Metro goes national in Hungary
METRO GOES NATIONAL IN HUNGARY Metro International S.A. ("Metro"), the leading international free daily newspaper group, today announced that its Budapest edition has now widened its circulation to cover Hungary on a national basis. Metro is already the largest national daily newspaper in Hungary by circulation. 210,000 copies of 'Metro' will be distributed this morning in Hungary's capital city, Budapest, and a further 140,000 copies will be distributed in 14 other cities in Hungary, following agreements with each of the City's' councils. The newspapers will be distributed by hand and from racks in and around the city centers. The national advertising market in Hungary was estimated to be worth US$ 700 million in 2000, and daily national newspapers to account for nearly 6% of this annual spend. Mediagnosis, a leading independent survey organisation that measures national media spend in Hungary, reported that Metro had a 20% share of the daily national newspaper advertising market for the month of February 2001. Hungarian gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 5% last year. The Budapest edition of Metro currently attracts an average daily readership of 468,00, according to the worldwide readership survey conducted by Gallup and published by Metro in February 2001. Excluding Metro, approximately 18% of Hungary's population of 8.5 million over the age of 15 read a national daily newspaper each day. Pelle Törnberg, President & CEO of Metro International, commented: "Our Budapest edition has shown strong growth in both number of readers and net sales revenues. Hungary, as a country, represents a significant opportunity for us and we have now gone national with our distribution in 5 out of the 14 countries in which we operate". Metro provides fact-based, independent journalism and features local, regional, national and international news. The 18 editions are distributed in commuter zones and attract 6.6 million daily readers worldwide, according to the worldwide readership survey conducted by Gallup in at the end of 2000. Metro has a 23% weekly reach of the population of 60 million in areas where its newspapers are distributed. Metro International was demerged from Modern Times Group MTG AB in August 2000. A and B shares were distributed to MTG shareholders and are listed on the NASDAQ National Market and the OM Stockholm Exchange O List (symbols: MTROA and MTROB). For further information, please visit www.metro.lu, email info@sharedvalue.net or contact: Pelle Törnberg, President & CEO tel: +44 (0) 20 7408 0230 Matthew Hooper, Investor enquiries tel: +44 (0) 20 7321 5010 Bert Willborg, Media enquiries tel: +46 707 27 7022 Metro International S.A. publishes and distributes free daily newspapers, comprising 18 editions in 14 countries: Stockholm (Metro), Prague (Metro), Gothenburg (Metro), Hungary (Metro), the Netherlands (Metro), Helsinki (Metro), Malmö (Metro), Santiago (MTG), Philadelphia (Metro), Zurich (Metropol), Toronto (Metro), Rome (Metro), Buenos Aires (Publimetro), Milan (Metro), Warsaw (Metropol), and Athens (Metrorama), Montreal (Metro) & Barcelona (Metro Directo). ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by BIT http://www.bit.se The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/04/02/20010402BIT00040/bit0002.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/04/02/20010402BIT00040/bit0002.pdf