SSA Global Reports First Quarter Fiscal 2004 Earnings

CHICAGO--Jan. 2, 20040, 2004--

New fiscal year begins with solid performance following ten straight quarters of continued profitable growth

SSA Global(TM), a leading provider of extended enterprise solutions and services, today announced financial results for the company's first quarter ended October 31, 2003.

For the quarter ended October 31, the company reported total revenue of $141.9 million, an increase of almost 143 percent over the first quarter of fiscal 2003. Software license fees were $31.2 million for the quarter, up 86 percent over the first quarter of fiscal 2003, representing 22 percent of total revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2004.

First quarter earnings before interest, taxes, amortization (EBITA) were $22.4 million compared to $12.3 million last year representing an increase of 82 percent. Non recurring charges in the quarter resulted in one-time costs of approximately $2.5 million. Cash-on-hand as of October 31, 2003 was $58 million.

The quarter results again reflect SSA Global's well-balanced worldwide presence and the progress that has been made in the geographies. In the first quarter, North America delivered 43 percent of total revenue while Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) accounted for 37 percent. The emerging growth markets in Latin America and Asia-Pacific/Japan provided the remaining 20 percent of total revenue.

"Our customers continue to endorse our product strategy by investing more in new license fees and these results reflect the renewed confidence of Baan customers who view SSA Global's acquisition very favorably," said Mike Greenough, president, chairman and CEO, SSA Global. "Continued revenue growth in a slow economic climate is a testament to our dedicated management team and our hard working employees."

Quarter highlights include:

-- SSA Global signed 396 software contracts with major customers across various industries and geographies including, among others: Apollo Fire Detectors Ldt., Army Airforce and Exchange Service, Aspen Pumps Ldt., Aubert&Duval, CAF SA, Carboloy, Carrier China, Celetron, Chemes, Coplax, Dana Argentina, DELL International Services, ebookers.com, Fraefel, Forbes Gokak, Globonus Sdn Bhd, Greif Corporation, Gulf Eternit Industries Co Ltd., Hegenscheidt-MFD, HES Co., Hoyts Cinemas Ltd, Iveco Motor, Jo-Ann Stores, Inc., Krohne Messtechnik, La Poste, Laboratorios Silanes, Meiban Plastics, Morningstar Foods (a subsidiary of Dean Foods), MP Biomedicals, NFI Interactive Logistics, Norfolk Southern, Notex-Yhtiot Oy, P&K Utrecht, Pacer Global Logistics, Selbys, Sonic Industries, Sorin Biomedica Cardio SpA., Sylea Poland, Target Corporation, Tianjin Takeda Pharmaceutical, Universal Cable Bhd and Vietnam Suzuki Corporation.

-- At its Global Client Forum held September 21- 24, 2003, the SSA Global brand was announced in conjunction with the company's product strategy. The customer-focused product strategy was created to enhance the value of SSA Global products and services through functional consolidation, incremental product modernization, business-process integration and industry focus. In addition, SSA Global announced the general availability of its Corporate Performance Management (CPM) suite. SSA CPM is a single-source, enterprise-wide performance management solution with extensive integration to SSA Global core enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications.

-- SSA Global enhanced its partnership with Cognos, embracing the entire suite of Cognos solutions and delivering on SSA Global's performance management vision.

-- The company is experiencing on going success in the integration of SSA Baan worldwide sales, marketing, operations, research and development departments within SSA Global.

-- At the SSA Baan World User conference held on October 8-10, 2003, SSA Global announced continuing support for Baan solutions and the SSA Baan product roadmap.

-- In August 2003, SSA Global announced its intent to merge with EXE Technologies, Inc. and on December 19, 2003, the merger was completed, thus enhancing the supply chain execution functionality of SSA Global's portfolio of solutions.

About SSA Global

SSA Global(TM) is a leading provider of extended enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions for manufacturing, services, and public organizations worldwide. In addition to core ERP applications, SSA Global offers a full range of integrated extended solutions including corporate performance management, customer relationship management, product lifecycle management, supply chain management and supplier relationship management. Headquartered in Chicago, SSA Global has 121 worldwide offices and its product offerings are used by approximately 16,000 customers that represent market-leading companies in over 90 countries. For additional information, visit the SSA Global web site at www.ssaglobal.com.

SSA Global(TM) is the new corporate brand for product lines and subsidiaries of SSA Global Technologies, Inc.

SSA Global, SSA Global Technologies and SSA GT are trademarks of SSA Global Technologies, Inc. Other products mentioned in this document are registered, trademarked or service marked by their respective owners.

Forward Looking Statements

These materials may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Any statements that are not statements of historical fact (including without limitation statements to the effect that SSA Global or its management "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "plans", "looks forward" and similar expressions) should be considered forward-looking statements. Any "forward-looking statements" in these materials are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated. Many important factors could cause SSA Global's actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of SSA Global, including, without limitation, the size and timing of license transactions, the effect of economic conditions on the spending patterns of SSA Global's customers, the impact of competitive products and services, the effect of fluctuations in the economy and local currency, the ability of SSA Global to accurately forecast revenue, the ability to maintain adequate cash flow, the ability to maintain a satisfactory credit facility, the relationship between SSA Global and its affiliates and suppliers, the ability to manage costs and expenses, the availability of qualified resources, the ability to develop and enhance products, and other unknown risks including those as may be detailed in other SSA Global filings, reports and releases. SSA Global undertakes no obligation to revise or publicly update these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information or otherwise.