Document reNkG2o0O0y9Yz9aJLakNmNMv

Proud Heritage...Promising Future Our Key Strengths Market Leadership Critical Business Skills BraSS Winchester* Chlor Alkali World leader in high performance copper alloys Lending global ammunition producer Leading producer in eastern U.S. Low-Cost Manufacturer Solid Technology Long-Term Customer Relationships Growth Proven Ability to Grow Through: Internal Investments Alliances Acquisitions The three businesses that comprise the new Olin - Biass, Chlor Alkali Products, and Winchester - share powerful competitive advantages. Each is a low-cost producer with critical cost advantages; each has leadership positions in its markets; each has the critical mass to grow and thrive in the years ahead; each has powerful brand name recognition; each has technological advantages over the competition; each is geographically well positioned; and each has decades of experi ence at maximizing profitability and cash flow throughout the entire* business cycle. CMA 174800 Welcome to the New Olin As we enter our 108th year of operation in 1999, /% we are celebrating our beginning as a "new" J_ JL company. With the spin off of our specialty chemicals operations as Arch Chemicals, Inc., Olin is now a $1.5 billion company that is a leading North American producer of capper alloys, ammunition and chlorine and caustic soda. We are poised to capitalize on the leadership positions that we've built over the past 100 years to make the next 100 years even better. Well do so by pursuing synergistic growth opportunities; focusing on the needs of our customers; and lowering costs to further enhance our position as one of the world's best basic materials businesses. strong relationships with our customers - earning their trust and repeat business with products that enable them to do everything from producing cars and electronic devices to making polyvinyl chloride products and improving their target shooting performance. We enter 1999 with a strong balance sheet and sufficient cash flow to give us the financial flexibility to pursue synergistic investment opportunities. These investments must not only add to top-line revenue growth, but should also enhance our profitability by strengthening our cost positions through greater economies of scale, improved productivity and other synergies. Olin Brass is the world's leading developer of high performance copper alloys and the US. market share leader in copper and copper alloy strip; Chlor Alkali Products is the largest producer of chlorine and caustic soda in the eastern United States; and Winchester is a leading producer of small caliber ammunition in North America with global brand name recognition. We at Olin are excited to be writing a new chapter in our long, proud history. In the months and years ahead, we will capitalize on our leadership positions in copper alloys, ammunition and chlorine and caus tic soda by intensely focusing on customer needs, aggressively managing costs and pursuing synergistic growth opportunities. Olin Corporation: We stand for excellence. We stand for ethics. We stand for value. These leadership positions are built on the founds n of several critical business skills. We're not unly a low-cost producer in our key industries, Jmt we're recognized as leaders in product qualit and technology. Over the years, we've also ft Donald W. Griffin Chairman, President & CEO CMA 174801 At Olin Brass, our customers range from / % tlie largest manufacturers in North America -1-- to small and mid-sized companies with specialized needs. In supplying these customers, we've earned an outstanding reputation as a highly efficient manufacturer of high quality, engineered products and as a leader in service. Our technology position is unequaled; Olin Brass holds more suc cessfully commercialized copper alloy patents than any competitor worldwide. We have particularly strong market positions in the automotive, housing, electronics, ammunition and coinage industries. We serve these and other markets from a broad e of efficiently run plants - from our world-scale tss mill in East Alton, Illinois, to smaller, more specialized plants in Indiana, Missouri, Ohio and Connecticut. While the preponderance of our sales are in North America, we're also focusing on growing international sales through marketing initiatives in Europe, South East Asia and through our Yamaha-Olin Metals joint venture in Japan, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 1998. Acquired in 1991, A.J. Osier's network of metals service centers has enabled us to broaden our market reach throughout North America and the Caribbean to numerous small and mid-sized customers. As a testament to its value-added service, Oster has grown to become the largest brass and copper alloy strip distributor in the U.S. CMA 174802 2 From our world-class brass mill in East Alton, Illinois (above) to our network of metals service centers, Olin Brass ban serve the needs of both large and small customers. Brass Growth Opportunities Olin Brass, the worldwide leader in copper allov development, continued to capitalize on this position with rapid market acceptance of Allov 663. which was released in late 1997. Developed at our Metals Research Laboratories in Connecticut, this alloy was designed for high performance, low-cost applications in the automotive and elec tronics markets. In addition, in 1998 we launched another patented product - Alloy 186 that was also designed for the automotive, electronics and semiconductor industries. Both alloys wall he supported globally, a key initiative in Olin Brass' efforts to strengthen our leadership in high erformance copper alloys. As the longest continuous supplier of metal to the ll.S. Mint, Olin Brass is wfell positioned to compete for major new contracts for coinage metal. In the year 2000, for example, the Mint will begin produc ing a new dollar coin. And beginning in 1999, they will begin minting billions of new commemorative state quarters - a project that will run through the year 2008. Through our Brass Mill 2000 initiative, we continue to add equipment that is designed to increase productivity and yields. This initiative, combined with high performance alloy growth, should enhance our margins as we move into the 21st. Century. CMA 174803 3 Chlor Alkali Growth Opportunities \Xe have a multifaceted growth strategy for Chlor Alkali Products, one that encompasses both internal expansions and external acquisitions and alliances. For example, we designed the Sunbelt plant to allow (or significant expansion when needed, and debottlenecking our Niaehlor plant will provide additional product for the Northeastern and Canadian markets. Vie also are studying growth opportunities created by ongoing alliances and consolidation in the chlor alkali and chlorine chain industries. And we're actively pursuing ways to further capitalize on the Unique resources at our site in McIntosh, Alabama wwiieh is itself a valuable asset to fuel Olin's growth. Our plant, for example, literally sits on a huge underground salt dome that serves as a source of the brine used in making chlorine and caustic soda. At vear-end 1908, we started up a project to signifi cantly expand our brine capacity and our ability to provide high-puritv salt to our own chlor alkali plants as well as to customers who use it to make products such as sodium chlorate. Building on an existing business, we're also seeking further oppor tunities to lease additional space in our salt dome cavities for the storage of natural gas or compressed air for peak demand power generation. CMA 174804 ovv in its 133rd year of operation, Winchester is the premier North American sporting ammunition producer, with a legendary heritage and worldwide1 brand name recognition. Over the1 years, Winchester has built a strong cus tomer base in the sporting, military, law enforce ment and industrial ammunition markets. In addition, we're the operator of the largest small caliber military ammunition plant in the U.S. Located in Independence, Missouri, the Lake City Armv Ammunition plant supplies well over 90% of the small caliber needs of America's armed forces. Bullseye: Winchester Targets Improved Performance Winchester's management team accomplished a major turnaround in 1998. The factors that contributed to this turnaround strict cost con trols. a revitalized distribution network, innovative new products, and capitalizing on the legendary Winchester brand name -- have resulted in a market share gain and should help drive further improvements in Winchester's performance. Over the past two years, Winchester has worked hard to revitalize its relationships throughout, the sales and distribution chain. We've not only strengthened our ties to traditional dealers and distributors, hut also to high-volume mass merchants and specialty sporting goods retailers. CMA 174805 6 Winchester lias also strengthened its ammunition offerings through alliances with other industry leaders, including one with Nosier. One product of this alliance Winchester Supreme' Partition ColdTM-- incorporates an enhanced design of llie famous Nosier part it ion Indict as well as patented design features from Winchester. This new round won top honors in 1998 from the Shooting Industrv Academy ol Excellence. Winchester is also solidif\ing its reputation as the sporting ammunition technology leader with some innovative non-lead product offerings. Designed for use in indoor shooting ranges and Related applications, Winchester's new SuperCleanTM ammunition has a jacketed tin Indict and a primer that is free of both lead and heavy metals. In late 1998, the Federal 1 .aw Enforcement Training (.enter issued a sole source contract to W inchester for an initial .'100,000 rounds of 40 ealiber SuperClean ammunition. This training Eenter already uses W inchester's Hanger ErangibleTM ammunition which won't ricochet when fired into steel plates for close-quarter firearms training, Winchester, the world's largest ammunition producer, is aggressively seeking new opportunities to lever age the legendary Winchester brand name and our technological leadership. CMA 174806 ver til** past 107 years. Olin Corporation employees and others to act as safety coaches and O| has built a solid reputation as a eompam mentors. This is in addition to the considerable \ou can count on. Kthics and integritv successes we have achieved under Responsible Cart;'1. conic first. Our standards are high and we have a nationally recognized business ethics program Brass and Winchester are pursuing much the saint: to give our employees the training, the resources goals through an initiative known as Zero Tolerance and tin1 power to do the right thing. Sajety. It too empowers employees to identify and eliminate the root causes of workplace accidents We recently launched two initiatives to improve our and environmental incidents. performance in health, safety and the environment. Chlor Alkali Products, for example, is pursuing 'These initiatives not only make good ethical and an effort knowm as The Goal is Zero, aimed at moral sense, but they respond to what our achieving zero recordable injuries, zero en\ iron- customers demand and our communities expect: mental incidents, zero manufacturing process inci- that we operate: in a safe and environmentally its and zero distribution incidents. One key The Goal is Zero is a dynamic training process known as the Behavioral Accident Prevention Process, under which we're empowering factory sound manner and that we practice good product stewardship in teaching our customers, distributors and others how to safely and properly handle, our products. CMA 174807 8 501 Merritt 7 PO Box 4500 orwalk, CT 06856-4500 103/750-3000