Rapid Ratings goes live with ASA reports website

16 February 2005

Rapid Ratings goes live with ASA reports website

Seven-and-a-half thousand members of the Australian Shareholders Association will from today (16 February 2005) be able to download exclusive research on some of the biggest companies on the ASX, including buy/sell/hold recommendations, following the launch of an exclusive reports website in partnership with Rapid Ratings, the leading, independent provider of global corporate credit and equity risk research.

The new Rapid Ratings reports website allows ASA members to purchase and download equity risk reports on 200 of the biggest companies on the ASX as well as two special ‘Top Buy Reports’, at special prices, giving them access to wholly independent research.

Each Composite Risk Report compares a company’s current credit risk rating with its share price to determine whether the market is undervaluing or overvaluing the stock. Based on this, Rapid Ratings is able to recommend the stock as either a strong buy, buy, hold, sell, strong sell or speculative buy.

The Top 5 and Top 15 Buy reports are made up of the stocks (5 and 15 respectively), which Rapid Ratings believe, offer the greatest opportunity for capital growth. All stocks on these lists are rated at either investment grade i.e. B3 (65) and above, or borderline investment grade (B4 and C1) on the Rapid Ratings corporate ratings scale, meaning they are moderate to low risk companies.

‘In this exclusive partnership, ASA members now have access to independent, objective research at significantly reduced prices on some of the biggest companies in the ASX,’ said Patrick Caragata, managing director and CEO of Rapid Ratings.

‘While its predominantly a seller’s market at the moment on the ASX, The Top 5 and Top 15 Buy reports identify some excellent opportunities for members to diversify and enhance their portfolios.’

Rapid Ratings’ System

At the heart of Rapid Ratings’ software-driven research are 25 industry-specific quantitative financial models that generate credit risk ratings for approximately 15,000 global companies. Rapid Ratings utilizes publicly available corporate financial data as inputs to generate a risk rating. Each industry model employs 62 financial ratios and a sophisticated multivariate econometric global benchmarking system. The models include a database of over 250,000 companies that reference 25-30 years of financial data.

Rapid Ratings’ Background

Rapid Ratings provides corporate financial health research on both listed and unlisted companies in the US, Canada, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand for investment funds, brokers, banks, large creditors, financial planner networks, financial advisors, accounting firms and retail investors. Rapid Ratings is the only qualified Australasian research firm to provide equity recommendation reports to some top firms on Wall Street such as Lehman Brothers and Bank of New York Jaywalk, through the global settlement selection. Rapid Ratings’ research is now available on Bloomberg and will shortly be seen on several other global networks.

Rapid Ratings is 76% owned by Collection House Limited, an Australian company that is listed on the ASX. Rapid Ratings has offices in New York, Toronto, Singapore, Sydney, Brisbane and Wellington.

www.rapidratings.com

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