<b>Bowater Reports Quarterly Numbers</b>

Bowater Inc. reported net income of $37.7 million for the first quarter. Net income for the quarter was $37.7 million on sales of $604.9 million.

These results compare with net income of $17.2 million on sales of $562.9 million in the first quarter of 2000.

During the first quarter of 2001, the company's average newsprint transaction price increased, while coated groundwood paper prices and market pulp prices declined. Costs per ton for the quarter, excluding the impact of downtime, were the same as in the fourth quarter of 2000. The company curtailed production by about 36,000 metric tons of newsprint and 45,000 metric tons of market pulp in the first quarter of 2001.