Quixote Corporation Revises First Quarter Fiscal 2002 Expectations; Company Reaffirms Second Quarter Estimates; Company Expands Stock Repurchase Program to 500,000 Shares

    CHICAGO--Oct. 3, 2001--Quixote Corporation today revised its fiscal first quarter financial expectations based on lower than expected orders for the month of September.
    The Company now expects to earn between $0.15 and $0.17 per diluted share for the first quarter, including certain one-time gains of approximately $0.08 to $0.10 per diluted share. These one-time items include gains from the sale of the non-highway related portion of its Spin-Cast Plastics, Inc. subsidiary, the favorable settlement of a lawsuit and the effects of adopting FASB Statement No. 142. The Company plans to provide additional FASB 142 guidance regarding its treatment of goodwill and other intangible assets when it releases its financial results for the quarter on the morning of October 25th, 2001.
    Leslie J. Jezuit, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Quixote, said, "The fundamental need for our products is clearly evident. However, our first quarter results were impacted by a reduction and deferral in orders by various international and state agencies in September. Historically, September has been an important month for the Company in meeting its first quarter sales and earnings objectives. With fewer orders and our lower level of backlog, sales of our core crash cushions were substantially impacted."
    Mr. Jezuit continued, "Looking ahead, we believe that September order activity is not indicative of long-term business trends. We have recorded a number of recent orders for our FreezeFree(TM) anti-icing system to be shipped in the second quarter and a strong backlog for highway advisory radio systems. We are also encouraged by recent discussions in Washington, D.C. that focus on investment spending on the nation's infrastructure, including highways, bridges and airports, to stimulate economic recovery and improve national safety. As a result, we are not changing our expectations for second quarter earnings and remain comfortable with consensus estimates for the second quarter of $0.21 per diluted share."
    In addition, the Company announced that its Board of Directors has authorized an expansion of its stock repurchase program to a total of 500,000 shares. The Board's action reflects the Company's long-term confidence in its business prospects.
    Quixote Corporation will be hosting a telephone conference call at 10:00 a.m. EST on Thursday, October 25, 2001, to further discuss its quarterly results, corporate developments and financial guidance. This conference call will be broadcast simultaneously over the Internet at www.quixotecorp.com and may be accessed and listened to by clicking the icon on the homepage.
    Quixote Corporation, (www.quixotecorp.com), through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Quixote Transportation Safety, Inc., is the world's leading manufacturer of energy-absorbing highway crash cushions, electronic wireless measuring and sensing devices, weather forecasting stations, computerized highway advisory radio transmitting systems, electronic variable message signs, flexible post delineators and other highway safety products.

    Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Except for historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this news release are forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements set forth above involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any such statement, including the risks and uncertainties discussed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for its fiscal year ended June 30, 2001, under the caption "Forward-Looking Statements" in Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, which discussion is incorporated herein by this reference. Other factors may be described from time to time in the Company's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, news releases and other communications. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company does not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.