<B>Cascades Reports Strong Quarter</B>

Cascades Inc. reported net earnings increased 8 percent for the third quarter reached $26 million, compared with $24 million for the same time last year. Net earnings for the last quarter are the highest since the third quarter of 1995.

Net sales increased by 6 percent, from $689 million in the third quarter 1999 to $729 million during the same period in 2000. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization reached $97 million for the quarter, compared with $92 million one year earlier and $89 million for the precedent quarter.

For the nine-month period, net earnings reached $61 million, compared with $40 million for the corresponding period in 1999. Net sales increased from $1.9 billion to $2.2 billion during this period, representing a 16 percent increase.

Laurent Lemaire, president and CEO, stated: "As anticipated, the recent decreases in the price of waste paper translated into an increase in the profit margins in most of our core businesses. Furthermore, the increase in selling prices since the beginning of the year, combined with the investments over the last quarters, will allow us to reach our sales goal of $3 billion for fiscal 2000."

"Slated Industry wide downtime combined with a minimal projected increase in capacity should stabilize supply and demand and selling prices for our core businesses. In view of this, we believe that sales and profitability should maintain their upward trend during the next quarters."

The company reported that its packaging products sector was the same as the last quarter. Norampac was able to offset a decrease in shipments and sales by tight cost control and the decreased cost of raw materials to post a record EBITDA margin. Boxboard activities slowed due to decreased shipments resulting from downtime, especially in North America.

The Specialty Products Group was affected by higher raw material costs since the beginning of the third quarter 1999. The slight decrease in sales during the third quarter stems mainly from decreasing in demand affecting the plastics sector and the deinked pulp mill in Auburn, Maine.

In the tissue sector, increasing selling prices have resulted in sales increasing by 11 percent and the EBITDA margin increasing from 11 percent to 15 percent, in comparison to the previous quarter. Results were affected by the increase in energy and transportation costs and the start up of new equipment at the Rockingham mill in North Carolina.

For the fine paper sector, increased shipments and improving productivity and the performance of the Distribution Division resulted in a growth in sales and net earnings compared to the previous year.

The Group recycles more than two million tons of paper and board annually, supplying the majority of its fiber requirements.