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EXHIBIT 99.1
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LERNOUT & HAUSPIE TO RESTATE FINANCIALS
IEPER, BELGIUM, BURLINGTON, MASS. -- NOVEMBER 9, 2000 -- Lernout &
Hauspie Speech Products n.v. (NASDAQ: LHSP, EASDAQ: LHSP) ('L&H' or 'the
Company'), a world leader in speech and language technology, products and
services, today provided an update on the status of the mid-year audit of the
Company that it had commissioned last August and of the ongoing audit committee
inquiry.
As a result of certain errors and irregularities identified in the audit
committee inquiry, the Company expects to restate its financial statements for
the periods 1998, 1999 and for the first half of 2000. Although the audit
committee is working diligently to determine the impact of these discrepancies
on L&H's financial statements for these periods, L&H does not expect the audit
and necessary restatements to be completed by November 14, 2000. Accordingly,
the Company does not believe that its Form 10-Q for the third quarter ended
September 30, 2000 will be filed in a timely manner.
In addition and unrelated to the restatement, L&H believes the revenue for the
third quarter will be at least $40 million below its previously published range
of $165 to $185 million.
In a joint statement, Mr. Roel Pieper Chairman of L&H and Mr. John Duerden, CEO
of L&H, said: "We are very confident in our business and the proven demand for
our products, technologies and services. We have significant resources committed
to this task and we are making progress. We share the desire of our investors,
customers and employees to put this matter to rest quickly. We also are
determined to ensure that the Company's financial information is completely
accurate. We are committed to providing the correct information to the
marketplace as soon as possible, so that our entire organization can focus fully
on its daily operations and on the job of building shareholder value."
ABOUT LERNOUT & HAUSPIE
Lernout & Hauspie (L&H) is a global leader in advanced speech and language
solutions for vertical markets, computers, automobiles, telecommunications,
embedded products, consumer goods and the Internet. The company is making the
speech user interface (SUI) the keystone of simple, convenient interaction
between humans and technology, and is using advanced translation technology to
break down language barriers. The company provides a wide range of offerings,
including: customized solutions for corporations; core speech technologies
marketed to OEMs; end user and retail applications for continuous speech
products in horizontal and vertical markets; and document creation, human and
machine translation services, Internet translation offerings, and linguistic
tools. L&H's products and services originate in four basic areas: automatic
speech recognition (ASR), text-to-speech (TTS), digital speech and music
compression (SMC) and text-to-text (translation).
This Press Release contains forward-looking information that involves risks and
uncertainties, including statements about the company's plans, objectives,
expectations and intentions. Readers are cautioned that forward looking
statements include known and unknown risks, including uncertainty of new product
development, the risk that newly introduced products may contain undetected
errors or defects or otherwise not perform as anticipated, early state of
development of the speech, language and medical information technology markets,
the ability of L&H's customers to successfully integrate and commercialise L&H's
technology, the company's ability to successfully integrate the operations of
Dictaphone and Dragon, the retention of key technical and other personnel, risks
associated with the financial leverage associated with the company's assumption
and/or repayment of Dictaphone indebtedness, currency
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and other risks related to international operations, rapid technological change
and intense competition, as well as other risks set forth in L&H's filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements contained
herein speak only as of the date of this Press Release.
L&H is a trademark of Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products N.V. in the United
States and/or other countries. All other product names or trademarks referenced
herein are trademarks of their respective owners.
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L&H CONTACT INFO:
Corporate Comm US / Europe: Ron Schuermans, Lernout & Hauspie, 32-57-22-8888,
[email protected]
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Media Contact US: 781-203-5344
Corporate Comm AP: Geraldine Kan, Lernout & Hauspie, 65-799-8956,
[email protected]
Investor Relations: Allan Forsey, Lernout & Hauspie, (781) 203-5233,
[email protected]
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Steffan Williams, Thomson Financial/Carson,
+44-20-7
