RYKO SOLUTIONS ENTERS INTO PURCHASE AGREEMENT TO ACQUIRE MACNEIL WASH SYSTEMS

Combined Company Will Form Second Largest Car Wash Equipment Provider in World
 
GRIMES, IA (March 11, 2013) – Ryko Solutions, Inc., the largest provider of managed car wash systems in North America, has entered into a purchase agreement whereby Ryko will acquire MacNeil Wash Systems, Ltd. of Barrie, Ontario, Canada, a leading supplier to the tunnel car wash segment of the industry.  Details of the transaction, which will close April 1 and establish Ryko as the second largest car wash equipment manufacturer in the world, were not disclosed.

The MacNeil brand name will remain intact as will the company’s manufacturing facilities in Canada. MacNeil will operate as a subsidiary of Ryko Solutions, retaining the staff expertise and operating flexibility that has made MacNeil a market leader for the past thirty years. Vince MacNeil, former CEO of MacNeil Wash Systems, will join the Board of Directors at Ryko, a move heralded by Steve L’Heureux, CEO of Ryko Solutions, as instrumental to the joint company continuing to build on its success in the conveyor segment of the car wash industry.

The union of these two well-respected companies, combining over 70 years of industry experience, innovations and resources, ushers in an exciting new era for the car wash industry. For Ryko, it presents an opportunity to more than double the company’s addressable market through the addition of complementary product lines.  It also provides Ryko an entry into the tunnel market segment for its technical service programs, cleaning products and marketing support systems that have proven to increase car wash counts and ticket prices for Ryko car wash operators.

“This is an important event in our industry.  While there have been previously announced consolidations among industry suppliers, this is the first that involves two independently strong industry players who are enjoying healthy growth,” explained Steven L’Heureux, CEO of Ryko.  “MacNeil has a well established reputation within the industry for delivering the best performing and most highly engineered conveyor systems and innovative profit enhancing accessories. By leveraging Ryko’s larger R&D and marketing organizations, we see a tremendous opportunity to dramatically expand MacNeil’s market share.”

Ryko’s customers will enjoy new equipment options through direct access to MacNeil products – the best engineered tunnel systems in the world.   Traditional MacNeil customers will have expanded choices through their MacNeil distributors supported by Ryko’s end-to-end solutions, including the car wash industry’s largest technical service network, and local parts warehoused throughout the United States.  Customers will also benefit from a larger choice of industry accessories and support systems including water recovery programs and state-of-the-art activation and payment devices along with a new line of tunnel-specific cleaning products.   

“This alignment of our business with Ryko allows us to continue our vision of delivering well-engineered car wash solutions that will bring sustainable profit to our customers,” stated Vince MacNeil. “What is important to me in this relationship are the many synergies and commonalities in how we approach the car wash business. These will be advantageous to our distributors and customers, including a dedicated engineering team and significant investments in R&D, a joint desire to build on our heritage – a legacy of accelerated innovation – and a single shared culture centered around building one team focused on customer success.”

ABOUT RYKO SOLUTIONS
Ryko Solutions, Inc. is the largest provider of managed car wash systems in North America, offering an integrated, end-to-end clean vehicle solution consisting of equipment, chemicals, a national technical services organization and consumer marketing programs. The company’s primary focus is creating maximum profitability in car wash operations for gas/convenience stores, private investors, land developers and auto dealers.  Headquartered in Grimes, Iowa, the company has been in operation since 1973 and employs approximately 400 people throughout North America.

ABOUT MACNEIL WASH SYSTEMS
For 30 years, MacNeil Wash Systems has provided superior car wash equipment to the tunnel car wash industry, automotive dealers, fleet and rental markets. The company’s turnkey systems, profit boosting add-ons, and cost-effective retrofits have been the envy of the industry, delivering a consistently superior clean with lower maintenance, higher throughput and greater revenue opportunity.
For additional information, please visit www.rykomacneilmerger.com or call 515/986-3700.
 
 
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Kate Lee
Freelance Writer/Editor
757-828-7504 (office)
315-767-7648 (mobile)
kate.carr.lee@gmail.com

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Lustra™ Signs Car Wash Unlimited as a New Distributor

December 17, 2012

De Pere, WI – Lustra™ Professional Car Care Products announced today that Car Wash Unlimited has been appointed as a distributor for Lustra Professional Car Care Products for Northern and bay areas of California.  With over 50 years of combined experience, Car Wash Unlimited provides selling and servicing for all types of vehicle wash systems specializing in in-bay automatics.
 
T.R. Reynolds, owner and partner, said “We wanted to choose a well known name brand on the leading edge of the car wash industry, which is everything Lustra offers.”
 
Rob Raskell, Regional Sales Manager, said, “We are excited about our partnership with Car Wash Unlimited.  Their experience and focus on the petroleum and in-bay market in Northern California is positive for all parties.”
 
About Cleaning Systems, Inc:
Founded in 1976, Cleaning Systems, Inc. is an ISO 9001-2008 and ISO 14001-2004 registered manufacturer of premier cleaning and protection products and application systems for the transportation industry.  CSI’s Lustra™ Professional Car Care Products are environmentally friendly and designed to deliver a superior car wash experience, whereas, the DynaEdge® product line provides the same quality of performance to commercial vehicles and industry applications. SAS™, Solution Application Systems, explores and develops new and advanced technologies for the application of cleaning and protection chemicals in the transportation industry.
 
Visit www.CleaningSystemsInc.com for more information.

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Zep Inc. Completes Acquisition of Ecolab’s Vehicle Care Division Creates an Industry Leader in the $1 Billion Vehicle Care Portion of the Transportation Market

Business Generated Sales of $66 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $13 million in the 12 months ended June 30, 2012
Acquisition is expected to be Accretive in Fiscal 2013

December 3, 2012

ATLANTA, December 3, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Zep Inc. (NYSE: ZEP), a leading producer and marketer of a wide range of cleaning and maintenance solutions, today announced that a wholly owned subsidiary of Zep Inc. completed the purchase of the Vehicle Care division of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE: ECL), effective December 1,

2012 for approximately $120 million.
The combination of Ecolab's Vehicle Care division with Zep's existing North American Sales and Service vehicle-wash operations and its Niagara and Washtronics fleet-wash operations creates a new platform, "Zep Vehicle Care," representing approximately 13% of Zep’s net sales on a pro forma basis.

“The creation of Zep Vehicle Care is an example of our disciplined focus on key markets, like transportation, where we bring unique value and expertise to our customers,” said John K. Morgan, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Zep Inc. “We expect the combination of our respective sales organizations with best-in-class vehicle care solutions will allow us to capitalize on growth opportunities in the $1 billion U.S. vehicle care marketplace in a way that is accretive to earnings. Furthermore, the attractive cash flow generation of our overall business will allow us to focus efforts on quickly reducing debt in a meaningful way.”

The Zep Vehicle Care portfolio of brands comprised of Blue Coral®, Black Magic®, Rain-X®, Zep® Enviroedge™, Niagara National™, Washtronics™ & Armor All Professional™ includes soaps, polishes, sealants & protectants, detail products, wheel and tire treatments, air fresheners and related equipment.

Zep Vehicle Care will offer its products and services through a world-class team of service and support professionals to provide car, truck and fleet wash operators with high efficacy products for their wash tunnels and retail operations.

Zep Inc. financed the acquisition using existing debt capacity. While both the interest rate and leverage ratio are very manageable, the company will immediately turn much of its focus to deleveraging its balance sheet, thereby preparing for additional expansion in the long term. The Company will incur acquisition-related costs associated with advisory, legal and other due diligence-related services and transition costs during its first and second quarters of fiscal 2013. In addition, the Company entered into a transition services agreement under which Ecolab will continue to provide certain services to the acquired Vehicle Care business for up to 12 months. Despite these first year acquisition and related costs, the Company anticipates this transaction will be modestly accretive to earnings in fiscal 2013. Once integration activities are complete, the Company anticipates realizing additional synergies ranging between $1.5 million and $2.0 million annually.

Forward Looking Statements and use of Non-GAAP Information
This release contains, and other written or oral statements made by or on behalf of Zep may include, forward-looking statements, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Specifically, the statements regarding the expected accretion and synergies of the transaction described above and the statements regarding our ability to repay indebtedness are forward-looking statements.

Our forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, expectations, or outcomes to differ materially from our historical experience as well as management's present expectations or projections. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to:

• economic conditions in general;
• customer and supplier relationships and prices;
• competition;
• our ability to realize anticipated benefits from information technology initiatives and the timing of benefits;
• market demand; and
• litigation and other contingent liabilities, such as environmental matters.

A variety of other risks and uncertainties could cause our actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in our forward-looking statements. A number of those risks are discussed in Part I, "Item 1A. Risk Factors" of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2012. Management believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable; however, undue reliance should not be placed on any forward-looking statements, which are based on current expectations. Further, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and management undertakes no obligation to update publicly any of them in light of new information or future events.

About Zep Inc.
Zep Inc., with fiscal year 2012 net sales of $654 million, is a leading producer and marketer of a wide range of cleaning and maintenance solutions for commercial, industrial, institutional, and consumer end-markets. Zep Inc.'s product portfolio includes anti-bacterial and industrial hand care products, cleaners, degreasers, deodorizers, disinfectants, floor finishes, sanitizers, and pest and weed control products, as well as high performance products and professional grade chemical products for the automotive, fleet maintenance, industrial/MRO supply, institutional supply and motorcycle markets. We market these products and services under well recognized and established brand names, such as Zep®, Zep Commercial®, Zep Professional®, Enforcer®, National Chemical™, Selig™, Misty®, Next Dimension™, Petro®, i-Chem®, TimeMist®, TimeWick™, MicrobeMax®, Country Vet®, Konk®, Niagara National™, Washtronics™, FC Forward Chemicals®, Rexodan®, Mykal™, and a number of private labeled brands. Founded in 1937, some of Zep's brands have been in existence since 1896. Zep Inc. is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Visit our website at www.zepinc.com.

About Ecolab Vehicle Care
Ecolab's Vehicle Care Division is a leading provider of the vehicle care industry's most recognizable branded commercial cleaners, protectants and related products and accessories to the car wash, convenience store, auto dealership and fleet-wash markets in North America. Its 300 products meet customer needs across all segments of the industry. The Division is headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Investor Contact: Media Contacts:
Don De Laria
Zep Inc. 
404-350-6266
don.delaria@zep.com 

Megan Loch
Zep Vehicle Care
Vehicle Care
megan.loch@zep.com

Michael Ares
Fleishman-Hillard
x404-739-0133
michael.ares@fleishman.com

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Grace for Vets Partners

As a valued partner that continues to help support the Grace for Vets program the organizers wanted to share the final wash results for 2011.  
 
The final count for 2011 was 119,317 FREE washes.

Please Note:  Unfortunately due to a coding error that was not identified early in the reporting process, the results were skewed as they were being reported online.  When the issue was identified our program developer was contacted to analyze the problem, however with the risk of affecting all of the data already entered nothing could be reviewed until all wash results were entered.  The review found that results being reported for sites with multiple locations were being calculated more than once.  To ensure accurate reporting, a manual review of all washes and their reported numbers was done. 
 
As a Grace for Vets partner you are requested to have the logo on your website.  We ask that you replace the current logo with the new 2011 logo as it reflects your partnership of the program and provides recognition of the program to those visiting your site.  The code for posting on your website is provided below.  Please be sure to copy exactly from the < at the beginning, to the ending > of the code. 
 
As November 11, 2012 will be here before we know it, we are asking for your help in beginning to promote the program to your vendors, members, press and family and friends.  2011 again, broke previous years records and we’d like to continue to see the participants increase, FREE wash numbers grow and more countries participating.   We’re continuing to look to expand into other countries with the success of New Zealand’s and Australia’s participation last year.  
 
Anyone who would like paper copies of the new Grace for Vets  brochure to handout to customers, or take along to upcoming shows can email me with their mailing address and we'll send some out.  We make every effort to continue to let the wash operators participating in the program know who our partners are.   http://graceforvets.org/2012/about-program.php. As a non profit organization that unites the car wash industry together, we are always looking for new partners to help spread the word.
 
You can always refer any interested parties to me at sramp@cloistercarwash.com or through the Grace for Vets number at 717-733-7090, the grace for vets website, www.graceforvets.org  or info@graceforvets.org.  
 
Thank you for your continue support. 
 
Please keep in mind that Mike Mountz, founder of Grace for Vets, is always willing to speak about the program if you have an event, or association meeting that you're looking for a speaker. There's no cost to your organization for him to speak.  We would value the opportunity.