BURLINGTON, MA, April 25, 2002—LESCO, the largest manufacturer and distributor of turf care and golf course maintenance products in the U.S., needed to gain better visibility across its expanding business operations and use data more effectively for decision-making. To meet this requirement, LESCO has deployed a business intelligence solution from Cognos, placing powerful reporting and analysis capabilities into the hands of employees enterprise-wide. Cognos (NASDAQ: COGN; TSE: CSN) is the leading global provider of business intelligence solutions.

The Cognos implementation is a key component in LESCO's corporate initiative towards a more information-based management style. Using Cognos Impromptu® Web Reports and PowerPlay® to analyze and report on information contained in the data warehouse, LESCO is gaining better visibility into key areas like customers, suppliers, inventory, marketing, and finance. For example, LESCO's sales management group can perform an in-depth market analysis to spot trends in purchasing patterns down to the individual product level.

"Cognos tools are very powerful and have given us a better and more effective way to make business decisions and maximize our data warehouse investment," said Wayne Murawski, vice president and chief information officer, LESCO. "The powerful and timely information delivered by Cognos allows us to maintain our market agility even as we continue to grow, letting us rapidly identify and react to changes in the market and in our customer base."

LESCO is also using Cognos to track and measure business performance against key performance indicators (KPIs), both financial and operational. "The detailed information and analysis delivered by Cognos guides us in making many of the strategic decisions for the business — from planning to operating procedures to business analysis — this has been invaluable for our employees," added Murawski.

"As businesses expand and become more diversified, it's more important than ever to gain a comprehensive view of operations across the enterprise — as superior performance is closely tied to quality, speed, and accuracy of decision-making," said Dave Laverty, senior vice president, global marketing, Cognos. "LESCO has recognized the tremendous value delivered by Cognos in maximizing existing data assets and making faster, more-informed decisions that guide the business."

About LESCO:
LESCO, Inc. is a specialty provider of lawn care and golf course products for the professional turf care industry. The Company markets directly to more than 130,000 customers in 37 states through a unique distribution system comprising 227 LESCO Service Centers® and 78 LESCO Stores-on-Wheels®. Sales in 2001 totaled $506 million.