnoble.com (Nasdaq: BNBN), NewsEdge (Nasdaq: NEWZ), Ariba (Nasdaq: ARBA), Commerce One (Nasdaq: CMRC) and Sun-Netscape Alliance.

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this news release may contain forward-looking statements made under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. RoweCom's actual results may differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such a difference include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the company's SEC filings.