*    The Company uses the above non-GAAP adjusted measures in managing the business and believes the adjustments provide meaningful comparisons of operating performance between periods. Adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income, and adjusted EPS exclude the impact of certain discrete expenses and income.  Examples include plant closures, restructuring actions, separation costs, environmental site expenses and related insurance recoveries, and other large unusual items outside of the normal course of our business operations. The Company excludes U.S. pension plan impact in the non-GAAP results as it represents the actuarial net periodic benefit cost recorded, while for all periods presented, the Company was not required and did not make cash contributions to the U.S. Retirement Income Plan based on guidelines established by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. Adjusted free cash flow is defined as cash from operations and dividends received from the WAVE joint venture, less expenditures for property and equipment, and is adjusted to remove the impact of cash used or proceeds received for acquisitions and divestitures, legacy environmental matters and litigation. Adjusted figures are reported using the actual exchange rate for 2019, and are reconciled to the most comparable GAAP measures in tables at the end of this release.   

Market Outlook and 2019 Guidance
"We're off to a good start to the year with adjusted EBITDA up 17% and adjusted EBITDA margins up 330 basis points driven by strong AUV and leveraging our scale," said Brian MacNeal, CFO of AWI.  "We continue to expect economic conditions in 2019 to be similar to 2018.  Our 2019 guidance is unchanged and we anticipate sales growth of 7%-10% and adjusted EBITDA growth of greater than 10%."

Management will host a live Internet broadcast beginning at 11:00 a.m. Eastern time today, to discuss first quarter results. This event will be broadcast live on the Company's website. To access the call and accompanying slide presentation, go to www.armstrongceilings.com and click Investors. The replay of this event will also be available on the Company's website for up to one year after the date of the call.

Disclosures in this release, including without limitation, those relating to future financial results, market conditions and guidance, and in our other public documents and comments, contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Those statements provide our future expectations or forecasts and can be identified by our use of words such as "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "project," "intend," "plan," "believe," "outlook," "target," "predict," "may," "will," "would," "could," "should," "seek," and other words or phrases of similar meaning in connection with any discussion of future operating or financial performance. Forward-looking statements, by their nature, address matters that are uncertain and involve risks because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. As a result, our actual results may differ materially from our expected results and from those expressed in our forward-looking statements. A more detailed discussion of the risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those projected, anticipated or implied is included in the "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis" section of our report on Forms 10-K and 10-Q filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements beyond what is required under applicable securities law.

To supplement its consolidated financial statements presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States ("GAAP"), the Company provides additional measures of performance adjusted to exclude the impact of foreign exchange, restructuring charges and related costs, impairments, U.S. pension plan income/expense, separation costs and certain other gains and losses. The Company excludes U.S. pension income/expense in the non-GAAP results as it represents the actuarial net periodic benefit credit/cost recorded as a component of operating income and for all periods presented, the Company was not required and did not make cash contributions to the U.S. Retirement Income Plan based on guidelines established by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, nor does the Company expect to make cash contributions to the plan in 2019. Adjusted free cash flow is defined as cash from operations and dividends received from the WAVE joint venture, less expenditures for property and equipment, and is adjusted to remove the impact of cash used or proceeds received for acquisitions and divestitures, legacy environmental matters and litigation. The Company believes adjusted free cash flow is useful because it provides insight into the amount of cash that the Company has available for discretionary uses, after expenditures for capital commitments and adjustments for acquisitions and divestitures. Adjusted figures are reported in comparable dollars using the actual exchange rate for 2019. The Company uses these adjusted performance measures in managing the business, including communications with its Board of Directors and employees, and believes that they provide users of this financial information with meaningful comparisons of operating performance between current results and results in prior periods. The Company believes that these non-GAAP financial measures are appropriate to enhance understanding of its past performance, as well as prospects for its future performance. A reconciliation of these adjustments to the most directly comparable GAAP measures is included in this release and on the Company's website. These non-GAAP measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the most comparable GAAP measures. Non-GAAP financial measures utilized by the Company may not be comparable to non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies.

(1) Based on 49.5 million diluted shares outstanding for the three months ended Mar 31, 2019 and 53.8 million diluted shares for the three months ended Mar 31, 2018.  
(2) U.S. pension (credit) represents the entire actuarial net periodic pension (credit) cost recorded as a component of earnings from continuing operations. For all periods presented, we were not required and did not make cash contributions to our U.S. Retirement Income Plan based on guidelines established by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
(3)Prior year EPS was calculated at an adjusted rate of 25% resulting in $14M of income tax expense and an EPS of $0.79.  We are now reflecting the actual tax expense of $8M in our EPS calculation.  

Contacts
Investors: Thomas Waters, [email protected] or (717) 396-6354
Media: Jennifer Johnson, [email protected] or (866) 321-6677