LEXMARK AND AGFA TO PROVIDE UNIQUE EURO FONT SOLUTION.

LEXINGTON, Ky.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 15, 1999--

Customers' conversion to the euro will be easier with industry's first

complete font solution that is compatible with industry standards

Lexmark International (NYSE: LXK), a leading printing solutions company, and Agfa Typographic Systems, the world's leading supplier of font technology, today announced they are working together to provide printing solutions for the euro currency character. With these solutions, Lexmark's customers can begin including the euro symbol in their printed documents immediately.

Agfa, which has provided its leading-edge printer font solutions to Lexmark customers worldwide since 1991, will incorporate an optimized euro symbol into each of the up to 75 typestyles, not just a single character design for all typestyles. These typestyles were built into the Lexmark Optra Se 3455, announced last September, and will be built into all future Optra printers. In addition, Agfa can provide other fonts specially designed with euro characters to match corporate typestyles.

"Since our entire focus is on printing solutions, we thoroughly understand the challenges the euro character will have on the print environment and we are committed to providing an easy and manageable solution for customers," stated John Mitchell, president, business printer division, Lexmark International. "Agfa's cutting edge font technology, which is compatible with industry standards, is helping us to do this."

"We are pleased to provide Lexmark customers with the industry's widest range of euro-supported font options to help get them through the conversion", stated Doug Shaw, director, Agfa's OEM business unit. "We believe Lexmark is offering one of the most comprehensive euro solutions in the industry today."

Agfa's Font Technology:

Agfa provides its industry-leading Universal Font Scaling Technology (UFST)(TM) to Lexmark customers. This solution includes font support for both the PostScript(R) and PCL(R) page description languages, and offers customers consistent font support in both emulations. Additionally, Agfa's MicroType(TM) font compression technology gives customers greater type solutions with less memory requirements -- while assuring the highest level of print quality output.

About the euro:

The euro became official on January 1, 1999, as a currency for Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. This currency conversion will impact a wide range of computer systems and applications, as well as e-commerce, during a time of tight IT resources already focused on Y2K issues. The GartnerGroup estimates the euro adoption will cost European Union IT organizations between $150 to $400 billion for corporate systems changes, including software conversion and restructuring, as well as business process re-engineering. This amount represents three to five times the expected costs for Y2K issues.

Lexmark's euro approach:

Lexmark understands the euro conversion will have a major impact on printing - which is a key component of IT systems. The company began extensive preparations for this change by talking individually with customers about the potential impact on their systems and by focusing on adjusting its own internal operations accordingly. The company also offers a variety of printing solutions, also announced today, that aim to simplify the management of customers' systems during this transition -- beginning with the announcement last Fall of the Lexmark Optra Se 3455, which was euro-enabled.

Lexmark International, Inc. is a global developer, manufacturer and supplier of printing solutions and products, including laser, inkjet and dot matrix printers and associated consumable supplies for the office and home markets. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lexmark International Group, Inc. (NYSE: LXK). Lexmark, which had sales of $3 billion in 1998, has executive offices in Lexington, Ky. The company has a manufacturing center in Lexington, Ky. and Geneva, Switzerland; other manufacturing sites are in Boulder, Colo.; Juarez, Mexico; Rosyth, Scotland; Orleans, France; and Sydney, Australia. For more information on Lexmark products, including newsletters on how to get the most out of your printer, visit the Lexmark home page at www.lexmark.com on the Internet. Customers may also call 1-800-LEXMARK (1-800-539-6275), use the Lexmark bulletin board service at [phone] or the CompuServe forum "Go Lexmark."

Agfa Typographic Systems is the recognized leader of embedded type and color technologies, multi-language and double-byte font solutions, high-quality custom type design and owner of the largest digital type library in the world. Agfa Typographic Systems is a business unit of the Agfa-Gevaert Group, a leading worldwide manufacturer of imaging products and systems, with annual sales of $4.5 billion. Headquartered in Mortsel, Belgium, Agfa-Gevaert is wholly owned by Bayer AG. In the United States, Agfa operates as a division of Bayer Corporation, with headquarters in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey. Bayer, headquartered in Pittsburgh, is a research-based company with major businesses in chemicals, health care and imaging technologies. Bayer employs 23,500 people. Additional information on Agfa Typographic Systems may be found on the company's home page at: http://www/agfahome.com/agfatype.

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