Leisurehub.com

Brainspark PLC 5 June 2000 LEISUREHUB.COM RECEIVES FOLLOW-ON INVESTMENT FROM BANCBOSTON CAPITAL AND PENTON MEDIA INC. Brainspark plc (www.brainspark.com), the incubator focused on germinating and developing Internet related businesses, announced today that one of its partner companies, LeisureHub.com has successfully completed a follow-on finance round, raising £4 million. LeisureHub.com is a business-to-business Internet marketplace for the global leisure industry. The site allows leisure industry professionals to buy and sell products and services through a series of trading communities, covering theme parks, family entertainment centres, funfairs and carnivals, pubs and clubs and health and fitness centres. Brainspark has been incubating LeisureHub.com since it was founded in November 1999. LeisureHub.com officially launched in January 2000 with the world's first online auction of a family ride. Since then, LeisureHub.com has been generating strong revenue through the commission received from online transactions. The investors at this round are BancBoston Capital, part of Fleet Boston Financial, the US seventh largest commercial bank and Penton Media Inc. (NYSE PME), a leading business media company that produces market focused magazines, websites, tradeshows and conferences across a number of business sectors including leisure, hospitality and the Internet. Brainspark has twelve partner companies, three of which have now secured a second round of external funding. Stewart Dodd, Chief Executive of Brainspark plc, commented: 'The follow-on investment is great news for LeisureHub.com and Brainspark. We recently completed follow-on investments for another two of our partner companies, Metapack and Petspark. With the investment in LeisureHub.com, we now have a very strong affirmation for the approach we have adopted in Brainspark to selecting quality projects for incubation and to bringing those projects rapidly to market. We are looking forward to being able to announce a number more similar investments in the near future.' Tim Batstone, Chief Executive of LeisureHub.com, said: 'We are delighted to have closed this funding round with BancBoston Capital, a leading US venture house, and Penton Media, a key International trade partner. The funds and the added muscle will cement our first mover advantage in this large fragmented market and allows us to ramp-up the next phase of our global development strategy.' Enquires: Brainspark (020 7843 6600) Leisurehub (020 7843 6600) Stewart Dodd Tim Batstone David Hart David Webster Citigate Dewe Rogerson (020 7638 9571) Martin Jackson / Charles Vivian