New web-based share management service enables anytime/anywhere management of portfolio holdings information

Computershare, the leading financial services and technology provider for the global securities industry, today unveiled its Investor Centre, a web-based share management service designed to provide investors with more control over their share portfolio through a single online point of access to all their shareholding information.

Unique in the Australian share registry industry, Investor Centre allows shareholders to view their complete portfolio information quickly and securely from any web-enabled terminal, including current balance details and holding valuations. Importantly, it enables shareholders to change their holding information across their entire portfolio directly, at the click of a button.

Mr Hamish Gidley-Baird, Managing Director of Computershare Investor Services said Investor Centre was the next step in the company's strategy to harness technology to better meet the information and communication needs of listed companies and their security holders.

"This service is an exciting example of Computershare's COSMOS technology platform that is progressively unlocking more information and services for companies, investors and the wider investment community in all countries in which Computershare operates," he said.

Mr Gidley-Baird said that the launch of the service underscored the company's commitment to the development of best practice register management tools for issuers and investors.

"Through continuous innovation, Computershare has led the way to develop new tools which improve register management practices and empower investors.

"Under our strategy, Computershare has been first to market with advanced online registry reporting tools as well as electronic broadcasting services direct from the register to enable issuers to communicate electronically with their investors.

"With Investor Centre, we have gone one step further by enabling investors to communicate directly with their registers in a single hit, providing them with independent control over their portfolios, and easy anywhere/anytime free access to their holding details," Mr Gidley-Baird said.

Computershare's Investor Centre represents a number of 'firsts' for the Australian market. Developed to cater for the increasing numbers of investors who hold shares in more than one company, Investor Centre is the first service to provide investors with a direct link to their portfolio of company registers. The portfolio view provides a current holding balance (excluding outstanding transactions) and delayed pricing, access to links to company information and detailed information on each holding. Within a holding, the shareholder can view personal details held by Computershare Investor Services, price history for the company, historical balance details, and details on payments.

This is also the first time that portfolio management services have been separated from trading services, giving the investor complete access to an enhanced portfolio view without having to rely on a broker or institution to obtain basic information about their holdings. Investors can independently check their holding balances via a direct link to the register.

For the first time in Australia, investors are now able to make online changes across all investments managed by Computershare, including online change of address notifications, which are applied with one click. This creates an efficient and effective personal information updating service by eliminating paper and ensuring that all holdings have been updated with the same information.

Investor Centre - accessible over the Internet from anywhere in the world - gives investors greater choice than ever before.

Computershare is a leading financial services and technology provider for the global securities industry, providing services and solutions to listed companies, investors, employees, exchanges and other financial institutions.

It is the largest and only global share registry, managing more than 68 million shareholder accounts for over 7,500 corporations in nine countries on five continents, providing sophisticated trading technology to financial markets in each major time zone.

For further information contact:

Margaret Sutherland
Computershare Investor Services
Mobile 0438-012-406

Ineke Raby
Weber Shandwick Worldwide
Telephone 03-9615-4056
Mobile 0408-304-205