The results include the best year ever for Carlson Marketing Group®, several new agreements with large clients by Carlson Wagonlit Travel®, the addition of 170 new locations by Carlson Hospitality Worldwide brands, and Carlson Leisure Group�s completion of a merger of its United Kingdom leisure travel interests with Thomas Cook, the international leisure travel leader.

The company announced today that 1999 gross systemwide sales under Carlson - related brands reached a record-breaking $31.4 billion, compared with $22 billion in 1998. The 1999 merger of Carlson�s leisure travel business in the United Kingdom with Thomas Cook operations there account for a majority of the increase. (Systemwide sales are a measure of brand strength, and are calculated by including all of the sales made under Carlson-related brands, whether through owned, joint-ventured or franchised operations. The $31.4 billion includes Thomas Cook�s travel and tour sales only, and does not include nearly $21 billion in travelers� checks and financial services sales.)

Carlson�s gross company-owned sales totaled $9.8 billion, compared with $7.8 billion in 1998, $6.6 billion in 1997 and $4.9 billion in 1996.

Five years ago, less than 5 percent of the company�s systemwide sales came from outside the United States, according to Carlson Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Marilyn Carlson Nelson. Today, well over 50 percent of systemwide sales are delivered by operations outside the United States. The company is continuing to enhance technology to redefine its market position as a business-to-business and business - to - consumer leader worldwide.  

Highlights of Carlson Companies business groups in 1999

Carlson Consumer Services

Carlson Hospitality Worldwide � One of the world�s major hotel, resort, restaurant and cruise ship companies, Carlson Hospitality Worldwide added a record 170 new locations and ended 1999 with a total of 1,225 hotel and restaurant locations in 73 countries.  

Highlights of 1999 for Carlson Hospitality Worldwide brands include:

Regent International Hotels � Carlson�s five-star, luxury hotel company, Regent International Hotels, opened four new locations in 1999, in New York City on Wall Street, Las Vegas (2) and Mumbai, India.  Regent International Hotels now includes 14 hotels and resorts with a number of additional locations under development.

Radisson Hotels Resorts � Radisson Hotels Resorts expanded at an historic, record pace, adding 55 new hotels and resorts around the world. The company also has rolled out a new global brand identity and achieved a growth milestone with the opening of its 400th hotel at Knott�s Berry Farm in Buena Park, Calif. Radisson ended the year with 93,295 rooms in 53 countries.

Country Inns Suites By Carlson � Country Inns Suites By Carlson reached a milestone with the opening of its 200th hotel in Asheville, N.C. The brand added a total of 46 properties, and finalized plans to expand in new locations around the globe.

Carlson Restaurants Worldwide � Carlson Restaurants Worldwide, including T.G.I. Friday�s, Front Row Sports Grill and Friday�s American Bar, and emerging brands AquaKnox, Italianni�s, Samba Room�a Cuban Bar and Latin Cafe, Star Canyon, Taqueria Canonita and Timpano Italian Chophouse, ended 1999 with 604 restaurants in 49 countries.  Notable expansion in 1999 included the opening of the first T.G.I. Friday�s in Japan and the continued growth of T.G.I.  Friday�s in the United Kingdom. This represents the fourth year of record growth for Carlson Restaurants Worldwide, with 1999 being the most successful in the company�s nearly 35-year history.  

Radisson Seven Seas Cruises � Carlson�s cruise division launched and christened its first all-suite ship, the 490-passenger m/s Seven Seas Navigator. Radisson Seven Seas Cruises now offers five six-star luxury cruise ships reaching over 500 destinations worldwide.

In 1999, Radisson Seven Seas Cruises was voted the �Best Small Cruise Line� in Travel Leisure�s fourth annual �World�s Best� Awards readers� survey. The division enjoys 35 percent repeat business throughout its fleet, one of the highest in the cruise industry.

New business developments � 

Carlson announced Carlson Lifestyle Living communities, called �Carlson Park,� combining the full-service hospitality of resorts and hotels with upscale residential development. The communities include condominiums and townhouses with a Carlson hotel brand in a campus-like setting.  

Carlson Vacation Ownership, another 1999 announcement, will license vacation ownership properties in leading year-round destinations under Carlson�s global lodging brands. Carlson is the first global hospitality company to offer multi-brand, multi-tier franchising in the vacation ownership industry.  

Carlson Leisure Group (CLG) - In 1999, CLG merged its United Kingdom travel interests with Thomas Cook�s worldwide leisure travel and financial services business.

The expanded, co-owned Thomas Cook operation is one of the largest vertically integrated travel companies in the U.K. and includes retail and commercial foreign exchange operations worldwide, and travel operations in the U.K., Canada, Australia and India. In the U.K., the company carries more than 2.5 million package tour vacationers a year, operates a fleet of 28 aircraft and serves retail travel customers through a combined network of 800 travel agencies.  Thomas Cook issues 8 billion travelers checks annually, and its operations include more than 1,000 foreign exchange bureaus in more than 100 countries. The international travel leader also launched a new vacation travel brand, JMC, aimed at radically improving customers� vacation and holiday travel experiences.  Carlson Leisure Group also continued to build Carlson Destination Marketing Services, which provides marketing, management, sales and research programs for over 40 destination organizations worldwide; and Leisure Fulfillment Services, which opened a state-of-the-art travel call center in Boise, Idaho, consolidating CLG�s call center capabilities.

In addition, Carlson Leisure Group unveiled http://www.carlsontravel.com , the first website that enables consumers to buy travel online with the support of real live agents. And for the fourth year in a row, Entrepreneur magazine named Carlson Wagonlit Travel the Number One franchisor in the travel agency category.  24k Gold Points Rewards(SM) -- Carlson Companies fused its popular Gold Points Rewards(SM) program with a new e-commerce venture -- 24k Gold Points Rewards.

The new online/offline business will reward consumers for their loyalty and leverage the power of the existing Gold Points Rewards network with the strength of Carlson brands, and an array of current and new partners. The new site is expected to launch by summer 2000.

Shoppers will earn and redeem Gold Points both online and at the �bricks and mortar� businesses of many of Carlson Companies� nationwide brands, including Radisson Hotels Resorts, Country Inns Suites By Carlson and T.G.I.  Friday�s restaurants. Patrons also may redeem points by doing business with partners such as MCI WorldCom, National Car Rental, FTD and SkyMall catalog system, a popular in-flight merchandise catalog company with more than 100 name-brand merchants.

Carlson Corporate Solutions

Carlson Marketing Group (CMG) -- A world leader in relationship marketing, CMG experienced its most successful year in the company�s history.  Through
international growth, expanded product and service offerings, acquisitions and new technologies, CMG enters the new millennium on a high note.

Advertising Age�s annual agency survey ranked CMG as the number one sales promotion agency, the second largest marketing services agency and among the top 10 direct marketing agencies in the U.S. In a related report, CMG ranked as the 18th largest advertising agency in the world.

Over the last 12 months, the CMG Event and Sports Marketing Division signed contracts to manage relationship marketing programs for more than 15 corporate sponsors during the 2000 Olympic Summer Games in Sydney in September. In addition, The Canadian Olympic Association announced that it had selected CMG to be the official ticket seller in that country. The company estimates that during the Summer Games it will host in excess of 30,000 people from more than 50 countries.  Also in 1999, CMG was honored by the Franklin Covey Organization with its prestigious Organization of Excellence Award. Franklin Covey recognized CMG for striving to maintain a strong work culture while achieving long-term performance results. Over the past five years, CMG has experienced a 41 percent compounded average annual growth rate, with 1999 being its most successful year yet.

CMG closed the year by announcing that it was expanding its Employee Marketing division by acquiring Toronto-based Organizational Studies, Inc., a company recognized as one of the foremost employee, customer and best practices research and consulting firms in the world. It specializes in providing research-validated measurement tools such as employee opinion and customer loyalty surveys and linkage research programs.  Carlson Wagonlit Travel�A world leader in business travel and expense management, Carlson Wagonlit Travel announced early in 1999 that it had acquired 100 percent ownership of Toronto-based Global Travel Computer Services. Global is the developer of one of the world�s finest transaction processing, accounting and management decision-making software systems�Matrix� and MatrixPlus�.

Carlson Wagonlit Travel was appointed by the newly merged integrated oil and energy giant, BP Amoco plc, as its preferred global travel management partner. In total, Carlson Wagonlit Travel will handle BP Amoco�s travel management in Europe, with a total travel and entertainment volume of $400 million. BP Amoco is one of the three largest integrated energy companies in the world and operates in more than 100 countries on six continents.

This global business travel leader was also selected by Statoil, the Norwegian oil and gas company, as its preferred travel management partner in the United Kingdom, Denmark and Sweden. Berg Hansen, the Carlson Wagonlit Travel associate agency in Norway, signed this $80 million contact with Statoil.  In addition, Carlson Wagonlit Travel recently announced a 50/50 joint venture with Indtravels, the travel division of AFL Limited and one of the largest corporate travel agencies in India. The joint venture strengthens Carlson Wagonlit Travel�s presence in the region.

Carlson Companies is among the largest privately held companies in the United States, and it has operations in more than 140 countries. Carlson brands provide employment for about 188,000 people worldwide.