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PRESS RELEASES
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BlastGard International, Inc. Enters Into Exclusive License Agreement With Media Metrica, Ltd.
September 7, 2004, Clearwater, FL. BlastGard International, Inc. (OTCBB: "BLGA" - news) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an exclusive license agreement with Media Metrica Ltd. for the use of BlastGard's BlastWrap™ product inside Media Metrica's RE:NEW modular recycling units. Media Metrica has created an innovative on-street product that combines recycling and outdoor advertising. This product will spearhead recycling in urban centers and, simultaneously, act as a premium outdoor advertising platform. With security becoming an ever-growing concern in urban centers across the globe, BlastGard and Media Metrica are working jointly on these new proprietary modular units that will mitigate the effects of an explosion within the units, and suppress the principal hazards of blast, fragmentation, heat, flash and fireball.
The RE:NEW system will be manufactured, transported, installed, cleaned, maintained, insured and repaired by Media Metrica for clients free of charge, in return for the right to manage the back-lit information panels that house the recycling units. The demand that RE:NEW is driven by the increasing statutory recycling targets in the United Kingdom and is further driven by the shift in the outdoor advertising market toward "pedestrianised" areas in major urban centers - a segment accounting for the fastest growth in the media market in the UK. RE:NEW has also been positively received by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Greater London Authority, the London Development Agency, London Waste Action and the Improvement & Development Agency. Meetings in the near future include a presentation to policy officials in the 10 Downing Street Policy Unit, responsible for advising the Prime Minister.
With BlastWrap's mitigating capabilities, Media Metrica is aiming to develop an Urban Network across the UK, working with customers in the local authority, transport and private sectors. RE:NEW will be targeted at areas of high-pedestrian footfall, including transport interchanges such as tube/train stations, bus terminals and airports, as well as private sector locations such as major supermarkets and business parks.
Kaveh Memari, one of the founders of Media Metrica, said, "Our goal at Media Metrica was to find a solution that at the same time provided a cost-effective way of helping tackle urban centres' growing waste and recycling problem, while delivering the highest standards of safety on the ground. Our alignment with BlastGard International has been critical in achieving that goal. The legacy of the IRA and other terrorist activities mean that, at present, London has few on-street recycling facilities available, particularly in transport interchanges. Since 9/11, this has become a much wider issue. Whether in Madrid, New York, Tokyo, Paris, or London, the political dynamics may be different, but the threat is ever-present. By utilizing BlastGard's BlastWrap mitigation capabilities, RE:NEW will now allow authorities around the world to restore the balance, putting the pedestrian and their quality of life first." Mr. Memari continued, "The 400 million tonnes of rubbish produced in the UK each year represents one of the country's main strategic environmental challenges. London alone produces enough litter to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool every four hours. With pressure from the EU growing, Downing Street has warned that the UK faces fines of £500,000 a day if EU rules on landfill sites are not met by 2008. What makes RE:NEW truly different is the opportunity it provides to environmentally-aware brands to help finance the regeneration of our cities in a way that also benefits their reputation and standing. RE:NEW will provide the UK's media market with a truly innovative advertising platform, while offering local authorities an unprecedented solution to the challenge of on-street litter recovery and recycling free of charge."
BlastGard CEO Jim Gordon said, "This agreement represents the latest achievement in maximizing the value of our technology and know-how. This is a truly intelligent commercial application. BlastWrap's powerful, flexible and scalable product capabilities allow customers to meet their pricing, performance and time-to-market requirements by addressing their blast and fire mitigation needs with one easy to use technology that minimizes the need for costly and often cumbersome hardening requirements for their end product. We are excited to be working with Media Metrica on the international launch of this exciting new product. Per the agreement, the fulfillment of the initial order of blast mitigated RE:NEW modular recycling units in 2005 will generate revenue in excess of $6 million for BlastGard."
About Media Metrica
Media Metrica is driven by Founders Kaveh Memari and Brian James, and managed by Michael Higgins, former CEO of Van Wagner and director of Avenir Havas Media, Nick Payne, former CFO of Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment and a strong network of partners with expertise covering urban planning, outdoor advertising, public relations and waste management. An active Board of Directors for the company include Chris Powell, former founder, CEO and Chairman of BMPDDB - rated as the number one global advertising agency in the world; David Hunter, former Managing Director at 3i - the largest venture capital house in London with over £11 billion under management; Roger Hursthouse - a Regional Partner for 30 years at the leading PKF accountancy group; and, Peter Flaxman - with direct experience of taking businesses to floatation. Strategic partners include Cushman & Wakefield, a global real estate services firm, with extensive relationships with city councils and private developments, who will play a lead role in securing deployment contracts for RE:NEW units; and a consortium of fifteen companies in Germany, Holland, UK and the US engaged in the development of RE:NEW. This consortium includes leading material and technology groups such as 3M, whose Materials, Lighting and Laboratories divisions have made invaluable contributions to the project.
About BlastGard International, Inc.
BlastGard International, Inc. was created to design, develop, manufacture and market proprietary blast mitigation materials. The Company's patent-pending BlastWrap™ technology effectively mitigates blast effects and suppresses post-blast fires. This unique technology can be used to create new, finished products or to retrofit to existing products. While the need for this technology has always been present, the security and safety concerns resulting from the September 11, 2001 acts and the subsequent development of Homeland Security make the timing of the Company's emergence even more important. The Company's core market focus is on blast effects mitigation for the commercial sector, military, law enforcement and government agencies. BlastWrap™ is based upon well-defined principles and suppresses blast pressures by 50% or more. BlastWrap™ products are made from two flexible films arranged one over the other and joined by a plurality of seams filled with attenuating filler material (volcanic glass bead or other suitable two-phase materials), configurable (designed for each application) with an extinguishing coating that offers a revolutionary blast protection system against Blast & Fire/burn threats. BlastWrap™ is a blast mitigation assembly that can be wrapped around or conform to any shape. BlastWrap™ is a concept (not a chemical compound) from which blast protection products are built to save lives and reduce damage to valuable assets from explosions. Additional information on BlastGard can be found at www.blastgardintl.com.
"Safe Harbor" statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations and assumptions contained in the foregoing are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. It is possible that the assumptions made by management are not necessarily the most likely and may not materialize. In addition, other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include the following: the Company's ability to market its products; the Company's ability to obtain additional funding; the Company's ability to obtain regulatory approvals on new products, the general economy; competitive factors; ability to attract and retain personnel; the price of the Company's stock; and other risk factors. The Company takes no obligation to update or correct forward-looking statements.
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