PRESS RELEASE
 
Detrex Corporation Reports Revised First Quarter Results  

Southfield, Michigan – May 15, 2003 - Detrex Corporation (NASDAQ:  DTRX), a diversified manufacturer of chemicals and allied products, today announced that results provided in its press release on April 24, 2003 have been revised.  This revision is due to a change in the accounting treatment for holding costs related to the properties of the discontinued Parts Cleaning Technologies (PCT) segment.  At year end 2002, after advice from, and in consultation with, its independent auditors, the Company applied newly adopted accounting standards resulting in the treatment of these holding costs as period costs in continuing operations and reversed the then existing reserve for these costs.  In the final review of the first quarter 2003 financial statements, it was determined that the accounting treatment at the time the reserve was established should be reinstated and therefore it was appropriate to reinstitute the reserve with a charge to discontinued operations.  An after-tax charge of $188,760 was made to discontinued operations in the first quarter resulting in a net loss for the quarter of $13,181 compared to the previously announced net income of $139,496.  In the prior earnings release, pre-tax holding costs of $54,000 were charged to continuing operations as a period expense; these are now included in the $188,760 provision for discontinued operations.  With this change, the Company incurred a net loss from continuing operations of $115,591 compared to the previously announced net loss of $151,674.  The complete financial results for the first quarter will be available in the 10-Q which is being filed today.