FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THE THIRD QUARTER AND NINE MONTHS ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2004

FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THE THIRD QUARTER AND NINE MONTHS ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2004 Luxembourg, 20 October 2004 - Metro International S.A. ("Metro") (MTROA, MTROB), today announced its financial results for the third quarter and nine months ended 30 September 2004. NINE MONTHS ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2004 - 49% year on year increase in net sales to US$ 207.0 million (US$ 139.1 million) - Operating profit for newspaper editions of US$ 2.0 million (loss of US$ 10.8 million) - US$ 20.0 million operating profit improvement for newspaper editions more than one year old to US$ 9.2 million (loss of US$ 10.8 million) - Year on year reduction in operating loss to US$ 15.9 million (US$ 22.8 million) - 30% year on year reduction in net loss to US$ 15.7 million (US$ 22.4 million) - 9 out of 15 country operations report operating profit for the period - Weighted average basic loss per share of US$ 0.03 (US$ 0.13) THIRD QUARTER ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2004 - Net sales up 45% year on year to US$ 61.6 million (US$ 42.4 million) - Operating loss for newspaper editions of US$ 5.2 million (US$ 4.7 million) - Group operating loss of US$ 11.9 million (US$ 9.2 million) including operating loss from newspaper editions less than one year old of US$ 5.6 million - Net loss of US$ 10.5 million (US$ 0.7 million) - New US$ 75 million five year revolving credit facility - Weighted average basic loss per share of US$ 0.02 (US$ 0.002) Pelle Törnberg, President and CEO of Metro International, commented: "Metro has generated another quarter of strong year on year revenue growth and the group has now delivered higher sales for the first nine months of 2004 than for the whole of 2003. We have also reduced our cost per thousand copies by 3% year on year and continue to extract synergies from the network, which has enabled the group to report a US$ 20 million year on year swing in profitability for the first nine months of the year for all of our newspaper editions that are more than one year old. These editions generated a combined profit of US$ 9.2 million for the period." "Our increased scale with a larger number of editions therefore results in higher losses in the seasonally weaker quarters of the year, but also provides considerable operating leverage in the stronger quarters, as was evident in the second quarter of the current year. The Rest of World operations are unaffected by this seasonality or new start-ups, and consequently reported a combined tripelling of operating profit year on year and delivered an operating margin of 25% in the quarter. We have reorganized the group headquarters in order to reduce costs and increase efficiency moving forward, and the recently agreed new US$ 75 million credit facility will also provide the group with significantly enhanced financial and operating flexibility." For additional information, please see attached release. -------------------------------- For further information, please visit www.metro.lu, email info@metro.lu or contact: Pelle Törnberg, President & CEO tel: +44 (0) 20 7016 1300 Matthew Hooper, Investor & Press Relations tel: +44 (0) 20 7321 5010 Metro is the largest and fastest growing international newspaper in the world. 40 daily Metro editions are published in 54 major cities in 16 countries in 15 languages across Europe, North & South America and Asia. Metro has a unique global reach - attracting a young, active, well-educated audience of more than 14.5 million daily readers and over 32 million weekly readers. Metro has an equal number of male and female readers and 70% are under the age of 45. Metro's advertising sales have grown at a compound annual rate of 47% since the launch of the first edition in 1995. Metro International S.A. 'A' and 'B' shares are listed on the Stockholmsbörsen 'O-List' under the symbols MTROA and MTROB. ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2004/10/20/20041020BIT20990/wkr0010.pdf