The agreement follows a recent visit by Mr B Jurgen Hintz, Group Chief Executive, Novar plc and Mr Mark A Russell, Chief Executive Officer, Indalex Inc, to Asia Aluminum's facilities in Nanhai, China. Novar is the parent of Indalex.

"We have had most constructive and solid discussions on furthering our business co-operation with Indalex, including the extension of our production further downstream to aluminum finished products. Currently we provide semi-finished products to Indalex for further processing in the US. To move along this direction, we will complete the furnishing of 40 acres of new workshop space in two months, on a site adjacent to our existing flagship factory in Nanhai, Guangdong. By then, a 10,000-metric-tonne bright dip production line, a powder coating line and other accessory equipment will be installed to meet growing demand in both domestic and overseas markets," said Mr Benby Chan, Managing Director of Asia Aluminum.

Indalex now operates 16 extrusion plants in the United States and Canada. "Novar had clearly expressed its long-term plan to leverage on the cost competitiveness of Asia Aluminum as a key production base for Indalex and expand sourcing from Asia Aluminum, while we in turn will increase our production capacity to accommodate this move. As a first step of this long-term initiative, their top management have reviewed our production facilities in China and highly appreciated our quality and cost competitiveness. We believe that the visit was a major step forward towards this goal," said Mr Chan.

Sales to North America accounted for 3% of the Group's total revenue in the year ended June 30, 2001. "We are extremely confident of the contribution from the North American market in the coming year and have already felt clear signs of recovery from our first-quarter orders. Our planned downstream integration will help to strengthen our competitive position in this market," continued Mr Chan.

Major contracts recently secured in China and Hong Kong included Shanghai CIMC Reefers Containers, Dongguan Government Quarter, Hangzhou Theatre House, Mongkok Bird Street redevelopment project, Hong Kong Science Park and Kowloon Station Phase IV.

About Asia Aluminum
Asia Aluminum Holdings Limited (SEHK: 930) is a world leading manufacturer of aluminum extrusion and stainless steel products for the infrastructure and construction industries. Headquartered in Hong Kong, the Group is the largest aluminum extruder in Asia, operating five extrusion plants in Nanhai, PRC with a total annual production capacity of 120,000 metric tonnes. For the year ended June 30, 2001, the Group had revenues in excess of HK$2 billion and a net profit of HK$195 million.

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