SIDENOR's Annual General Assembly was held today, Tuesday June the 13nth 2006, at the PRESIDENT HOTEL in Athens. The Management of the company presented to its shareholders the 2005 financial results, along with the company's strategy and goals. 2005 was a year of strengthening and development for the company. Despite the unfavorable international environment in the steel industry, the total sales of steel products increased in volume and the consolidated Turnover reached 957 million, up by 5% vs. 2004. The Group Profits before Taxes amounted to Euro 31 million vs. Euro 62 million in 2004, while the Profits before Tax, Financing, Investment results and Depreciation (EBITDA) amounted to Euro 101 million, vs. Euro 129 million. Finally, consolidated Profit after Minority Interest and Taxes reached Euro 16 million vs. Euro 59 million in 2004, thus Euro 0.171 per share. After accounting for the effect of the scrap price fluctuation, the trend remains positive. Presented also were the main objectives of the Group for the near future: the strengthening of competitiveness in all areas, mainly through further cost reduction and focus on high margin products with high expected growth rates, the enhancement of SIDENOR leadership in Greece and the consolidation of its position in the highly growing construction markets in the Balkans, mainly via its subsidiaries STOMANA INDUSTRY in Bulgaria and DOJRAN STEEL in FYROM and Kossovo. Finally, we expect an important contribution from the exploitation of CORINTH PIPEWORKS' opportunities, in which SIDENOR has recently increased its paricipation, due to the significant improvement in efficiency of its production units and the favourable conditions of worldwide energy markets. The new investments of SIDENOR, along with the drastic increase of capacity utilisation of CORINTH PIPEWORKS, will lead to a considerable increase in the sales of final steel products of the Group, which by mid 2007 are estimated to reach 250 thousand tons per month. In this context, 2008 total sales of SIDENOR Group are expected to reach 3 million tons from roughly 2 million in 2005, while the consolidated turnover will reach Euro 1.5 billion vs. Euro 957 million in 2005. The results of the first months of 2006 are in line with this perspective. The consolidated Turnover in the first quarter reached Euro 277 million, up by 38% vs. same period of 2005. Profit before Tax amounted to Euro 21 million, up by 188%, while Profits before Tax, Financing, Investment results and Depreciation (EBITDA) amounted to Euro 40 million, up by 54%. Finally, consolidated Profit after Minority Interest and Taxes reached Euro 12 million vs. Euro 5.7 million in 2005 (up by 112%), resulting to Euro 0.126 per share. This significant increase in turnover and profitability is due to the higher sales volume after strong demand for the SD family of products in Greece and the improved performance of all SIDENOR plants, along with the favourable conditions in the international steel markets that are projected to pertain in the near future. Finally, the Annual General Assembly approved the 2005 annual financial statements and 0.16 dividend per share. Entitled to this dividend will be company shareholders by the close of the Athens Stock Exchange trading session on 28.6.2006. From 29.6.2006 the Company's shares will trade at the Athens Stock Exchange ex-dividend. The dividend will be paid from ALPHA BANK branches from 6.7.2006 till 31.12.2006.