Shaw and Its Employees Make Cash Donations Totaling $1 Million to Hurricane Relief and Recovery Efforts

Business Wire, Nov 2, 2005

BATON ROUGE, La. -- The Shaw Group Inc. (NYSE: SGR) today announced a total cash contribution of $1 million to the hurricane relief and recovery efforts. In September, Shaw committed to match employee cash contributions to the relief and recovery efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Since then, Shaw employees have donated more than $138,000 to organizations such as the American Red Cross, United Way, The Salvation Army and many others. In fulfillment of its commitment to match employee cash donations, and as an additional contribution, Shaw is making cash donations totaling $862,000 to hurricane relief and recovery organizations, with a $250,000 donation to American Red Cross, $250,000 to United Way, $100,000 to The Salvation Army and an additional $262,000 in contributions to other Louisiana-based hurricane relief organizations.

J.M. Bernhard, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Shaw, said, "Our thoughts continue to be with the hundreds of thousands of people affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. As a Louisiana-based company, we have also been impacted by these storms. It has been extremely gratifying for us to have the opportunity to participate in the recovery process through this fundraising effort of our employees, our clothing and supply drive and our corporate cash contributions. We have also been particularly focused on hiring Louisiana workers and subcontractors, especially those directly affected by the storms. We are 100% committed to seeking out Louisiana-based businesses and workers to participate in rebuilding our state."

Mr. Bernhard continued, "I want to thank our employees, not only for their generous contributions, but for their incredible dedication and hard work during the past two months. Shaw prides itself on providing agile and effective solutions to complex problems. We react to approximately 300 emergency situations per year but never before have we been involved in such an important effort for our home state. Even before Katrina hit, our employees were engaged and over the weeks that followed, they have all made many personal sacrifices to ensure we continue to make a positive and timely impact on as many lives as possible."

Following Hurricane Katrina, Shaw employees in locations all around the country donated supplies such as non-perishable food items, clothing and furniture during a United Way supply drive held at Shaw Headquarters in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Many employees also donated items directly to community collection centers organized by relief agencies.

In addition to contributing money and supplies to support the relief effort, Shaw has assisted displaced workers and small businesses by holding job fairs and sponsoring small business seminars. For hurricane relief and recovery work in Louisiana, over 75 percent of Shaw's subcontractors are Louisiana-based companies, and 60 percent are small businesses, of which, one-third are minority-owned, woman-owned or other disadvantaged small businesses.

The Shaw Group Inc. is a leading global provider of technology, engineering, procurement, construction, maintenance, fabrication, manufacturing, consulting, remediation, and facilities management services for government and private sector clients in the energy, chemical, environmental, infrastructure and emergency response markets. Headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with over $3 billion in annual revenues, Shaw employs approximately 20,000 people at its offices and operations in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. The Company was recently named to Fortune magazine's annual list of "America's Most Admired Companies" for the second consecutive year. For further information, please visit Shaw's website at www.shawgrp.com

The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor" for certain forward-looking statements. The statements contained herein that are not historical facts (including without limitation statements to the effect that the Company or its management "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "plans," or other similar expressions) and statements related to revenues, earnings, backlog, or other financial information or results are forward-looking statements based on the Company's current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on the Company. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting the Company will be those anticipated by the Company. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) and assumptions and are subject to change based upon various factors. Should one or more of such risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. A description of some of the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements can be found in the Company's reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Form 10-K and Form 10-Q reports, and on the Company's website under the heading "Forward-Looking Statements". These documents are also available from the Securities and Exchange Commission or from the Investor Relations department of Shaw. For more information on the company and announcements it makes from time to time on a regional basis visit our website at www.shawgrp.com.