National Technical Systems Set to Join Russell 3000 Index

CALABASAS, Calif., June 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- National Technical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTSC) (NTS), a leading provider of testing and engineering services, announced today that it is set to join the broad-market Russell 3000® Index when Russell Investments reconstitutes its comprehensive set of U.S. and global equity indexes on June 28, according to a preliminary list of additions posted June 14 on www.russell.com/indexes.  NTS has been a member of the Russell Microcap® Index.

Annual reconstitution of Russell's U.S. indexes captures the 4,000 largest U.S. stocks as of the end of May, ranking them by total market capitalization.  Membership in the Russell 3000, which remains in place for one year, means automatic inclusion in either the large-cap Russell 1000® Index or small-cap Russell 2000® Index as well as the appropriate growth and value style indexes.  Russell determines membership for its equity indexes primarily by objective, market-capitalization rankings and style attributes.

NTS President and CEO William C. McGinnis said, "The preliminary selection to the Russell Index is a reflection of the accomplishments we have made at NTS.  We just reported a strong first quarter for our fiscal year 2014, especially in light of the uncertainties caused by sequestration, and we are looking forward to another financially successful year.  Inclusion in this index can broaden our market exposure and shareholder base, and we believe it could also help drive demand for our stock, as index buyers rebalance their portfolios in the weeks ahead."

The Russell 3000 also serves as the U.S. component to the Russell Global Index, which Russell launched in 2007.

Russell indexes are widely used by investment managers and institutional investors for index funds and as benchmarks for both passive and active investment strategies.  Approximately $4.1 trillion in assets are benchmarked to the Russell Indexes.  Russell calculates more than 700,000 benchmarks daily covering approximately 98 percent of the investable market globally, more than 80 countries and 10,000 securities.  These investment tools originated from Russell's multi-manager investment business in the early 1980s when the company saw the need for a more objective, market-driven set of benchmarks in order to evaluate outside investment managers.

Total returns data for the Russell 3000 and other Russell Indexes is available at http://www.russell.com/Indexes/performance/default.asp.

About Russell

Russell Investments (Russell) is a global asset manager and one of only a few firms that offers actively managed multi-asset portfolios and services that include advice, investments and implementation. Russell stands with institutional investors, financial advisors and individuals working with their advisors—using the firm's core capabilities that extend across capital market insights, manager research, portfolio construction, portfolio implementation and indexes to help each achieve their desired investment outcomes.

Russell has more than $173 billion in assets under management (as of 3/31/2013) and works with over 2,500 institutional clients, independent distribution partners and individual investors globally.  As a consultant to some of the largest pools of capital in the world, Russell has $2.6 trillion in assets under advisement (as of 12/31/2012).  It has four decades of experience researching and selecting investment managers and meets annually with more than 2,200 managers around the world.  Russell traded more than $1.4 trillion in 2012 through its implementation services business.

About National Technical Systems

National Technical Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of engineering services to the aerospace, defense, telecommunications, automotive and high technology markets. Through a world-wide network of resources, NTS provides full product life-cycle support, offering world class design engineering, compliance, testing, certification, quality registration and program management. For additional information about NTS, visit our website at www.nts.com or call 800-270-2516.

Forward-Looking Statements

The statements in this press release that relate to future plans, events or performance, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with uncertainties pertaining to customer orders, demand for services and products, development of markets for the companies' services and products and other risks identified in the companies' SEC filings. Actual results, events and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The companies undertake no obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding National Technical Systems' business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report or Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year.

SOURCE National Technical Systems, Inc.