<B>Abitibi Reports Big Jump in Quarterly Earnings</B>

Abitibi-Consolidated reported third quarter net earnings of $108 million, an improvement of 77%, or $47 million, when compared to the second quarter of 2000 and 125%, or $60 million, when compared to the third quarter of 1999.

Net earnings for the nine-months ended September 30, 2000 improved 65%, to $220 million, compared to net earnings of $133 million in the same period of 1999.

The improvement in the third quarter results compared to the second resulted from higher selling prices for A-C's pulp and paper grades and lower manufacturing costs despite higher fiber and energy costs and lower lumber prices.

Net sales for the quarter grew by 15% to $1.74 billion compared to pro- forma net sales of $1.51 billion for the corresponding quarter of 1999. For the nine-month period ended September 30, 2000, pro-forma net sales reached $5.0 billion compared to pro forma net sales of $4.4 billion for the corresponding period of 1999.