Corus, the former British Steel, which has seen its business battered by the effects of the weak euro, said it had no good news to report regarding the exchange rate, which it said remained a "major concern".

The comments came just weeks after the group reported massive losses for the full-year after its carbon steel business took a pounding from the effect of the weak euro against the pound.

At the group's annual general meeting, chairman Sir Brian Moffat told shareholders the weakness of the euro was a matter outside his control but continued to be a major concern.

He also commented on the "unusually high incidence of operating problems" in the ironmaking areas at four of its five works, which had also hit results.

On a positive side, he said, since June there had been no re-occurrence of these problems.

Against this background, Corus - which was a product of last year's merger between British Steel and Hoogovens of the Netherlands - said it had accelerated the cost and efficiency improvement programme, which included the announcements over the last few months that it was axing 4,000 staff.

Sir Brian added: "We do not do this lightly but out of sheer necessity and will be doing everything we can to minimise hardship with the employees concerned and in the communities affected."

He said, outside the UK, demand for carbon steel remained strong despite some price weakness in the US and Asia during the summer, although in Europe, there was growing concern about oversupply and resulting price weakness.