Alain Belda Quotations

Global manufacturing weakness has persisted longer than we anticipated, ... In particular, aerospace, industrial gas turbine and telecommunication markets remained soft, reinforcing the need to increase the scope of our cost savings and restructuring initiatives.

We are focused on managing what is under our control,

We are experiencing the bottom-line impact of productivity improvements and the elimination of waste,

I will not mortgage the future of the company.

Looking to the fourth quarter, we expect to continue to benefit from recent acquisitions, our cost reduction program, and the seasonal strength of our packaging and consumer business, ... However, we also expect the softness to continue in the construction, transportation, building and distribution markets and see no relief from the higher energy prices.

We have an aggressive productivity program, but it has not offset the impact of escalating costs in energy and raw materials and the speed at which they are flowing through.

We are not satisfied with these results, ... We are confident that the restructuring of our primary and fabricating businesses, coupled with our continued focus on implementing the Alcoa business system and our commitment to grow the company, will enable us to resume sustainable savings and profitable growth in 2002 and beyond.

This recognition supports our reputation as a company that has strong values at its core. Our values guide us in how we treat our employees, stakeholders, customers and community. It is critical to the long-term success of Alcoa.

With the competitive and efficient energy source, the access to skilled labor, and efficient proximity to alumina supplies and customers, the Trinidad smelter will be ideally placed to compete for its share of the world market in primary aluminum. It also creates a solid foundation for the development of an integrated aluminum industry to further diversify and strengthen the economy of Trinidad and Tobago. In terms of technology, design, and environmental performance, this will be a world-class facility.

While we are still fighting inflationary pressures, cost increases have slowed from last year, and our restructuring and efficiency initiatives have helped strengthen profitability.

While we are not pleased with the short term impact the labor issues have had on our bottom line, our actions are aimed at enhanced global competitiveness of our North American operations,

This venture deepens our investment in expanding our flat-rolled products capabilities globally and increases our manufacturing flexibility and productivity.

Earnings were up 6 percent from the first quarter, making the second quarter of 2000 Alcoa's eighth consecutive quarter of improved earnings,

Our aerospace and commercial transportation markets are particularly robust this year, and we expect overall market conditions to remain strong.

Despite significantly higher energy prices which offset more favorable metal prices, we achieved solid cost savings results from the restructuring undertaken over the last two years...,

Despite increasing softness in the construction, transportation, building, and distribution markets, as well as significantly higher energy prices, Alcoa achieved record performance as a result of rapid integration of new acquisitions and execution of its cost-cutting initiative,

A reduced upstream pricing environment and higher energy costs affected out results this quarter.

As demand for aluminum strengthens, we will capture the efficiencies generated by last year's strategic restructuring of our operations,

As we move forward to the fourth quarter, Alcoa expects to benefit from the current strength in aluminum prices, the continued integration of our recent acquisitions, the cost-reduction program and the seasonal strength of our packaging and consumer business,

That is the best long-term job protection we can offer all of our employees.

It was a great quarter by any measure. We did not have significant one-time effects as we did throughout the year last year.

If economic trends solidify, we should continue to see improving profitability over the second half of the year, even at current aluminum prices,

However, as these markets continued to decline in the third quarter, it became likely that even with our efforts, third-quarter earnings will probably fall below the 2000 second-quarter level.

The fourth quarter has proven to be extremely challenging as a result of lower volumes, depressed metal prices, and overall weak downstream markets.

The combination of operating efficiencies and higher prices resulted in the strongest quarter Alcoa has ever had,