LECO Lincoln Electric Holdings Inc

Lincoln Electric CFO Jay Elliott to Retire in 2004; Vincent Petrella Named Acting Chief Financial Officer CLEVELAND, Dec. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. announced today that H. Jay Elliott, the Company's Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will retire effective March 31, 2004. The Company also said that Vincent Petrella, Lincoln's Vice President and Corporate Controller, has been named Acting Chief Financial Officer, effective January 1, 2004. "Jay Elliott has been a close colleague and an extremely effective member of our management team, and his contributions the past 10 years have helped strengthen and globalize Lincoln Electric," said Anthony A. Massaro, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "With his international business experience, he brought discipline to the financial organization and developed it to world-class status, and he helped lead the Company through some very challenging financial issues." Mr. Elliott was named Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Lincoln Electric in April 1994. He joined the Company in July 1993 as International Chief Financial Officer and was charged with assisting in the restructuring of Lincoln's foreign operations, including the rationalization of plants in Europe, South America and Japan, to create a platform for future growth. Prior to joining Lincoln Electric, Mr. Elliott spent 25 years in key financial positions with The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in its international and U.S. operations. Mr. Petrella, a 1982 graduate of Baldwin-Wallace College with a bachelor of arts in accounting, received his CPA in 1984. He joined Lincoln in 1995 as Manager of Internal Audit and was named Corporate Controller in 1997 and appointed an officer of the Company in 2002. Prior to joining Lincoln, Mr. Petrella was with PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he held a number of management-level positions, including a two-year assignment in the firm's London office. "I am very grateful for the contributions that Jay has made to our Company, and I am confident that Vince will continue the excellent financial leadership that we enjoy," said Mr. Massaro. Lincoln Electric is the world leader in the design, development and manufacture of arc welding products, robotic arc-welding systems, plasma and oxyfuel cutting equipment. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Lincoln has operations, manufacturing alliances and joint ventures in 18 countries and a worldwide network of distributors and sales offices covering more than 160 countries. For more information about Lincoln Electric, its products and services, visit the Company's Web site at http://www.lincolnelectric.com/ . DATASOURCE: Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. CONTACT: Roy L. Morrow of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc., +1-216-383-4893, or email, Web site: http://www.lincolnelectric.com/

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