Arcelor Ordinary General Meeting on April 25, 2003

Business Editors

LUXEMBOURG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 25, 2003

The Ordinary General Meeting of Arcelor's (Paris Exchange: CELR.PA) shareholders held on April 25, 2003 and chaired by Mr. Joseph Kinsch adopted all the resolutions on the agenda.

In particular, the Meeting approved the accounts of the parent company for the 2002 financial year and the payment of a gross dividend of EUR 0.38 per share, due on May 22, 2003.

The items on the agenda were:

-- Report of the Board of Directors and opinions of the

independent auditor on the annual accounts and the

consolidated accounts for the 2002 financial year

-- Approval of the annual accounts for the 2002 financial year

-- Approval of the consolidated accounts for the 2002 financial

year

-- Allocation of results and determination of directors'

emoluments and of the dividend

-- Determination of attendance fees to be paid to directors

-- Discharge of the directors

-- Final appointment of a replacement director

-- Renewal of the authorisation of the Board of Directors to

acquire shares in the Company or to cause the acquisition of

such shares by other companies in the Group

-- Authorisation of the Board of Directors to grant options to

subscribe or purchase shares

2002: A year of integration in a difficult global environment

Throughout 2002 the Arcelor Group operated in a difficult global economic environment, characterized by a marked slowdown in growth.

"Our Group's operating performance nevertheless measures up to our ambitions and expectations. Right from our first financial year we have demonstrated that by pooling the human, industrial, commercial and financial resources of the three founding companies Aceralia, Arbed and Usinor, we can take up the challenges of globalization with strengthened potential, based on the determination and competency of our teams," said Mr. Joseph Kinsch, Chairman of Arcelor's Board of Directors.

Mr. Kinsch emphasized that the General Meeting of shareholders that marked the conclusion of the group's first year of operations was a special event. "Today is our first opportunity to report to you, you who have decided to trust us and to support the formidable undertaking that Arcelor represents," he told the shareholders.

Mr. Kinsch recalled that the main operating sectors had posted some contrasting performances, but that the Group as a whole had been able to generate the synergies it had announced and had even exceeded the targets set for 2002. He added that each of the Group's four sectors had also achieved some significant management gains.

The Chairman stated that during the first year of its existence Arcelor had decided to operate according to the principles of corporate governance, to apply the rules of the IFRS international financial reporting standards (IAS) and to observe a commitment to sustainable development in all its activities.

The Chairman of the Management Board, Mr. Guy Dolle, pointed out that the Group had succeeded in increasing its selling prices in several steps. In this context he reemphasized Arcelor's policy of tailoring supply more closely to demand and of giving priority to profit margins rather than volumes.

"All these factors have enabled us to achieve a gross operating profit ahead of our initial objective. From this point of view, we have accomplished one of the goals set when establishing Arcelor: to establish a more balanced relationship with our customers and suppliers, who are much more concentrated than we are, without compromising the trust they place in us."

Mr. Dolle noted that the strategic reflection carried out for each operating sector "clearly aims to bring each activity up to the best performance level so as to achieve our value-added creation objectives." In the flat carbon steel products sector this strategic orientation, which was approved by the Board of Directors on January 24 of this year, aims to concentrate European liquid-phase steel production at the major coastal sites and for the blast furnaces at the continental locations to be phased out in due course. As for the stainless steels sector, the strategic orientation that will be submitted to the Board of Directors in the weeks to come aims to sustainably enhance the competitiveness of stainless steel in Europe.

Mr. Dolle summarized by saying that "2002 was a year of integration, 2003 will be a year of consolidation. It is now up to us to confirm over the longer term the good start that Arcelor has made."

Outlook

In his analysis of the way the Group's different lines of business are developing in 2003, Mr. Dolle showed both confidence and caution. "Confidence because our customers' stocks are still for the time being at normal levels and because we don't have any particular reason to fear a sudden surge of imports into Europe.

"This also allows us to remain confident about the trend in prices that we are aiming at in 2003 and about our ability to improve our costs, notably by means of synergies.

"But caution as well, because there are some genuine threats to our business at the global level, be they uncertainties regarding a global economic recovery or the way exchange rates are moving."

This press release contains certain forward looking statements regarding anticipated market evolution and the future prospects of Arcelor. While these statements are based on the Company's best estimations as of the date hereof, actual results will vary as a function of market conditions, the action of competitors, consumer demand, steel prices, economic conditions and other factors.