Press Release
May 4, 2000

The Dairy Farm Group announced today that its 7-Eleven convenience stores business has formed a strategic alliance with Zeta Technologies Co. Ltd ("Zeta") to undertake a system support and technical trial for the CyberActive Transaction Station ("CATs") at selected 7-Eleven stores in Hong Kong. As the first convenience store chain to introduce an e-convenience service in the SAR, 7-Eleven is ushering the local convenience store business into a new electronic era.

Technical trials of CATs - scheduled at 7-Eleven's outlets in Wanchai's Harbour Centre and Cameron Road in Tsim Sha Tsui during the second half of May - will be open to the public. CityLine, Bank of East Asia, Standard Chartered Bank, SONY and Breakthrough are all pioneer subscribers to this station which, for the initial period, provides five categories of service:

• eTicketing : Seat selection, ticketing and instantaneous issuing of cinema tickets by CityLine

• eBanking: Bank of East Asia's cyber-banking services

• ePayment: Monthly settlement of Standard Chartered Bank credit card bills

• eCharity: Charity fund-raising for Breakthrough

Operating on both the Internet platform and prevailing financial network, CATs is integrated with a reliable security system to provide convenient electronic transaction services through a broadband network. Featuring a compact appearance and multi-function capability, CATs is easy to use, complete with a high-resolution LCD display and an ultrasonic multimedia touch-screen.

Equipped with magnetic and smart card readers, CATs will accept both credit card and EPS transactions during the pilot stage of implementation, whereby customers will only need to swipe their ATM cards in the smart card readers to access the five categories of service offered. When CATs becomes fully operational, it will also be able to handle other types of electronic currency and even cash (using 7-Eleven counters).

Mr Ronald J. Floto, Group Chief Executive of Dairy Farm, said: "Given the Group's leadership position in Asia Pacific's retail sector, we will keep ourselves abreast of rapidly changing market trends by making inroads into electronic commerce to provide customers with fast, efficient and convenient services. The introduction of CATs will help revolutionise 7-Eleven's operations and expand our business horizons. Seeking every opportunity to bring better service quality and new products to our customers will always be our top priority."

Mr David Tso, Chief Executive of 7-Eleven Hong Kong and South China, said: "By adopting an innovative and creative product such as CATs, 7-Eleven has introduced a revolutionary development in the convenience store business of the Asia Pacific region. As an industry front-runner, 7-Eleven is always striving to improve its 24-hour retail operation for its customers, and e-tailing is the new direction that 7-Eleven is taking. Last month, we launched e-fulfilment service in partnership with Hongkong.com, making us the largest on-line shopping deployment center in Hong Kong. Incorporating CATs into our business not only represents a historic milestone for 7-Eleven, it also heralds a breakthrough in the traditional concept of convenience store operation."

According to Mr Tso, there is ample scope for CATs, on account of its Internet-based technology, to incorporate more service applications and greater flexibility as required in the future. Other services are under negotiation includubg instantaneous checking of phone bills, payment services and travel insurance.

Addressing the security concerns among many potential customers over the use of electronic commerce, Mr Noel Cheng, CEO of Zeta, said: "CATs offers customers greater peace of mind, not only because of its capability to print receipts or transaction records, but because of its multiple levels of security. The dedicated PIN Pad, employing proprietary hardware and software technology, offers utmost security. The FTG financial transaction hardware can link to various financial institutions to effectively prevent hacking. Moreover, CATs network members are connected through hardware communications encryption device to form a safely isolated communication channel within the Internet. We are confident the CATs, a reliable and user-friendly product, will be well received by the market."

Issued by Beyond Communications Limited on behalf of 7-Eleven
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At Beyond Communications Ltd
Ms. Jasmine Leung (jasmine@beyondpr.com) or
Ms. Alice Cheng (alicec@beyondpr.com)
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