Cameron Ashley Announces Appointment of Lawrence P. Klamon to Board of Directors.

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 4, 1999--

Cameron Ashley Building Products, Inc. (NYSE:CAB) today announced the appointment of Lawrence P. Klamon, 62, to the Board of Directors, effective immediately. Mr. Klamon fills a vacancy created by the recent resignation of Donald S. Huml. With Mr. Klamon's appointment, Cameron Ashley now has eight members on the Board.

Mr. Klamon has over 36 years of financial, legal and operating management experience and has held the position of Chief Executive Officer of two New York Stock Exchange listed companies. Most recently, he served as President and Chief Executive officer of Fuqua Enterprises, Inc., a publicly held medical products company that was acquired by Graham-Field Health Products (OTC Bulletin Board: GFIH) in 1997. Previously, Mr. Klamon spent 24 years at Fuqua Industries, Inc., a Fortune 500 diversified multi-national company. At Fuqua Industries, he held a number of senior positions, which included Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer, President and Chief Operating Officer, Senior Vice President of Finance and Administration, and General Counsel.

Between his roles at Fuqua Enterprises and Fuqua Industries, he spent four years as Senior Counsel at Alston & Bird, the largest Atlanta law firm. He has also practiced law at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York and worked for two years at the Department of Defense. Mr. Klamon holds his law degree from Yale Law School and his Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington University.

Ronald R. Ross, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented: "We are pleased to welcome Mr. Klamon to the Board of Directors. Larry is a true entrepreneur with extensive experience managing a large multi-national company. He has an established record of growing sales and profits through both internal development and acquisitions, as well as creating wealth for his shareholders. During his eight-year tenure as President and Chief Operating Officer at Fuqua Industries, the company's stock appreciated in excess of 500% within the time period, making it one of the strongest performing stocks on the New York Stock Exchange."

Mr. Ross continued: "We are extremely impressed with Larry's credentials and look forward to the contributions he will make to the Company. Cameron Ashley achieved an important milestone last month by exceeding the $1 billion mark in year-to-date revenues for fiscal 1999. Larry's large company experience will be essential to attaining our stated goal of improved operating margins on $2 billion in revenues by 2003."

Cameron Ashley Building Products, Inc. is a distributor of a broad line of building products that are used principally in home improvement, remodeling and repair work and in new residential construction. The Company distributes its products to independent building material dealers, professional builders, large contractors and mass merchandisers through a network of 162 branches located throughout the United States and Canada. Product lines include roofing, millwork, pool and patio enclosure materials, insulation, siding, steel products, industrial metals and a variety of other building materials.

Certain statements in this release are "forward-looking statements" that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward- looking statements may be indicated by phrases such as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "foresees", "projects", "predicts", "forecasts" or similar words and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties which may cause the Company's actual results in future periods to differ materially from forecasted results. Among the key factors that could cause results to differ materially are: (i) business and economic conditions in North America, (ii) business and economic conditions in the regional markets in which the Company operates, (iii) adverse homebuilding conditions including those related to weather and interest rates, (iv) the ability to make acquisitions at reasonable prices and achieve operating efficiencies upon integration, (v) reliable and cost-effective supply of products from manufacturers, and (vi) technology risks in implementing new and/or converting existing information systems. These risks are more fully described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company does not undertake any obligations to update the information contained herein, which speaks only as of this date.

Note: More information on Cameron Ashley Building Products can be found on the Wide World Web at http://www.cabp.com.