Bright Horizons Family Solutions Reports First Quarter Financial Results.

Business Editors

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 27, 2000

Earnings Per Share Grows 25% Forms Strategic Internet

Partnership with Kids Online America

Bright Horizons Family Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: BFAM) today announced financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2000.

Net income for the first quarter of 2000 increased 21% to $2.3 million from $1.9 million in the quarter ended March 31, 1999. Earnings per diluted share of $0.19 in the quarter ended March 31, 2000 increased 25% from $0.15 per diluted share for the quarter ended March 31, 1999. Revenues for the current period increased 14% to $66.6 million from $58.5 million for the quarter ended March 31, 1999.

"We are excited about the eleven new centers we opened this quarter," commented Roger Brown, President and Chief Executive Officer, "including the first dedicated back up center in the Southeast, for Deutsche Bank, and our first family center in Nebraska, at the College of St. Mary. We also welcomed Dollar General into our family of clients with the opening of its new center in Nashville." Brown continued, "We are equally enthusiastic about expanding our partnership with Motorola with the opening of their twelfth center, and to have opened second centers for both Eli Lilly and SAS Institute. During the quarter we also closed one center and transitioned the families from a second center into a new and larger facility."

"In addition to the new center openings, our pipeline of committed family centers remains strong," said Brown. "New commitments this quarter include centers for Fidelity Investments, Abbott Laboratories, Duke University and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad."

Brown added, "Early in April, we assumed the management of three centers on the island of Guam for the U.S. Navy and Raytheon. These are the first centers for Bright Horizons outside the continental United States and represent an exciting new step for us. Our strategy is to work with our multinational clients to provide work/life solutions to their employees and their families, and we see a lot of opportunity in the international market."

"We recently announced a new strategic partnership with Kids Online America (KOLA), a premier internet service dedicated to a family friendly and safe environment for children, parents and educators", continued Brown. "We are pleased to have KOLA as our partner in developing this first step in our comprehensive strategy to incorporate the internet and technology into our educational programs for children and families and to expand our work/life offerings to our clients. As part of the partnership, we will team up with Kids Online America to make their flagship product, KOLA, available in all of our centers and to distribute KOLA to all of our corporate partners and to all of our employees."

Brown concluded, "Work-site child care has been proven to dramatically reduce turnover, and in this low-unemployment environment, our services are in greater demand than ever. Clients such as Chase Manhattan Bank are proactively using their work-life benefits and child care in particular as an explicit recruiting tool in targeted publications such as Working Mother magazine."

Bright Horizons Family Solutions is the nation's leading provider of employer-sponsored child care, early education and work/life consulting services, managing 309 centers in 35 states and the District of Columbia. Among Bright Horizons Family Solutions' more than 250 clients are many of the nation's leading companies, including 75 Fortune 500 companies and 45 of the "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers," as recognized by Working Mother magazine.

Visit the Bright Horizons Family Solutions website at www.brighthorizons.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Bright Horizons Family Solutions' actual results may vary significantly from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including the ability of the Company to execute contracts relating to new commitments and to expand and operate effectively and profitably in the international market, as well as other factors that are discussed in detail in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the "Risk Factors" section in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1999.

                Bright Horizons Family Solutions Notes
                    Selected Financial Information
                              (Unaudited)
                 (in thousands except per share data)

                                         Three months ended
                                  03/31/2000           03/31/1999

Revenues                     $ 66,622     100.0%   $ 58,4       100.0%

Cost of services               56,840      85.3%   50,087        85.7%
Gross profit                    9,782      14.7%    8,374        14.3%

Selling, general and
 administrative expenses        5,543       8.3%    5,127         8.8%
Amortization                      362       0.6%      229         0.3%

Income from operations          3,877       5.8%    3,018         5.2%

Net interest income                75       0.1%      211         0.3%

Income before income taxes      3,952       5.9%    3,229         5.5%

Income tax provision           (1,640)     -2.4%   (1,324)       -2.2%

Net income                   $  2,312       3.5%  $ 1,905         3.3%


Per share data:
Net income per
 share - basic               $   0.20               $0.16
Weighted average
 number of common
 shares outstanding            11,820              11,785

Net income per
 share - diluted             $   0.19             $  0.15
Weighted average
 number of common
 and common
 equivalent shares             12,322              12,737