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Grainger Settles Government Contract Dispute

CHICAGO, Dec. 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Grainger (NYSE: GWW) today announced it has settled its long-standing contract dispute with the federal government. As announced October 16, the discrepancy centered on disclosure language in the General Services Administration (GSA) and United States Postal Service (USPS) contracts, which were implemented more than 10 years ago.

Grainger maintains it complied with the disclosure requirements and the contracts in all material respects, and the settlement does not contain any admission of wrongdoing by the company.

The GSA and USPS remain long-standing and important Grainger customers. These contracts account for a portion of the company's overall government business, which represented 17 percent of its total U.S. 2011 revenue.

As Grainger disclosed in October, it recorded a $70 million pre-tax reserve for this settlement and established a separate pre-tax reserve to resolve tax, freight and miscellaneous billing issues with these two government customers.

About Grainger
W.W. Grainger , Inc., with 2011 sales of $8.1 billion, is North America's leading broad line supplier of maintenance, repair and operating products, with expanding global operations. For more information about the company, visit www.grainger.com/investor.

SOURCE W.W. Grainger , Inc.