ePlus Reports Record Net Earnings; Revenues Increase 75% to $82.3 Million; Net Earnings Increase 16% to $2.5 Million; Fully diluted Earnings Per Share increases 15% to $0.25

Business Wire, Nov 13, 2002

Business Editors

HERNDON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 13, 2002

ePlus inc. (Nasdaq:PLUS), a leading provider of Enterprise Cost Management (ECM) today announced financial results for its second quarter ending September 30, 2002.

ePlus produced record net earnings of $2.5 million, a 16% increase over $2.2 million recorded during the same period in the prior fiscal year. Total Revenues increased 75% to $82.3 million from $47.1 million, and fully diluted earnings per share increased 15% to $0.25 from $0.22.

"ePlus is focused on providing the best end-to-end managed services solution to our customers, and on process improvements to reduce effective costs" commented Phillip G. Norton, chairman, president and CEO of ePlus. "The quarter's revenue growth is attributable to increased sales from our existing customer base plus acquired customers, as compared to the prior year's quarter."

For the quarter, as compared to the same quarter the prior fiscal year, the increase in total revenues was driven in part by a 110% increase in Sales of Equipment to $64.3 million from $30.7 million, and an 17% increase of Fee and Other Income to $5.2 million from $4.5 million.

Total Costs and Expenses increased 79% to $78.0 million from $43.5 million, driven by a 121% increase in the Cost of Sales of Equipment to $57.0 million from $25.9 million, and a 60% increase in Salaries and Benefits to $12.7 million from $7.9 million. Interest and Financing Costs decreased 35% to $2.3 million from $3.5 million as a result of reduced levels of debt and lower interest rates.

"We have made progress in completing pilots and moving customers to production, and signing up new customers for our software products" continued Mr. Norton. "Content and Procure continue to generate substantial interest from customers, and Manage is gaining market acceptance as financially constrained vendors lose traction."

At quarter's end, the company had total stockholders equity of $108.8 million and cash of $24.4 million. The decrease in cash from $32.3 million as of June 30, 2002, is due, in part, to working capital requirements as a result of a 110% increase in Sales of Equipment and the repurchase of 331,551 shares of our common stock.

During the quarter, we extinguished a $3.0 million, 11% recourse note and as of September 30, 2002, total recourse debt decreased 68% to $1.5 million from $4.7 million as of March 31, 2002.

ePlus continued to provide financing and/or equipment sales to a broad range of commercial, educational, and governmental customers including various federal government agencies, Pennzoil, Alcoa, WebMethods, The Cameron and Barkley Co, Carolina Power and Light, Duke University, Wayne County Public Schools, VISA International, AOL, Citigroup, Pocono Mountain School District, Investors Bank & Trust, PPD, City of Palo Alto, and the University of North Carolina.

Conference Call Scheduled for Thursday, November 14th at 11:00

A.M.

The Company will host a conference call at 11 a.m. on Thursday, November 14, 2002. To listen, please call (973) 633-1010 or toll-free 800-683-1535. Ask to be connected to the ePlus conference call. Live and archived webcasts can be accessed from http://www.eplus.com/investor_relations/index.shtml.> A telephone replay of the conference call will be available by calling (877) 519-4471 or (973) 341-3080, and entering the passcode 3586584 beginning at about 2:00 P.M. on November 14th through November 24th

About ePlus inc.

A leading provider of Enterprise Cost Management, ePlus provides a comprehensive solution to reduce the costs of purchasing, owning, and financing goods and services.

ePlus Enterprise Cost Management (eECM) packages business process outsourcing, eProcurement, asset management, supplier enablement, strategic sourcing, and financial services into a single integrated solution, all based on ePlus' leading business application software. Profitable since inception in 1990, the company is headquartered in Herndon, VA and has more than 30 locations in the U.S.

For more information, visit our website at www.eplus.com, call 800-827-5711 or email to info@eplus.com.

ePlus(TM), ePlusSuite(TM), Procure (TM) , Manage (TM) , Service (TM), and MarketBuilder(TM) are trademarks of ePlus inc. ePlus Enterprise Cost Management, eECM, Pay and ePlus Leasing are trademarks applied for of ePlus inc. Finance (SM) is a registered service mark of ePlus inc. ePlus Content Framework(SM) is an applied for service mark applied ePlus inc.

Other marks referenced herein are property of their respective owners.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release, which are not historical facts, may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements".

Actual and anticipated future results may vary due to certain risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, general economic conditions; the possibility of defects in our products or catalog content data; our ability to hire and retain sufficient personnel; our ability to protect our intellectual property; the creditworthiness of our customers; our ability to raise capital and obtain non-recourse financing for our transactions; our ability to realize our investment in leased equipment; our ability to reserve adequately for credit losses; fluctuations in our operating results; our reliance on our management team; and other risks or uncertainties detailed in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings.