Angelica Announces Acquisition of Tartan's Hempstead, New York Operations

January 17, 2005

Angelica Announces Acquisition of Tartan's Hempstead, New York Operations

ST. LOUIS , Missouri (January 17, 2005) — Angelica Corporation (NYSE: AGL), a leading provider of healthcare linen management services, announced that it has acquired the Hempstead, New York operations of Tartan Textile Services. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

With annual revenues of approximately $28 million, this acquisition will improve Angelica's access to the New York City market and will eliminate the non-compete restrictions in the Philadelphia area previously negotiated with Tartan. The Hempstead operation is focused 100% on healthcare linen services and has significant volume in long term care facilities, one of Angelica's target growth areas.

“We are pleased to add Tartan's Hempstead , New York operations to Angelica's portfolio of healthcare linen management services,” said Steve O'Hara, Angelica's President and CEO. "While our pro formas for this operation fall slightly short of our target 15% IRR hurdle for acquisitions, we believe the strategic value of this operation to strengthen our position in the New York Metro/New Jersey area and the long term care markets, as well as the potential synergies with our Edison, New Jersey plant, make this an attractive acquisition that is expected to be mildly accretive in FY05 and more so in FY06, after transition costs."

Mr. O'Hara added, “We continue to look at additional acquisitions that can solidify existing market positions or open up new markets. Despite three acquisitions in the last two months, we continue to have available debt capacity to grow externally.”

Angelica Corporation, traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AGL, is a leading provider of textile rental and linen management services to the U.S. healthcare market.

Any forward-looking statements made in this document reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events and financial performance and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in these statements. These potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, competitive and general economic conditions, the ability to retain current customers and to add new customers in competitive market environments, competitive pricing in the marketplace, delays in the shipment of orders, availability of labor at appropriate rates, availability and cost of energy and water supplies, the cost of workers' compensation and healthcare benefits, the ability to attract and retain key personnel, actual charges to the restructuring reserve significantly different from estimated charges, disruption to the Company's operation by union activities, the ability of the Company to sell the Life Uniform segment under financial terms and conditions currently anticipated, the ability of the Company to accomplish its strategy of re-directing its resources to its healthcare linen management business in a timely and financially advantageous manner, unusual or unexpected cash needs for operations or capital transactions, the effectiveness of certain expense reduction initiatives, the ability to obtain financing in required amounts and at appropriate rates, the ability to identify, negotiate, fund and integrate acquisitions, and other factors which may be identified in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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