Canadian Economy Spurs Software Company's Growth

(Montreal) October 1, 2007 - Despite the Canadian dollar's parity with US currency and economist's dire warnings about interest rates and inflation, the news is generally positive for Canadian investors wanting to get into foreign investment markets.

And adult entertainment companies north of the border, which were already profiting and proliferating, are feeling no pain.

"Canadian investors can now enter the adult market at virtually ten to fifteen percent advantages over last year's market," said 2much.net CEO and founder Mark Prince, whose company licenses his LiveCamNetwork 2.0 video chat software for a tidy 8,000 USD.

"The dollar is almost at par, now," Prince said. "And there's a sudden influx of Canadian buyers."

Earlier analyses of Canadian investment in the Montreal-based software company had assumed that Western and Anglo Canadians, for example, were culturally too conservative to expand into the adult market.

"What we're finding is that, wisely, they're simply more financially conservative," said Prince. "When the price is right, and it certainly is now, they strike out into new territory."

Warren Lovely, senior economist at CIBC World Markets, was of the same opinion in a recent Reuters.com interview.

"The Bank of Canada was able to stop raising rates before the Fed and at a lower level largely because of the Canadian dollar appreciation," said Lovely.

The impact on imported consumer goods has also affected - at least, temporarily - Bank of Canada policy, which would normally have it restricting lending rates rather than keeping the bar, as they have been.

"Most online and industrial commercial software transactions, consumer or B2B, are in the strongest currency, whatever it is at the time," said Prince. "So we're in the same space, in the mind of the Canadian investor, as an import."

Prince's Software as a Service (SaaS) licensing agreement saw Canadian investors shy away from the nearly 10,000 CAD expenditure until fairly recently, when the soaring value of the dollar kept the final tally of the streaming video and billing platform on a what-you-see-is-what-you-pay level.

"That's made all the difference," said Prince. "Regardless of what side of the line you're on, now, you're equal in the eyes of 2much."

Prince expects sales to top 2much.net's 2006 returns by as much as 25% by the end of the fourth quarter.

###