Mr Ron Chan Tze-ngon, Chairman of TVH said: "Despite difficult economic environment experienced in the earlier part of the year, our efforts spared in consolidating and integrating existing operations, and in boosting the services content of offerings, have started to yield results. This was reflected by the improved sales performance from all business segments. Specifically our investment in ChinaCast has achieved significant progress on the back of great business potential in the education market in China. This has led ChinaCast to seek an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in Singapore."

ChinaCast is currently China's leading distance learning services provider with a nationwide satellite delivery network. It is the operator of the country's official teachers' portal, Teacher.com.cn. The IPO will facilitate ChinaCast's efforts to secure new customers for certified distance learning courses, develop new solutions to address new market segments and further strengthen content offerings through new strategic partnerships.

Mr Chan added: "The latest development of ChinaCast also serves as a prototype for other subsidiaries of the Group. It validates our ongoing efforts to nurture and transform our core units in IT solutions, system integration and software development into dynamic and market-driven platforms to capitalize on emerging business opportunities is a move in the right direction."

The Group's integration of hardware division Sequent China into software arm TopAsia has resulted in a combined operation with strengthened competence in providing IT solutions and SI services. The integrated business continued its focus in serving the banking and finance sector of China.

2003 was a year of progressive development and positive results for TopAsia. Self-service banking products and services, including automated teller machines, continued to be a significant growth driver. TopAsia regained its top-three NCR distributor status and was qualified by the Bank of Shanghai as a designated supplier.

Maintenance services continued to be fiercely competitive with unit fee on downward spiral. Nevertheless, TopAsia's comprehensive point-of-service network, prompt response and quality services have made it the fastest growing system service provider for Bank of Communications, as well as the leading provider of self-banking products for China Merchants Bank.

Storage and networking business picked up tremendous growth momentum in 2003. TopAsia further strengthened its market presence in China through alliances with world leading players EMC, NCR and Ascential. In the year, the company succeeded in clinching contracts from the Shanghai Securities Central Clearing and Registration Corporation, China Unicom, Zhejiang Branch, Anhui Mobile Communication, Postal bureau of Shanghai, head office of the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank and Shanghai General Motors for this business line.

For mainframe systems, TopAsia retained all the service contracts for former Sequent China clients, primarily Bank of China, China Construction Bank, City Commercial Bank, Postal Savings Bureau and Commercial Department.

On the system integration front, TopAsia made a breakthrough with the government sector. The division participated in the implementation of the border control monitoring system for the Public Security Department and successfully completed the first pilot at the Beijing Capital International Airport.

The Group's software vehicle, 55%-owned Advanced Digital Technology (ADT) is one of the country's top 100 software companies for 2003. It has become one of the five service providers for network development and safety of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. On the other hand, China Construction Bank has also authorized ADT's systems integration supplier B qualification. It is now one of CCB's six service providers for integrated data networks. This latest win in all of CCB's 39 branches throughout China will be a stable income source for the division for the next two years.

In 2003, ChinaCast continued to be the Group's strategic platform to develop the education and training service business in China, with the technological support of other TVH units. University distance learning programs became a significant revenue growth contributor during the period. Altogether, 11 of ChinaCast's partner universities had enrolled distance-learning students in 2003.

During the year, ChinaCast has worked with China Children Foundation on an An Kang project, pursuant to which, ChinaCast will disseminate educational materials to children all over the country through distance-learning channels. 2003 also saw launches of new online programs on ChinaCast's interactive education platform, the Great West Distance Learning Program to provide vocational training content to eight remote provinces, and the enrichment of distance learning content.

ChinaCast will be actively developing the enterprise communication market in 2004 in addition to the public sector and government authorities. In 2003, ChinaCast has already committed to the purchase of a new 2-way platform to target at the enterprise market.

According to market analyst CCW Research, IT spending in China will post an annual composite growth rate of 18.5% from 2005 to 2009. Mr Chan said: "For 2004 IT sales in China, services are expected to record the largest growth of 27%. The IT industry landscape in China is shifting progressively towards service offerings, an area that is anticipated by industry practitioners to record fastest growth. The re-positioning of TVH over the past years has been perfectly timed and placed to capitalize on this trend."

About TVH
Technology Venture Holdings Limited (TVH, SEHK: 61) is an information technology enabler focusing its systems-integration and software competencies on the banking, finance and newly emerged education and training sectors. It aspires to be a catalyst to facilitate the development of digital Asia by serving as a value-added bridge of advanced technology from developed economies and e-solutions demands in Asia.

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