ST. PAUL, MN —Merrill Corporation (www.merrillcorp.com), a global diversified communications and document services provider, today announced operating results for its fiscal third quarter ended October 31, 2000. Revenue for the third quarter was $148.9 million, an increase of 3 percent from $144.3 million in the third quarter last year. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), exclusive of $2.7 million of restructuring costs for the third quarter and merger costs of $1.2 million for the third quarter last year decreased $10.6 million, or 50 percent, to $10.8 million. For the third quarter, Merrill reported a net loss of $7.2 million, compared to net income of $5.6 million in the third quarter last year. The decrease in net income was a consequence of increased interest costs associated with the leveraged buyout in November of 1999 and higher selling, general and administration expenses, as well as a decline in gross profit. Revenue for the nine months ended October 31, 2000, was $499.8 million, an increase of $57.4 million or 13 percent from the first nine months of last year. EBITDA, exclusive of merger costs, start-up and transition costs related to our European operations, and restructuring costs, decreased $7.0 million or 12 percent to $53.6 million for the nine months ended October 31, 2000 from $60.6 million for the first nine months of fiscal 2000. Merrill Corporation President and CEO John Castro said, “Continued softness in the domestic transaction markets and lower than expected revenue in our Strategic Communication Services and Document Management Services business units led to a very disappointing third quarter.”