FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Survey proves local firm means big business - America II Europe ranked one of UK's fastest growing

March 19, 2003 - The survey is the 2003 Vantis Hot 100, sponsored by UK accounting and business advisory firm Vantis plc and Real Business magazine in association with D&B (formerly Dun & Bradstreet). The survey combed over two million companies in D&B's database to glean the 100 fastest growing privately owned firms in the UK by sales turnover growth over a four-year period. America II Europe claimed #65 in the survey.

Andy Groom, America II Europe Managing Director, commented, "We are delighted to figure in the Hot 100 for 2003. The rigorous criteria adopted by the sponsors make this a meaningful measure of the most successful companies in the UK and it's gratifying to be part of it. Further, I view this as an endorsement of our genuinely differentiated approach to the electronics marketplace - customers vote with their orders!"

America II Europe earned its rank just three years after re-centering its operations (from Poole to Stevenage, Hertfordshire) and its mission, which has since focused on introducing and familiarizing America II's model of independent distribution and the UK market. This shift (in December 1999) sparked the recruitment of an industry-experienced team including Groom and Gill Tory as Sales Director, together with over 30 years of distribution experience in the UK. Groom and Tory oversaw substantial growth in the first year, attributed by Groom to America II Europe's "truly differentiated model able to penetrate the buoyant market conditions prevailing at the time." Responding to these conditions, America II Europe increased its headcount by 25%, grew stock levels, and went live on the America II distribution network's global IT platform in 2001. By 2002, amidst an estimated industry decline of 40%, America II Europe grew sales by more than 30% as it launched a Central European operation (America II Europe GmbH), added a Strategic Sales Director and a European EMS Sales Manager, and increased local stock levels in line with customer requirements.

America II Europe plans to sustain the growth that earned its Hot 100 distinction by further increasing its headcount in sales and support functions, cultivating business opportunities in Southern Europe, and constructing a pan -European logistics center.

America II Europe is a member of the America II global distribution network, one of the world's largest independent distribution companies for semiconductors and passive components. Founded with the establishment of America II Electronics, Inc. in 1989 (present headquarters), the America II network today includes operations in Belgium, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, and the UK.

For more information on America II, visit www.americaii.com and europe.americaii.com.

A full copy of the results can be viewed on www.vantisplc.com.

Read Ventis press release.
Read America II press release.