Armstrong Changes Tune, Bars Media from Meeting

Lancaster, PA, June 19, 2008--Armstrong is taking the unusual step of barring the media from attending Monday's annual meeting, set for 8 a.m. at the company's Columbia Avenue headquarters, according to Lancaster Online.

Asked to explain the change, Armstrong spokeswoman Meg Graham told the newspaper that the meeting "is not a public event."

Publicly held corporations such as Armstrong are not required to open their annual meetings to the media.

But in the past, Armstrong often used the occasion to announce significant news regarding strategies or products.

Shareholders, in turn, sometimes used the occasion to compliment or criticize management.

Issues that might draw shareholder questions Monday include Armstrong's sharply higher executive pay and its lower recent financial results.

On Monday's agenda are three issues for shareholder approval, two of them routine; re-electing the nine-member board of directors and the re-hiring of KPMG as Armstrong's independent auditors.

The third issue is the company's proposal to pay its non-employee directors partly in stock. The plan would affect all directors except Michael D. Lockhart, Armstrong chairman and CEO.