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29 June 2004
ANNOUNCEMENT TO SHAREHOLDERS
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MOVE OF AMERICAN DEPOSITORY RECEIPTS TO THE OTC BULLETIN BOARD (OTCBB)
Your company recently announced that the trading
of its American Depository Receipts (ADRs) would be moved from the
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to the OTCBB. This is due entirely
to Orbital's size, relative to the market capitalization and shareholder
equity requirements of the NYSE - there have been no concerns by
the NYSE over any other matters such as corporate governance, underlying
trading, prospects or reporting.
For those of you unfamiliar with the OTCBB
it is a regulated quotation service, operated by NASDAQ, that provides
for the buying and selling of stocks and shares: in a manner very
similar to the main Exchanges. It displays real-time quotes, last-sale
prices, and volume information in over-the-counter equity securities,
and provides access to more than 3,300 securities and includes more
than 230 participating Market Makers.
Companies will be removed from trading on the
OTCBB if they fail to keep current with all documents (including
annual financial statements and reports) required to be filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission.
For the American investor there is no difference in trading ADRs
on the OTCBB to trading on the NYSE. In order to buy or sell Orbital
ADRs, the investor should contact their usual broker who will be
able to execute the transaction. This process is seamless as far
as the investor is concerned. An investor wishing to obtain further
information on their Orbital ADRs or on the operation of the OTCBB
itself, may log on to the OTCBB website (www.otcbb.com)
and, using the Orbital ticker symbol (OBTLY), find a range of relevant
information such as quotes, last sale prices and volume information.
We will also provide last sale prices on this
website daily along with the similar information on all other share
markets where the Company's stock trades.
Orbital ADRs will be supported by a range of market makers with
the initial OTCBB application being made by Susquehanna Specialists
Inc who were Orbital's specialist on the NYSE. The Bank of New York
will continue to provide registry services for Orbital's ADR facility
and can be contacted directly by shareholders on +1 (212) 815 2218
in case of any ADR administration queries.
We recognise that this change may be unnerving
to some shareholders. However, the fundamentals of the business
have been progressively improving over the last three years and
it is the underlying performance of the business that should be
guiding shareholders, not whether we are listed on one exchange
or another. Certainly there is some prestige associated with an
NYSE listing, but this came at a significant cost to the business.
Elsewhere on this website, we have forecast our likely performance
for the 2004 financial year. We would trust that shareholders see
the strong improvement and use that as the basis for valuing their
shares.
For Australian shareholders, or US shareholders
who hold shares directly and not through ADR's, there is no change
to the Company's listing or status on the Australian Stock Exchange
(ASX). The above changes affect American Depository Receipt (ADR)
holders only.
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