Metro consolidates position as largest daily morning newspaper in Sweden
METRO CONSOLIDATES POSITION AS LARGEST DAILY MORNING NEWSPAPER IN SWEDEN Metro International S.A. ("Metro"), the international newspaper group, today announced that Metro has increased its number of daily readers in Sweden by over 10% year on year to 1,069,000, according to the readership survey published by SIFO 'Orvesto' yesterday. This result further extends Metro's leadership as the largest daily morning newspaper in Sweden, with its nearest rival losing ground. SIFO's 'Orvesto' is Sweden's official independent readership survey and is conducted three times a year amongst 16,000 participants. SIFO 'Orvesto' reported figures yesterday for the period from June to August 2001, compared with the previous period from January to May 2001. Metro's three editions in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö added 35,000 new readers in the latest period, and have added 100,000 readers since the same period last year. Pelle Törnberg, President and CEO of Metro International, commented: "These results further demonstrate the success of the Metro concept. The Gothenburg and Malmö editions, which were launched in 1998 and 1999 respectively and are distributed by hand, performed particularly strongly." "The combination of an increasing number of readers per copy, an attractive demographic profile of young and female readers, and national advertising packages, has enabled Metro to deliver operating margins of 40% in Stockholm as well as a profit for the Gothenburg operation in the first six months of 2001." For further information, please visit www.metro.lu, email info@metro.lu or contact: Pelle Törnberg, President & CEO tel: +44 (0) 20 7408 0230 Matthew Hooper, Investor & Press Relations tel: +44 (0) 20 7321 5010 Metro is the world's largest free newspaper, publishing and distributing 21 editions in 15 countries in 14 languages: Stockholm (Metro), Prague (Metro), Gothenburg (Metro), Hungary (Metro), the Netherlands (Metro), Helsinki (Metro), Malmö (Metro), Santiago (Publimetro), Philadelphia (Metro), Zurich (Metropol), Toronto (Metro Today), Rome (Metro), Buenos Aires (Publimetro), Milan (Metro), Warsaw (Metropol), Athens (Metrorama), Montreal (Metro), Barcelona (Metro Directe), Boston (Metro), Madrid (Metro Directo) and Copenhagen (MetroXpress). Metro International S.A. 'A' and 'B' shares are listed on the NASDAQ National Market and 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/2001/09/25/20010925BIT00010/bit0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2001/09/25/20010925BIT00010/bit0002.pdf