Mandrakesoft Exits Chapter 11 Protection with First Profitable Quarter in Four Years

The Commerce Court today accepted Mandrakesoft's exit plan from 'redressement judiciaire' (Chapter 11 like protection).

The plan provides for the payment of creditors, without recapitalization as a precondition, over a period of nine years. The turnaround was largely made possible by improvements in the company's financial results -- Mandrakesoft recently recorded its first profitable quarter since 1999. This signals the return to normal operations for Mandrakesoft after a 14 month observation period. Mandrakesoft chose the Chapter 11 like protection status in January 2003.

During the observation period, the company normalized its activities by refocusing its core business on Linux, dramatically reducing costs, optimizing business activities, and by developing high margin revenue lines. As a result of restructuring, Mandrakesoft recorded it first quarterly profit since 1999 of 270,000 EUR on 1.42M EUR of revenue during the period between October 2003 and December 2003. Shares of Mandrakesoft are again being traded on the Euronext Marché Libre exchange (ISIN code MLMAN) and on the US OTC market (Stock symbol MDKFF). Mandrakesoft will release its new operating system