{{B}}A. Metris Companies, Inc.{{/B}}
Metris Companies, Inc. (MCI) provides financial products and services throughout the United States. Its primary line of business is the credit card business. The Company's credit card products are primarily unsecured credit cards issued through a subsidiary, Direct Merchants Credit Card Bank, National Association. These credit cards generate consumer loans, which, in turn, generate income and cash flow from principal, interest and fee payments. The sales of the Company's other consumer financial products, such as credit protection products, generate additional cash flow. MCI targets primarily middle-market customers. Direct Merchants Bank obtains information about prospective customers in the middle market from credit bureau information as well as from other third-party sources including other companies' customer lists and databases.

{{B}}B. Lowe's Companies, Inc.{{/B}}
Lowe's Companies, Inc. is a home improvement retailer, with a specific emphasis on retail do-it-yourself (DIY) and commercial business customers. Lowe's specializes in offering products and services for home improvement, home decor, home maintenance, home repair and remodeling and maintenance of commercial buildings. As of the end of the fiscal year ended January 30, 2004, Lowe's operated 952 stores in 45 states, with approximately 108. 8 million square feet of retail selling space. A typical Lowe's home improvement store stocks more than 40,000 items, with hundreds of thousands of items available through its special order system. Each store carries a selection of national brand name merchandise.

{{B}}C. Altamira Mgmt. Ltd.{{/B}}
Founded in 1969, Altamira is an independent investment management firm and has long been recognized as one of Canada's leading fund managers. Currently, with over $16 billion under management, Altamira's innovative investment style has proven successful in all asset classes. There is a constant sharing of ideas and insights among the team. The company's success is dependent on this ideas driven environment, with investment managers from all disciplines being constantly encouraged to participate with their views and opinions.

{{B}}D. Pankow{{/B}}
Since 1963, Pankow has maintained an enviable position in the building industry with an unsurpassed record of performance, value and quality. As a veteran and pioneer of the Design-Build project delivery system, Pankow boasts a legacy of on time and on budget performance that is respected by clients and peers alike. Pankow is known for its use of innovative management techniques, maintainenance of strict cost and quality controls and as a pioneer of new construction methods. A key to Pankow's success is a melding of two proven concepts—active participation in the design process by highly experienced personnel and a comprehensive quality control program throughout construction execution.

{{B}}E. EDS{{/B}}
EDS, the world's most experienced outsourcing services company, delivers superior returns to clients through its cost-effective, high-value services model, EDS' core portfolio comprises information technology and business process outsourcing services, as well as information technology transformation services. EDS' complementary and subsidiary business is A. T. Kearney, one of the world's leading high-value management consultancies. It supports the world's leading companies and governments in 60 countries.
Here are the numbers:
Employees: more than 130,000
2003 revenues: $ 21.5 billion
Ranked 80th on the Fortune 500