The Teesside plant is thought to be under threat

It follows a bitter internal row with the company's Dutch supervisory board over the 750 million euro (�518m) sale of two aluminium plants to France's Pechiney.

The UK arm was relying on the cash to help pay off part of its �1bn debt mountain and cover the cost of restructuring.

Without the sale, the UK management may have to sell off other parts of its business or attempt to raise cash from financial institutions.

No appeal

But with Corus shares currently worth just 4p - valuing the company at �235m - investors are likely to give it a wide berth, putting the company's long-term viability in doubt.

The commercial court of appeal in Amsterdam said Corus' Dutch supervisory board had the right to block the sale to Pechiney and it threw out claims from the company's own management that the Dutch custodians had acted irresponsibly.

"I'm not convinced that they only acted in the interests of the Dutch operations," the presiding judge said in a statement.

The board of Corus said it was extremely disappointed with the decision.

But it has accepted the courts decision as final, as there was no appeals procedure that would allow a sale to proceed in time.

Results expected

Pechiney can now claim a 20m euro fee because Corus has broken the deal.

Corus had delayed its annual results because of the row. The figures will now be published on Friday.

Earlier this week Corus warned that it would have to close more plants in the UK, with the loss of up to 3,000 jobs.

Analysts said the company's plant at Redcar, on Teesside, was the most vulnerable, as it was the least integrated of its three major plants.

"They are certainly going to be looking at Teesside either to sell or to close," one industry observer told BBC News Online.

The company insisted the reduction in capacity - and job cuts - was not linked to the outcome of Thursday's court hearing.

The steelmaker, which was created through the merger of British Steel and the Dutch firm Hoogovens in 1999, said it needed to stem heavy losses.