Welcome to the first issue of an occasional e-mail newsletter from FOCUS Enterprises. This issue, a 2002 "year in review" and transaction summary letter from our Chairman, Marshall Graham, also notes dramatic growth in our partner ranks. Future issues will include articles on topics related to middle-market mergers & acquisitions, corporate finance, corporate development, and research. We'll respect your time with concise and relevant articles which link to more detailed information on the FOCUS Enterprises website. If there are topics of special interest to you, please let us know by clicking here.

Dear business associates and friends of the firm,

Last year was a productive, profitable and very hectic year for Focus Enterprises, Inc. Despite a very soft economy and a depressed merger and acquisition environment our firm booked record revenues and profits during 2002. Many staff additions were made during 2002 and four major transactions were completed during the year with a substantial backlog booked for 2003 implementation.

Completed Transactions

During 2002 Focus completed numerous corporate development consulting engagements and also completed several significant merger, acquisition and partnering assignments. A summary of our completed transactions follows:

• Ntercept Communications, Inc. was sold to Agency.com. Ntercept was a vertical market software company selling a suite of software products in an ASP model to a growing list of advertising agencies, call center companies, research firms and polling organizations. Agency.com provides interactive strategy, branding, technology and marketing services to its clients. Our client was the group of institutional investors in Ntercept including Constellation Ventures, CIT, Rare Medium, Communicade Investments and Psilos Group.

• We also closed a sale transaction between Lanex LLC and Loronix Information Systems, Inc. We were engaged by the two principal shareholders of Lanex to sell the company which is located in Columbia, Maryland. Lanex is a leading provider of digital video recording devices and distributes these devices to CCTV security integrators throughout the United States. Loronix is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Verint Systems (a Comverse Technology company, NASDAQ:CMVT). Loronix is considered a pioneer in the networked digital video business and provides enterprise wide security solutions to its customers.

• During the fourth quarter we completed a sale transaction between Versient, Inc. and The Shamrock Companies. We were engaged by the lead venture investors of Versient which were Sterling Venture Partners and Mid Atlantic Venture Funds. Versient, located in Hunt Valley, Maryland, was sold to The Shamrock Companies located in Westlake, Ohio. Versient is an Internet ASP based warehouse/distribution and logistics company. The Shamrock Companies was founded in 1982 and is a full service marketing communications company providing outsourced print, broadcast production, advertising, custom promotional products and warehouse, distribution and logistics support services to its customers.

• Also during the fourth quarter our firm orchestrated a major strategic alliance between LabConnect, LLC and Medical Therapeutics Consultants, LLC. Focus served as strategic advisor to LabConnect, a Columbia, Maryland based laboratory services company specializing in serving the clinical trials industry. Medical Therapeutics Consultants, LLC. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Medifacts International, a Rockville, Maryland based Contract Research Organization (CRO) that assists clients with regulatory support and drug/device development consulting.

Partner and Staff Additions
Focus dramatically expanded its professional staff during the last year. Joining as Partners were Doug Rodgers, Alain Chetrit, Manan Shah, Ed Stevens and Mark Capaldini who bring to our firm nearly a century of senior level, line operating and investment banking experience. Our new Partners bring expertise from diverse industry segments including technology, software, manufacturing, distribution, aerospace, government contracting, security, telecommunications, retail, healthcare, IT and business services, publishing, content and database management, satellite communications, and international operations.

Doug Rodgers has assumed the role of Managing Partner, both serving our clients and helping to position the firm with the necessary infrastructure to accommodate the growth that we anticipate in the coming years. Doug's role will allow me to concentrate on client service and the expansion of our organization.

We also added significant strength and expertise to our research staff during 2002. Click on New Partners or New Research Associates for a summary of key credentials and recent positions. Those pages also provide links to detailed biographies for each individual.

Looking Forward
Our goal for Focus Enterprises in 2003 is clear. We aim to become the largest and most effective investment banking firm of its kind in the region. We will continue to leverage our Partners’ operating experience, our consulting experience, our deep research capability, and our proven execution methodology. We will continue to provide the highest level of strategic and advisory services. We will continue our rapid growth.

We look forward to a very productive 2003 and want to keep in close touch with all of our friends, associates and clients. For information about new developments with our firm over the coming year, please visit our website at www.focusbankers.com. We wish everyone a happy, safe and profitable new year.

Best Regards,
Marshall Graham
Chairman