April 14, 2005

THE ADAMS EXPRESS COMPANY DECLARES DIVIDEND AND ANNOUNCES FIRST QUARTER OUTPERFORMANCE

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND -- APRIL 14, 2005 - The Board of Directors of The Adams Express Company (NYSE:ADX) today declared an interim dividend of $0.05 per share, payable June 1, 2005, to stockholders of record May 19, 2005, and announced the fund's performance for the First Quarter.

For the three months ended March 31st, the total return on Adams Express' net asset value, after adjusting for income dividends and capital gain distributions paid, was -1.8 percent. Comparable figures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index were -2.1 percent and -2.1 percent, respectively.

For the twelve months ended March 31st, the total return on Adams Express' net asset value, after adjusting for income dividends as well as capital gain distributions paid, was 7.7 percent. Comparable figures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index were 3.5 percent and 6.7 percent, respectively.

Adams Express' net asset value at March 31, 2005, is compared with the year earlier in the following table:

*After capital gain distribution of $0.01 per share paid in March 2005.

The net capital gain realized on investments for the three months ended March 31, 2005 was $0.20 per share.

SECURITIES TRANSACTIONS

During the First Quarter, Adams Express added six new names to the portfolio with the additions of Automatic Data Processing Inc., BankAtlantic Bancorp Inc., Bunge Ltd., Cintas Corp., Comcast Corp., and Del Monte Foods Co. The Company increased its holdings in Bank of America Corp., Clear Channel Communications Inc., Lucent Technologies Inc., Martin Marietta Materials, Inc., Murphy Oil Corp., and United Parcel Service, Inc. The holdings in BMC Software Inc., Mattel, Inc., and Parker-Hannifin Corp. were eliminated, and the holdings in American International Group Inc., Canadian National Railway Co., ConocoPhillips, HCA Inc., Investors Financial Services Corp., Keyspan Corp., Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings, Ryland Group Inc., Sun Microsystems Inc., and United Technologies Corp. were reduced.

The First Quarter Report is expected to be released on or about April 22, 2005.

The Adams Express Company is a Baltimore-based closed-end investment company. It is traded on the New York Stock Exchange and Pacific Exchange, and its symbol is ADX.

###

For further information, please contact:

Joseph M. Truta, President
Lawrence L. Hooper, Jr., Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary
(410) 752-5900 or (800) 638-2479

E-mail: contact@adamsexpress.com
Website: www.adamsexpress.com

For your convenience, all press releases are posted to our website. If you would like to receive future press releases by fax or e-mail, please let us know.