AmeriResource Announces Final Agreement in Principal Amongst Merger Candidates.

Business Editors

DES PLAINES, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 4, 2000

Delmar Janovec, Chairman and CEO of AmeriResource Technologies, Inc. (ARET); Jimmy Krapf, Chairman of Krapfcandoit Company (Krapf); George Wilson, Chairman and CEO of Crestwood Management Company, Inc.; and Lisa Moressi, Chairman and CEO of Crestwood Villas, Inc. (Crestwood Villas) announced today that the Company and its merger candidates have successfully resolved all legal and accounting issues necessary to allow the transaction to proceed forward. The merger transaction was closed in escrow on December 23, 1999 subject to final due diligence by all parties. It is anticipated that the escrow will be closed out early next week. Final terms of the transaction will be announced at that time.

Mr. Janovec, Chairman and CEO, commented, &uot;This transaction has been a very complex process and the accounting and legal issues have been successfully resolved to the satisfaction of all parties. For the past week the management teams have been cooperating in the transition of management systems and policies. The accounting team has begun the process of migrating the various accounting systems to the new central office in Rolling Meadows at this time. We anticipate a fully operational central office no later than Friday, February 11, 2000. In an operation this large, it is critical that we have real-time access to all relevant decision making data. We have planned for the future growth of the Company by developing an extensive foundation of financial and accounting systems. This financial management system will allow our Financial and Development Committees to review relevant financial data that is less than 1 week old in making decisions affecting our return on equity to our shareholders. This process has been a large cooperative effort between our management teams and our investment-banking firm. We presently have a number of excellent opportunities we are evaluating with this new financial process. Additionally, we are in negotiations with strategic partners to develop contractual relationships to further the foundation for our growth cycle and enhance shareholder value&uot;

Mr. Janovec further stated, &uot;The web site is progressing well and it is our intention to allow our investors the ability to communicate on a regular basis with our public relations department via the Internet. Our new centralized office will allow all our divisions to all operate independent of each other but allow all financial decisions to be made based upon a Company wide financial picture. This will allow us to make very accurate financial decisions which will maximize our returns to our shareholders.&uot;

Statements in this press release include forward-looking statements that include risk and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements in this press release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially due to a variety of factors, including without limitation the Company's ability to produce and market certain products and/or services and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.