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 The Board of Directors of Benesse Corporation today approved the dissolution of Sympres Co., Ltd., the company's consolidated subsidiary, effective May 31, 2003. Sympres will hold a general shareholders meeting on May 27 to ratify the decision.

Sympres was founded as a provider of professional pre-press production services in 1996, when digital processing was replacing conventional analog pre-press production. As its major stockholder and client, Benesse Corporation believed that pre-press processes could be standardized and run more efficiently if a single service provider managed the entire flow of digital pre-press production, instead of having clients deal with multiple printing companies for different publications. Sympres established itself as a successful pre-press specialist, a rare entity in Japan, working closely with printing companies to churn out more than 700,000 pages in pre-press production since the company's founding.

The decision to dissolve Sympres was prompted by more recent technological advances in publishing. With the increased digitalization of Benesse's database, pre-press materials can be transmitted directly to output devices at printing firms, bypassing the intermediary step of digital processing at Sympres. Consequently, Benesse will pursue this more efficient production alternative for its publications.

The dissolution of Sympres will not result in a loss for the Benesse group on a consolidated basis. The dissolution is expected to have only a slight impact on total assets, sales and profits for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2004.


Outline of Sympres Co., Ltd.

Address: 10-1, Takayanagi-Higashi-Cho, kayama-City, Okayama Prefecture
President: Kazuaki Iwata
Established: November 1, 1996
Capital: 95 million yen
Issued shares: 1,900
Shareholders equity: 467 million yen (as of March 31, 2003)
Total assets: 710 million yen (as of March 31, 2003)
Fiscal year: April 1- March 31
Employees: 3 (as of May 16, 2003)
Major clients: Benesse Corporation, Okayama Fukutake Publishing Co., Ltd.
Major shareholders: Benesse Corporation (51.05%)
Major banks: The Shoko Chukin Bank, The Chugoku Bank, Ltd., The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd.


Three-year summary of financial highlights (Years ended March 31 )

Sales
2001: 14,806 million yen
2002: 13,017 million yen
2003: 8,640 million yen

Ordinary income
2001: 128 million yen
2002: 201 million yen
2003: 243 million yen

Net income
2001: 55 million yen
2002: 115 million yen
2003: 71 million yen

Earnings per share
2001: 29,235 yen
2002: 60,650 yen
2003: 37,586 yen

Dividend per share
2001: 8,771 yen
2002: 0 yen
2003: 0 yen

Shareholder's equity per share
2001: 156,476 yen
2002: 208,250 yen
2003: 245,835 yen