NEW YORK, Jan. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Standard & Poor's will make the following changes to the S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400, and S&P SmallCap 600 indices:

    * S&P MidCap 400 constituent Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE: RL - News) will
      replace Comverse Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: CMVT - News) in the S&P 500, S&P
      SmallCap 600 constituent Frontier Oil Corp. (NYSE: FTO - News) will replace
      Polo Ralph Lauren in the S&P MidCap 400, and HealthExtras Inc.
      (Nasdaq: HLEX - News) will replace Frontier Oil in the S&P SmallCap 600 after
      the close of trading on Thursday, February 1. Comverse was removed from
      the S&P 500 after today's close of trading, pursuant to its delisting by
      NASDAQ before tomorrow's market open.

    * S&P SmallCap 600 constituent Central Garden & Pet Co. (Nasdaq: CENT - News) has
      declared a special dividend in the form of two shares of Class A stock
      for each outstanding share of the company's existing common stock and
      Class B stock. After the distribution, Class A shares will represent 67%
      of Central Garden & Pet's outstanding stock. As a result, Standard &
      Poor's will remove Central Garden and Pet's common stock from the S&P
      SmallCap 600 index, and replace it with Class A stock (Nasdaq: CENTA - News)
      after the close of trading on Tuesday, February 6.

    * UniFirst Corp. (NYSE: UNF - News) will replace Digital Insight Corp.
      (Nasdaq: DGIN - News) in the S&P SmallCap 600 after the close of trading on a
      date to be announced. Digital Insight is being acquired by S&P 500
      constituent Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU - News) in a deal that is still pending
      final approvals.

    * Standard & Poor's is implementing an enhancement of its U.S. index
      inclusion criteria. Specifically, the criterion of financial viability,
      usually measured as four consecutive quarters of profitability, will now
      also encompass balance sheet leverage. A candidate company's debt level
      should be operationally justifiable, in the context of both its industry
      peers and its business model.

Standard & Poor's will monitor these transactions, and post any relevant updates on its website: www.standardandpoors.com.

Polo Ralph Lauren engages in the design, marketing, and distribution of men's and women's clothing and other lifestyle products. Headquartered in New York, NY, the company will be added to the S&P 500 GICS (Global Industry Classification Standard) Apparel, Accessories & Luxury Goods Sub-Industry index.

Frontier Oil engages in crude oil refining and the wholesale marketing of refined petroleum products. Headquartered in Houston, TX, the company will be added to the S&P MidCap 400 GICS Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing Sub-Industry index.

HealthExtras provides pharmacy benefit management services and supplemental benefit programs. Headquartered in Rockville, MD, the company will be added to the S&P SmallCap 600 GICS Health Care Services Sub-Industry index.

Central Garden & Pet engages in the production and marketing of products for the lawn and garden, and pet supplies industries. Headquartered in Walnut Creek, CA, the company will be added to the S&P SmallCap 600 GICS Household Products Sub-Industry index.

UniFirst provides workplace uniforms and protective work wear clothing in the United States. Headquartered in Wilmington, MA, the company will be added to the S&P SmallCap 600 GICS Apparel, Accessories & Luxury Goods Sub-Industry index.

    Following is a summary of the changes:


                       S&P 500 INDEX - February 1, 2007

                  COMPANY         GICS ECONOMIC SECTOR      GICS SUB-INDUSTRY
    ADDED    Polo Ralph Lauren   Consumer Discretionary   Apparel, Accessories
                                                             & Luxury Goods

                   S&P MIDCAP 400 INDEX - February 1, 2007
                  COMPANY         GICS ECONOMIC SECTOR      GICS SUB-INDUSTRY
    ADDED      Frontier Oil             Energy              Oil & Gas Refining
                                                               & Marketing
    DELETED  Polo Ralph Lauren  Consumer Discretionary    Apparel, Accessories
                                                            & Luxury Goods

                  S&P SMALLCAP 600 INDEX - February 1, 2007
                 COMPANY          GICS ECONOMIC SECTOR     GICS SUB-INDUSTRY
    ADDED      HealthExtras          Health Care          Health Care Services
    DELETED    Frontier Oil             Energy            Oil & Gas Refining &
                                                              Marketing

                  S&P SMALLCAP 600 INDEX - February 6, 2007
                 COMPANY          GICS ECONOMIC SECTOR     GICS SUB-INDUSTRY
    ADDED   Central Garden & Pet   Consumer Staples       Household Products
                "A" shares
    DELETED Central Garden & Pet   Consumer Staples       Household Products
              "common" shares

                   S&P SMALLCAP 600 INDEX - To Be Announced
                 COMPANY          GICS ECONOMIC SECTOR     GICS SUB-INDUSTRY
    ADDED       UniFirst         Consumer Discretionary   Apparel, Accessories
                                                            & Luxury Goods
    DELETED  Digital Insight     Information Technology     Internet Software
                                                              & Services

Additions to and deletions from an S&P equity index do not in any way reflect an opinion on the investment merits of the companies concerned.

About Standard & Poor's

Standard & Poor's, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP - News), is the world's foremost provider of financial market intelligence, including independent credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, investment research and data. With approximately 7,500 employees, including wholly owned affiliates, located in 21 countries, Standard & Poor's is an essential part of the world's financial infrastructure and has played a leading role for more than 140 years in providing investors with the independent benchmarks they need to feel more confident about their investment and financial decisions. For more information, visit http://www.standardandpoors.com/.

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For more information contact:
David M. Blitzer, Ph.D.
Managing Director & Chairman of the Index Committee
(212) 438-3907