[Translation] Ref. PDI.B.02.55/99 17 May, 1999 To : President The Stock Exchange of Thailand Re. : Clarification on the company's performance in the first quarter of 1999 Attached please find a copy each of Thai and English version of the unaudited equity method and consolidated interim financial statements of Padaeng Industry Public Company Limited for the quarter ended 31 March, 1999 for the SET's information. From the statements of profit and loss, the company has a net profit Bt21.44m compared with the same period of 1998 which recorded the net profit of Bt643.05m. This was due to a decrease in the sales value of Bt639.80m or 38.11% despite an increase in the zinc cathode produc- tion of 3.46% and greater main zinc product sales by 18.8%. The much lessened sales revenue was partly attributed to a decline in the LME price at an average of US$ 70 per tonne and the cost of sales' reduction at a lower rate of 32.57%, coupled with having a loss on exchange rate of Bt28.67m. In addition, in the first quarter of 1998, the sales revenue had included approx. Bt570m forwarded contracts on export sales made in late-1997 and there was a gain on exchange rate of Bt283m (whereas, in the first three months of 1999, there were not such special items). The different result also stemmed from the greater amount of interest received and acknowledgement of equity in undistributed net loss of affiliated companies of about Bt30m and Bt139m respectively. From the consolidated financial statements, the net profit before minority interest and extraordinary item (Bt0.46m) and acknowledgement of a loss in a subsidiary which stopped operations (Bt10.40m) amounted to Bt6.61m. And after including the said two items, the net loss was equal to Bt3.3m against Bt643.04m in the first three-month period of 1998. Yours truly, - Signature - (Brett Lambert) President & CEO