MKS Announces Final Second Quarter Results for Fiscal 2004

Waterloo, ON - November 26, 2003: MKS Inc. (MKS) (TSX:MKX), today announced its financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2004 and the six months ended October 31, 2003.¹

Revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2004 was $7.6 million, an increase of 0.8% from $7.5 million during the comparable period in the prior year and a decrease of 5.3% over the quarter ended July 31, 2003. Net loss for the second quarter of fiscal 2004 was $(0.6) million, or $(0.01) per share, consistent with a net loss of $(0.6) million or $(0.02) per share in the second quarter of fiscal 2003 and compared to a net loss of $(0.1) million or $(0.00) per share in the first quarter of fiscal 2004.

Revenue for the six months ended October 31, 2003 was $15.6 million, an improvement of $1.6 million or 11.5% compared to $14.0 million for the six months ended October 31, 2002. For the six months ended October 31, 2003, MKS' net loss improved to $(0.7) million or $(0.02) per share compared to a net loss of $(2.1) million or $(0.05) per share for the same period in fiscal 2003.

"While second quarter SCM licensing growth was below our normally rapid pace, we are confident that our efforts to increase penetration into Global 1000 accounts evidenced by growth in our long term pipeline will get us back on track," said Philip Deck, chairman and CEO of MKS Inc. "Even with the lower than anticipated revenue, our good cost control allowed us to remain within striking distance of our full year profit plan."

"Our focus on Global 1000 accounts allows us to generate a significant stream of business following the successful rollout of initial deployments," said Michael Harris, COO of MKS Inc. "The new accounts won in Q2 as well as the excellent progress made in deployments of licenses throughout our customer base bodes well for significant follow on transactions in the quarters ahead."

The Company is anticipating continued year over year quarterly revenue growth in its SCM segment through the balance of fiscal 2004 and reaffirms it’s expectation that the Company will be profitable for the full fiscal 2004.

Significant Customer Agreements
During the second quarter of fiscal 2004, MKS signed agreements with global enterprise customers including Alcatel, BroadVision Inc., Crate & Barrel, Daimler Chrysler, Electrolux, Heinz, JP Morgan, Johns Hopkins University, NCR Corporation, T-Systems Inc., Telenor Mobil A.S. and VW Credit Inc.

Conference Call details
MKS will hold a conference call at 5:00pm EST today to discuss its second quarter performance and results. Interested parties may access the call by dialing 416-695-6140 or Toll Free 1-800-446-4472. An operator-assisted playback of the call will be available for one (1) week from November 26, 2003 to December 3, 2003 and may be accessed by dialing 416-695-5275 or Toll Free 1-866-518-1010.

For summarized financial information, please click here.

¹ Reported in US dollars under US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP).

About MKS
MKS Inc. (MKS) (TSX:MKX) provides award-winning enterprise software configuration management (SCM) and interoperability software solutions enabling Global 1000 companies to better manage and control the complete process of software development. The Company's family of SCM products offers advanced technology with robust workflow, version control, and impact analysis capabilities. Under its widely known MKS Toolkit brand, MKS provides UNIX-Windows co-existence, and system administration that significantly cut development and administrative costs and reduce time to market while enabling enhanced performance. Founded in 1984 with over 10,000 customers worldwide, MKS has built its brand on the foundation of advanced technology, superior quality and extraordinary customer service. More information about MKS can be found at http://www.mks.com, or by calling 1-800-265-2797 (US & Canada), +49-711-351775-0 (Germany), and +44-1483-733900 (United Kingdom).

MKS and MKS Toolkit are registered trademarks of MKS Inc. All other trademarks mentioned in this release are the property of their respective owners.

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. When used in this document, the words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the Company’s current views with respect to future events and are subject to such risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause our actual results to differ materially from the statements made including those factors detailed from time to time in filings made by the Company with Canadian securities regulatory authorities. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated or expected. The Company does not intend and does not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

Douglas Sawatzky, CFO

519-883-3252