Friedman's Lenders Limit Funding Under Credit Facility SAVANNAH, Ga., Jan. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Friedman's Inc. (OTC non-BB: FRDM.PK), the Value Leader in fine jewelry retailing, today announced that its senior lenders have limited funding to a discretionary basis under the Company's senior credit facility. As a result of this discretionary funding, the Company has not been able to satisfy all of its cash requirements. Earlier this month Friedman's had announced that it was not meeting various covenants under its credit facility. Friedman's continues to be in discussions with its senior lenders regarding its funding needs and amendments to the credit facility. Friedman's is currently conducting a review of various strategic alternatives available to the Company, including seeking judicial relief in a chapter 11 reorganization. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020215/FRIEDMANLOGO ) About Friedman's Founded in 1920, Friedman's Inc. is a leading specialty retailer based in Savannah, Georgia. The Company is the leading operator of fine jewelry stores located in power strip centers and regional malls. For more information, go to: http://www.friedmans.com/ . Some of the statements included in this press release, particularly those anticipating future financial performance, business prospects, growth and operating strategies and similar matters, are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. For those statements, we claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and a variety of factors could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from the anticipated or expected results expressed in these forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any such forward- looking statements. The forward-looking statements, the Company's liquidity, capital resources, and results of operations are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to, the following: the ability of the Company to comply with the terms of its credit facility; potential adverse developments with respect to the Company's liquidity and/or results of operations; competitive pressures from other retailers; trends in the economy as a whole which may affect consumer confidence and consumer demand for the types of goods sold by the Company; the ability of the Company to attract, retain and compensate key executives and associates; the ability of the Company to attract and retain customers; potential adverse publicity; the ability of the company to achieve the cost savings and operational benefits projected from its planned store closings; the final results of the audit including the review of the calculation of our allowance for doubtful accounts; the results of the SEC and Justice Department investigations; the results of various litigation; the effect of the restatement on our credit facilities, including funding availability there under and our relationship with our lenders; the effect of the restatement on our future earnings, including any adjustments to previously announced earnings forecasts; and other risk factors identified from time to time in our SEC reports, including, but not limited to, the report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 28, 2002. http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020215/FRIEDMANLOGO http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Friedman's Inc. CONTACT: Jane D'Arcy of Trion Communications, +1-401-453-3100, ext. 104 or Web site: http://www.friedmans.com/

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