Hoover's IPO Analysis for First Quarter 2003 Now Available on Hoover's IPO Central

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

AUSTIN, TEXAS - April 1, 2003 - For the first quarter in more than a decade, U.S. IPOs have raised less than $1 billion. According to the latest IPO Scorecard (www.hoovers.com/ipo/scorecard) from Hoover's, Inc., a leading provider of business information and publisher of Hoover's Online (www.hoovers.com), there were only five IPOs in the first quarter 2003, raising less than $995 million. This compares to 15 IPOs in the first quarter of last year, which raised $9.0 billion, and 21 IPOs in the fourth quarter 2002, which raised $3.7 billion.

From Hoover's IPO Scorecard for the first quarter 2003:

• Not counting January's non-traditional IPO of Provident Financial Services (buyers were Provident's employees and current depositors), there were no IPOs in January 2003 - the first "IPO-less" January since the 1970s.
• All four February 2003 IPO companies either reduced their initial offering prices or decreased the number of shares being offered before going public.
• The IPOs for Q1:

	Offer	Q1 Close	Return
Infinity Property and Casualty Corporation (NASDAQ: IPCC)	$16.00	$18.25	14%
Accredited Home Lenders, Inc. (NASDAQ: LEND)	$8.00	$ 8.89	11%
Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: ENH)	$23.00	$ 24.19	5%
Integrated Defense Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: IDE)	$22.00	$27.75	26%
Telkom SA Limited (NYSE: TKG)	$13.98	$ 14.65	5%
Bancshares of Florida, Inc. (NASDAQ: BOFL)	$10.00	$ 9.20	-8%

The war in Iraq, while a contributing factor to the scarcity of Q1 2003 IPO activity, should not bear all the blame for the slowdown, however. Other factors have joined to form the "Perfect Storm" for IPOs - the weak economy, unemployment, instability in North Korea, and high costs from new corporate reform legislation.

"Things are mighty quiet in IPO country these days," said Justin Burrows, Hoover's money editor. "Languishing just doesn't go far enough to describe it; what we're witnessing is a fundamental change in the way companies prefer to raise capital. Companies are either finding another way or simply doing without. With a sagging market and increasingly onerous reporting requirements, it's simply not worth the effort for most companies to go public. And forget about unlocking value - most companies would just as soon keep that door locked, keeping out the risks of harrowing downturns and public scrutiny."

Hoover's staff - in addition to providing continuously updated information about thousands of private and public companies worldwide - produces the IPO Scorecard, a regular, quarterly wrap-up of IPO activity released on the IPO Central area of Hoover's Online.

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Hoover's, Inc., a subsidiary of D&B, is a leading provider of business information. Hoover's publishes authoritative information on public and private companies worldwide, and provides industry and market intelligence that helps sales, marketing and business development professionals and senior-level executives get the global intelligence they need to grow their businesses. This information, along with advanced searching tools, is available through Hoover's Online (www.hoovers.com), the company's premier online service. Hoover's business information is also available through corporate intranets and distribution agreements with licensees, as well as via print and CD-ROM products from Hoover's Business Press.

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