Fargo Electronics, Inc. CEO And CFO, Scheduled To Present At Fifth Annual Needham Growth Conference Jan. 7, Anticipate Revenue Growth in 2003.

Business Editors

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 13, 2002

Fargo Electronics, Inc. (Nasdaq:FRGO) announced today that Gary R. Holland, president and chief executive officer, and Paul Stephenson, chief financial officer, are scheduled to present at the Fifth Annual Needham Growth Conference January 7 at the New York Palace Hotel in New York City. A web cast of the presentation will be available at www.fargo.com/investor_info.asp.

In anticipation of his presentation at the conference, Holland said, "We are planning for on-going revenue growth in 2003. We see revenue growth next year in the range of 5 percent to 15 percent."

"With the distribution of the Fargo stock owned by TA Associates to its limited partners, and the stability of our stock price after that event, we now have accomplished the goals that we set out to achieve in our June 2002 secondary offering: providing for an orderly liquidation of the original venture capital ownership, increasing the available float, and re-introducing ourselves to the investment community," Holland said. "Fargo continues to perform well in light of the difficult information technology spending environment."

The Company reiterated the guidance presented to analysts on its October 22 Conference Call, with earnings for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2002 remaining in the range of $0.14 to $0.18 per common share, and results for the year estimated to be in the range of $0.52 to $0.56 per common share, excluding acquisition costs.

About Fargo

Fargo Electronics, Inc. (Nasdaq:FRGO) is the world's leader in innovative technologies for desktop plastic card personalization systems. Personalized identification cards provide physical, information, and transaction security for a wide variety of applications including Corporations, National IDs, Drivers' Licenses, Universities, Schools, Government Installations, Transportation, Casinos, Healthcare Facilities, E-commerce, Retail Stores, Correctional Institutions, Associations, Sports Events and Recreation Sites. More than 60,000 Fargo systems have been sold in the U.S. and over 80 other countries. For more information, visit Fargo's Web site at http://www.fargo.com.

Forward-looking Statements 

Statements made in this release concerning the company's expectations about future results or events are "forward-looking statements." Such statements are subject to the safe harbor created by the Private Securities Reform Act of 1995, and are necessarily subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those reflected in these forward-looking statements.

These risks include: product acceptance and customer demand for Fargo's card personalization systems and proprietary supplies; actions taken and alternative products marketed by Fargo's competitors; supplier relationships, including reliance on sole and single-source suppliers; lack of inventories of component parts or finished goods; our focus on the identification card personalization market; continuing technological changes in our industry; our dependence on a distribution network; domestic and international regulations and standards; our dependence on international sales; material changes in orders placed by end users; the speed of multiple system installations by large end users; challenges in effectively managing growth; our dependence on technologies we do not own; complex design and manufacturing delays; protecting and enforcing intellectual property rights; inadequate protection against infringement claims; adverse economic and business conditions, including conditions resulting from the terrorist attack on the U.S. on September 11, 2001 and the resulting hostilities. For more detail, see the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2001, and Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2002, June 30, 2002, and Sept. 30, 2002