Barnes group elects Douglas P. Hamilton as Chief Financial Officer; Company expects above average first quarter, but lower than last year's record quarter.

BRISTOL, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 3, 1996--The Board of Directors of Barnes Group Inc. today elected Douglas P. Hamilton as senior vice president of Finance and a corporate officer. The announcement was made at the company's annual meeting of stockholders in Hartford, Conn.

At the same time, Theodore E. Martin, president and chief executive officer, told shareholders that Barnes Group's first quarter earnings will come in about as planned, despite a softening of the automotive market led by the recent GM strike. "While our results for March aren't in as yet, we expect our first quarter earnings to be well above the average of our historical first quarter results, but below last year's record-setting first quarter of $1.29 per share," Martin said. The first quarter of 1995 was by far the best quarter in the company's history.

In other annual meeting business, stockholders elected three sitting directors to three-year terms expiring in 1999. They are: William S. Bristol Jr., president of W.S. Bristow & Associates Inc., Rollingsford, N.H.; Robert J. Callander, executive in residence, Columbia University School of Business, and retired vice chairman, Chemical Banking Corp., N.Y.; and Theodore E. Martin, president and CEO, Barnes Group. Stockholders also approved Price Waterhouse LLP as the company's independent accountants for 1996.

The meeting also marked the retirement of Wallace Barnes from the board after 43 years of service and of A. Stanton Wells, former president and CEO, who served on the board from December 1993 to his retirement from the company on June 30, 1995.

In his capacity as chief financial officer of the company, Hamilton brings more than 29 years of experience in the power generation, aerospace and automotive industries. Most recently, he was vice president-finance and control for the U.S. Power Generation business of Asea Brown Boveri Inc. Prior to ABB, he spent 15 years in a variety of increasingly responsible positions with United Technologies, including vice president of finance for Pratt & Whitney from 1988 through 1992.

Hamilton is a graduate of Dartmouth College with a degree in Engineering Science and holds an MBA from Columbia University. He and his wife reside in Avon, Conn.

CONTACT: Barnes Group Inc.

J.F. Sand, Jr., [phone]