EAST HARTFORD, Conn.--Accent Color Sciences, Inc. (OTCBB:ACLR), a leading provider of high-speed spot color printing systems, today reported a net profit for the third quarter of 2000 but announced that because of uncertainties in its core markets for 2001 it is cutting its costs and reviewing its strategic options. For the third quarter of 2000, sales were $4,377,615 versus sales of $1,475,004 for the comparable 1999 quarter. The net profit was $138,958, or $0.01 per basic common share and $0.00 per fully diluted common share, compared to a net (loss) in the 1999 third quarter of ($732,001), or ($0.04) per basic and diluted common share. For the nine-month period ending September 30, 2000, sales were $9,566,454 compared to sales of $6,328,909 for the comparable 1999 nine-month period. The net (loss) applicable to common stock for the 2000 nine-month period was ($1,443,166) or ($0.06) per common share, compared to ($4,753,999) or ($0.30) per common share for the 1999 period. Commenting on the results of the quarter, Charles Buchheit, President and Chief Executive Officer, said: "We have remained profitable since we launched the cost-reduced version of our Truecolor System in April of this year, but we have found some uncertainties for the fourth quarter -- traditionally the production printing industry's strongest quarter, with up to 50% or more of sales occurring in the final three months of each year. This year, however, our sales partners, IBM and Xerox, are unwilling at this time to commit to volumes for 2001 beyond their existing inventories because of economic uncertainties for the fourth quarter and the coming year. "In response, we feel we must take action and make plans to further reduce our cost structure. In addition, we have secured the services of advisors to assist us in our evaluation of alternative strategies. As part of this effort, we are shifting our technical focus to industrial printing market opportunities and we are working with I.T. Strategies, a leading consulting firm specializing in digital printing opportunities in emerging markets. We believe we are uniquely positioned for these markets with our leadership in high-speed ink jet integration. "We are fortunate to have a broad-based technical capability that has value across industries, as demonstrated by our recently announced relationship with Philip Morris. We will build on the knowledge and expertise gained during the development of the TruecolorTM System, and leverage those skills to provide contract ink jet integration and manufacturing services to the market. This move has the potential to provide our company a leadership role in bringing the benefits of high quality ink jet printing to the industrial printing market. As always, we will continue to manage our business in a manner that promotes growth, maximizes revenue opportunities, and minimizes expenses." Accent Color Sciences, Inc. designs, manufactures and sells innovative, high-speed ink jet printing systems, such as its Truecolor(TM) System for the production printing and production publishing segments of the printing industry, and other custom systems for industrial printing. Truecolor(TM) Systems, when integrated with high-speed, digital, black-on-white printers, create a system that prints or highlights critical information in multiple colors for large-volume applications, including billing statements, account statements, invoices, check in-filling, legal notices, brochures, financial reports and short-run, on-demand publications.