Thomas Equipment Intends to File Court-Supervised Restructuring for Subsidiary

August 18, 2006 • Thomas Equipment, Inc., Milwaukee, Wis., parent company of Tovel Manufacturing, announced its wholly-owned subsidiary Thomas Equipment 2004, Inc., Centreville, New Brunswick, intends to initiate court-supervised restructurings and has laid off 141 employees.

The parent company, Thomas Equipment, Inc., and its other subsidiaries domiciled in other countries are not subject to the intended Canadian court-supervised restructuring nor does Thomas have any present intention to file any other similar proceedings for the parent company or any other subsidiary in the United States.

The restructuring is designed to provide Thomas Equipment with appropriate financial resources to address short-term needs and successfully execute on longer-term strategic opportunities. Thomas continues to evaluate all options with respect to its subsidiary companies.

Thomas 2004 intends to file a notice of intention to make a proposal pursuant to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (Canada). Once filed, the obligations of Thomas 2004 to creditors are stayed for an initial period of 30 days and may be extended upon subsequent applications to the Court or by the filing of a proposal to creditors.

Thomas has engaged Carl Marks Advisory Group, LLC ("CMAG") to provide financial advisory services during the restructuring. Pursuant to the engagement, CMAG will work towards generating interest among prospective investors, acquirers or merger candidates and advise the company through all future negotiations and proposed transactions.