Abitibi-Consolidated Announces the Appointment of Dr. Hans P. Black to the Company's Board of Directors MONTREAL, Jan. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Richard Drouin, Chairman of the Board and John W. Weaver, President and Chief Executive Officer of Abitibi- Consolidated Inc. are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Hans P. Black to the Company's Board of Directors. Mr. Black is currently the President of Interinvest Consulting Corporation, a global money management firm with offices in Montreal, Boston, Bermuda and Switzerland. He is also Chairman of Les Aliments SoYummi Inc. Mr. Black holds a Doctorate in Medicine from McGill University and is a member of the Montreal Society of Financial Analysts (MSFA) and the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute. Mr. Black also sits on the boards of la Fondation Institut de Cardiologie de Montreal, l'Orchestre de Chambre I Musici de Montreal, la Fondation des Jeunesses Musicales du Canada, Washington National Opera, and the NASDAQ listed biotechnology company Nymox Corporation. "We are very pleased that Mr. Black has agreed to join our Board. His broad based experience in a range of diverse businesses, as well as his knowledge of global investments will be very valuable to us," declared Richard Drouin. The appointment is effective today, January 25, 2005. Abitibi-Consolidated is a global leader in newsprint and uncoated groundwood (value-added groundwood) papers as well as a major producer of wood products, generating sales of $5.4 billion in 2003. The Company owns or is a partner in 27 paper mills, 22 sawmills, 4 remanufacturing facilities and 1 engineered wood facility in Canada, the U.S., the UK, South Korea, China and Thailand. With over 15,000 employees, excluding its PanAsia joint venture, Abitibi-Consolidated does business in approximately 70 countries. Responsible for the forest management of 17.5 million hectares of woodlands, the Company is committed to the sustainability of the natural resources in its care. Abitibi-Consolidated is also the world's largest recycler of newspapers and magazines, serving 16 metropolitan areas in Canada and the United States and 130 local authorities in the United Kingdom, with 14 recycling centers and approaching 20,000 Paper Retriever(R) and paper bank containers. DATASOURCE: ABITIBI-CONSOLIDATED INC. CONTACT: Investors & Media: Lorne Gorber, Investor Relations & Financial Communications, (514) 394-2360,

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