IEC Receives Delisting Notice from NASDAQ; Requests Appeal

Business Wire, Sept 20, 2002

Business Editors

NEWARK, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 20, 2002

IEC Electronics Corp. (NASDAQ: IECE) announced today that it received a NASDAQ Staff Determination dated September 13, 2002 stating that the Company fails to comply with Marketplace Rule 4310(c)(2)(B), concerning minimum net tangible assets and minimum stockholders' equity requirements, and with Marketplace Rule 4310(c)(13) because of its dues delinquency.

As a result, its common stock is subject to delisting from the NASDAQ SmallCap Market.

IEC has requested a hearing before a NASDAQ Listing Qualifications Panel to review the Staff Determination, and its stock will continue to be listed on NASDAQ SmallCap Market until the panel has made a final determination regarding its appeal. There can be no assurance that the Panel will grant the Company's request for continued listing.

IEC is a full service, ISO-9001 registered EMS provider. The Company offers its customers a wide range of services including design, prototype and volume printed circuit board assembly, material procurement and control, manufacturing and test engineering support, systems build, final packaging and distribution. Information regarding IEC can be found on its web site www.iec-electronics.com.

The foregoing, including the discussion regarding the Company's future prospects, contains certain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including uncertainties associated with economic conditions in the electronics industry, particularly in the principal industry sectors served by the Company, changes in customer requirements and in the volume of sales to principal customers, the ability of the Company to assimilate acquired businesses and to achieve the anticipated benefits of such acquisitions, competition and technological change, the ability of the Company to control manufacturing and operating costs, the successful negotiation of extensions to existing financing or the negotiation of new financing on acceptable terms. The Company's actual results of operations may differ significantly from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements as a result of these and other factors, including factors set forth in the Company's 2001 Annual Report on Form 10-K and in other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.