Canadian Bar Association selects Emergis as preferred supplier of electronic
mortgage processing services
Montréal, June 19, 2007 - Emergis Inc. (TSX:
EME) today announced that it has concluded an agreement to become the exclusive
preferred supplier of electronic mortgage processing services to the Canadian
Bar Association (CBA). According to the five-year Canada-wide agreement, CBA
members who handle real estate transactions will be offered favourable pricing
on Emergis' Assyst Real Estate solution as it is launched in each province
across Canada. The CBA represents some 37,000 lawyers, judges, law teachers,
and law students from across Canada.
"Our agreement with the CBA establishes Assyst Real Estate as the industry
standard among the Canadian legal community for completing mortgage transactions
electronically," said François Côté, President and
Chief Executive Officer of Emergis. "The CBA will be a valuable partner
in communicating the power of our solution to legal professionals, thus ensuring
faster adoption throughout Canada.
The Emergis Assyst Real Estate solution is a bilingual, web-based application
that electronically links legal professionals and lenders to facilitate instructing,
registering, reporting and completing of mortgage loans. Participating lenders
can send mortgage instructions electronically to lawyers, notaries and their
staff in real time. Mortgage transactions can then be completed from end to
end online, in a more secure and confidential manner. Assyst Real Estate speeds
up the processing of mortgage transactions, reduces paperwork, cuts back on
costs and lowers the risk of clerical error.
"We are pleased to partner with Emergis in offering our members leading-edge
technology designed to increase efficiency in their legal practices,"
said John Hoyles, Chief Executive Officer of the CBA. "The ability to
offer lawyers favourable access to this solution will help our members better
meet client needs throughout the real estate transaction process. In addition,
this agreement demonstrates Emergis' commitment to working with our lawyers
over the long-term to develop solutions that meet their requirements as the
market changes."
Assyst Real Estate has been an overwhelming success in Quebec where more than
80% of real estate notaries have adopted the solution and almost 400,000 mortgage
transactions have been processed online. As part of the national launch of Assyst
Real Estate in partnership with a major Canadian bank, Emergis will deploy its
solution in British Columbia by the end of this month, in Ontario later this
summer, in the Western provinces before the end of 2007 and in the Atlantic
provinces during 2008. These deployments will be supported by an adoption program
designed to increase the number of lawyers and notaries who use the solution
in each region. As part of this program, Emergis has signed integration agreements
with suppliers of real estate software to the legal community, such as RemoteLaw
– now OneMove Technologies - and Pro Suite in British Columbia, as well
as Do Process Software in Ontario.
For more information about Assyst Real Estate, visit www.emergis.com/RealEstate.
About Emergis
Emergis is an IT leader in Canada that focuses on the health and financial services
sectors. It develops and manages solutions that automate transactions and the
secure exchange of information to increase the process efficiency and quality
of service of its customers. Emergis has expertise in electronic health-related
claims processing, health record systems, pharmacy management solutions, cash
management and loan document processing and registration. In Canada, Emergis
delivers solutions to the main insurance companies, top financial institutions,
government agencies, hospitals, large corporations, real estate lawyers and
notaries and 2,800 pharmacies. Its electronic health record solutions are also
delivered in the U.S. and Australia. The Company's shares (TSX: EME) are included
in the S&P/TSX Composite Index.
Certain information in this news release, in various filings with Canadian
regulators, in reports to shareholders and in other communications, is forward-looking
within the meaning of certain securi¬ties laws, and is subject to important
risks, uncertainties and assumptions. This forward-looking information includes,
among others, information with respect to the Company's objectives and
the strategies to achieve those objectives, as well as information with respect
to the Company's beliefs, plans, expectations, anticipations, estimates
and intentions. The words "may", "could", "should",
"would", "suspect", "outlook", "believe",
"anticipate", "estimate", "expect", "intend",
"plan", "target" and similar words and expressions are
used to identify forward-looking information. The forward-looking information
in this news release describes the Company's expectations as of June 19,
2007.
The results or events predicted in such forward-looking information may differ
materially from actual results or events. Material factors which could cause
actual results or events to differ materially from a conclusion, forecast or
projection in such forward-looking information include, among others: general
economic factors, adverse industry events, the adoption rate of the Company's
solutions by customers and by related electronic trading communities, its ability
to deliver development and implementation projects in a timely manner, the non-renewal
of major contracts which expire in the near term, complexities and timing of
signing large customer contracts, customers developing internally the capability
to perform the services which the Company performs on their behalf, its response
to its industry's rapid pace of change, the limited time to capitalize
on market opportunities, competition, pricing pressures, fluctuations in its
operating results, its ability to make and integrate acquisitions, failures
or material changes in its strategic relationships, exposure under contract
indemnities, defects in software or failures in the processing of transactions,
security and privacy breaches, its ability to attract and retain key personnel,
its ability to protect its intellectual property, intellectual property infringement
claims, and industry and government regulation.
When relying on the Company's forward-looking information to make decisions,
investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other
uncertainties and potential events. In making the forward-looking information
contained in this news release, the Company does not assume any significant
acquisitions, dispositions or one-time items. It does assume, however, the renewal
of certain customer contracts. Every year, Emergis has major customer contracts
that it needs to renew. One of these represents slightly more than 10% of its
annual revenue. In addition, the Company also assumes the signature of contracts
in new markets in the public health sector. In this regard, Emergis is pursuing
large opportunities that present a very long and complex sales cycle, which
substantially affect the Company's forecasting abilities. The Company
has made certain assumptions regarding the timing of the realization of these
opportunities which it thinks is reasonable but which may not be achieved. Furthermore,
the pursuit of these larger opportunities does not ensure a linear progression
of the Company's revenue and earnings, since they may involve significant
up-front fees followed by reduced ongoing payments. The Company has assumed
a certain progression, which may not be realized. It has also assumed that the
material factors referred to in the previous paragraph will not result in such
forward-looking information to differ materially from actual results or events.
However, the list of these factors is not exhaustive and is subject to change
and there can be no assurance that such assumptions will reflect the actual
outcome of such items or factors. For additional information with respect to
certain of these and other factors, refer to the risks and uncertainties section
of the Company's 2006 MD&A and to its 2006 Annual Information Form
(risks and uncertainties) filed with Canadian regulators.
THE FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS NEWS RELEASE REPRESENTS THE
EXPECTATIONS OF EMERGIS AS OF JUNE 19, 2007 AND, ACCORDINGLY, IS SUBJECT TO
CHANGE AFTER SUCH DATE. HOWEVER, EMERGIS EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY INTENTION OR
OBLIGATION TO UPDATE OR REVISE ANY FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION, WHETHER AS A
RESULT OF NEW INFORMATION, FUTURE EVENTS OR OTHERWISE, EXCEPT AS REQUIRED BY
APPLICABLE LAW.