EASI Engineered Support Systems (MM)

Engineered Support Listed as BusinessWeek 'Hot Growth' Company, Top Performer on Aviation Week Magazine, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and Other Regional, National Lists ST. LOUIS, June 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Engineered Support Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:EASI) reports that, based on its outstanding performance in Fiscal Year 2004, it is ranked 19th on BusinessWeek magazine's "Annual List of 100 Hot Growth Companies," released May 26. The company also received excellent ranking on several other lists recently released by local and North American publications or organizations. "We're pleased to be recognized by BusinessWeek Magazine again this year, and to be highlighted by a number of other prominent publications already this year as well," said Engineered Support's Vice Chairman and CEO Gerald A. Potthoff. "Our company continues to put together a track record of outstanding financial performance and profitable business growth quarter after quarter, year after year. But we are most proud of our track record for providing advanced sustainment solutions to those who serve in this changing world -- our nation's defenders at home and overseas," Potthoff said. With its "Hot Growth" listing, BusinessWeek recognizes that small companies continue to boost the economy, are a prime source of innovations, account for 50 percent of the non-farm gross national product, and create 75 percent of all new jobs, according to the Microcap Company Political Action Committee in Washington. To craft the list of "super achievers," according to BusinessWeek, the magazine examines 2,200 publicly traded companies with revenues of $50 million to $1.5 billion a year -- and then ranks them by sales and earnings growth, as well as return on capital over three years. The top 100 companies make BusinessWeek's "Hot Growth" list, found on-line at http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/toc/05_23/B3936magazine.htm . Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine named Engineered Support as #3 on its list of Top Performing Aerospace Companies (Medium), and #9 on its list of Most Improved Aerospace Companies (Medium). Aviation Week's rankings were based on weighted measures of 2004 performance in four categories: operating performance (30 percent), strategy (30 percent), financial health (30 percent) and independent research and development (10 percent). Engineered Support was named #5 on the list of top St. Louis-region companies in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch 2005 Annual Company Report. Now in its 14th year, the newspaper's report ranks the region's leading companies based on four variables: revenue, return on average equity, revenue change and profit change. To be considered, a company must have had FY04 revenues of at least $1 million as well as 2003 revenue of at least $500,000, must have shown a profit in 2003 and must not have shown negative common-shareholder equity for two years. The Post-Dispatch report cited Engineered Support, which topped the paper's list last year, as "a prime example of a defense contractor in good position to capitalize on the post-combat recovery." That report is found on-line at http://www.stltoday.com/business/annualreport . This month, Engineered Support also appeared as #43 on the Washington Technology magazine annual list of Top 100 contractors in the federal Information Technology market. According to the May 9 issue of the magazine, the top 100 contractors dominated the market, garnering $55.6 billion of the $67.3 billion the federal government spent on information technology in 2004. This year, 14 companies had more than $1 billion in prime contracting revenue, compared to just 8 last year. Moreover, the top 100 companies accounted for 83 percent of all federal IT dollars, compared to 68 percent last year, according to Washington Technology. The list is found on-line at http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/20_9/special-report/26107-1.html . Business2.0, an on-line Forbes Magazine publication, ranked Engineered Support as # 23 on its list of fastest growing technology companies in 2004. Engineered Support was also ranked #45 on the 2005 INPUT Federal IT 150(TM), a ranking of the top 150 federal IT contractors based on FY04 federal IT spending as defined by INPUT, a nationally-recognized government market intelligence firm. INPUT reported that in FY04 the Engineered Support earned IT contract awards valued at $149,324,000, based on FPDS data, and in its report noted that "being named to the INPUT Federal IT 150 list means out- bidding more than 98.5 percent of the companies that are vying for these contracts." The list is found on-line at http://www.business2.com/b2/web/b2100 . Canada's Progress Magazine named Pivotal Power, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Engineered Support, as one of the top 10 "Best Companies" in Atlantic Canada. The magazine described the subsidiary as "big on creating a positive work environment for all 99 of its employees," and committed "to the intellectual growth of its employees." Progress Magazine noted that Pivotal is "a leading developer of power-conversion technology to the military and industrial market, investing more than 1,550 hours each year on job-related training to keep its staff on top of the most leading-edge technology in the marketplace." This was a repeat appearance on the BusinessWeek list, and Engineered Support actually topped the St. Louis Post-Dispatch list in 2004. Additionally, the company was listed for five consecutive years as one of Forbes Magazine's "200 Best Small Companies in America" and three consecutive years as one of Fortune Magazine's "100 Fastest Growing Companies." Engineered Support Systems, Inc. provides advanced sustainment solutions including the design, manufacture and supply of integrated military electronics, support equipment and technical and logistics services for all branches of America's armed forces and certain foreign militaries, homeland security forces and selected government and intelligence agencies. The company also produces specialized equipment and systems for commercial and industrial applications. For additional information, please visit the Company's website at http://www.engineeredsupport.com/ . DATASOURCE: Engineered Support Systems, Inc. CONTACT: Larry Cox, Communications Mgr. of Engineered Support Systems, Inc., +1-314-553-4960, Web site: http://www.engineeredsupport.com/

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