Gartner Group Announces Second Quarter Results Net Income Increases More Than 60% on Revenue of $91 Million.

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 17, 1996-- Gartner Group, Inc., (NASDAQ:GART) today announced record revenue and earnings growth for the second fiscal quarter ended March 31, 1996.

Revenues for the three month period ended March 31, increased 39 percent to $90.8 million from $65.5 million a year earlier. Net income increased 61 percent to $11.7 million from $7.3 million a year earlier and earnings per share increased 50 percent to 12 cents. Earnings per share have been adjusted to reflect the recent two-for-one stock split effective March 29, 1996.

For the six months ended March 31, revenues increased 37 percent to $187.3 million compared to $136.8 million for the same period a year earlier. Net income increased 56 percent to $23.2 million from $14.9 million and earnings per share increased 50 percent to 24 cents. Operating contribution improved to 21.7 percent of revenues, compared with 19.9 percent of revenues for the same period a year earlier.

Manny Fernandez, chairman and CEO stated, "Gartner Group's ability to remain focused on core competencies, to expand successfully into adjacent markets such as training and market research, and to provide the most responsive and comprehensive one-on-one advice to individual clients, allows us to remain the undisputed leader in the IT services marketplace. Our second quarter was particularly strong reflecting outstanding market acceptance of our new products introduced during the quarter, the sustained growth of our consulting services and the ongoing success of our worldwide event and conference business which included, in March, the first Interactive and Electronic Commerce Exposition and Conference In New York City."

Commenting on the highly successful iEC Exposition and Conference, Michael Fleisher, senior vice president stated, "This new event, held jointly with Expocon Management, exceeded all our expectations. More than 140 vendors demonstrated products to 10,000 attendees. Further, more than 1,300 IT professionals attended Gartner Group conference sessions." An additional iEC conference will be held in San Francisco in early September.

Separately, Gartner Group announced today a major expansion of its IT training and education services business segment. Agreements were announced to acquire J3 Learning Corporation, Mindware Training Technologies and the remaining share of Relational Courseware, Inc.

Gartner Group, Inc. is the world's leading provider of information technology advisory and market research services. Founded in 1979 and headquartered in Stamford, Conn., Gartner Group serves more than 6,200 client organizations worldwide. Additional information about Gartner Group is available on the World Wide Web at: http://www.gartner.com . -0-

(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)

OPERATING RESULTS

                         Three Months Ended        Six Months Ended
                             Mar. 31,                 Mar. 31,
                        1996  1995   %           1996     1995    %
                                   Change                       Change

Revenues

Continuous services   $75,006  $54,162  38    $147,013  $108,990  35
 Other                 15,828   11,377  39      40,296    27,855  45
 Total revenues        90,834   65,539  39     187,309   136,845  37

Operating expenses
 Cost of services
  and product
   development         34,122   24,203  41      71,201    51,099  39
 Sales and marketing   23,096   18,419  25      48,002    37,944  27
 General and
  administrative       10,974    8,227  33      21,455    17,237  24

 Transaction costs         --       --           1,665        --
 Depreciation           2,012    1,653  22       4,249     3,355  27
 Total costs
  and expenses         70,204   52,502  34     146,572   109,635  34

Operating
 contribution          20,630   13,037  58      40,737    27,210  50

Amortization              883      939  (6)      1,655    1,806   (8)
Operating income       19,747   12,098  63      39,082   25,404   54

Net interest income       827      363  128      1,629      698   133

Income before
 min int & taxes       20,574   12,461  65      40,711   26,102    56

Minority interest          25       --             --       --

Income before
 taxes                 20,549   12,461  65      40,711   26,102    56

Provision for
 income taxes           8,837    5,184  70      17,506   11,190    56

Net income per
 common share         $11,712   $7,277  61     $23,205  $14,912    56

Net income per
 common share           $0.12    $0.08  50       $0.24    $0.16    50

Weighted
 average shares
  outstanding          99,294   93,884  --      98,412   93,536    --

BALANCE SHEET DATA
(Dollars in thousands)

                                   Balance Sheet as of
                                    Mar 31,   Sep 30,
                                     1996      1995   % Change
ASSETS

 Total current assets            $237,718    $221,228     7
 Furniture and equipment, net      27,680      24,328    14
 Intangibles, net                  66,763      62,871     6
   Other assets                     8,273       5,494   (22)
      Total assets               $340,434    $313,921     7

LIABILITIES & STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
 Current liab. &
  deferred revenues              $234,518    $255,193    (9)

 Noncurrent liabilities             7,138       3,473   106
  Total liabilities               238,760     258,666    (8)

 Total stockholders' equity        98,778      55,255    77
  Total liab. &
    stockholders' equity         $340,434    $313,921     7

SELECTED STATISTICAL DATA       As of March 31,
(Dollars in thousands)          1996      1995      % Change

Contract Value               $316,872   $236,745       34
Client Organizations            6,282      4,961       27
Client Interfaces              20,000     15,504       29
Gartner Group continuous
 services offered                  57         47       21

CONTACT: Gartner Group, Inc.

Jennifer Schlueter, 203/316-6537