Metro launches in Montreal with first french edition

METRO LAUNCHES IN MONTREAL WITH FIRST FRENCH EDITION Metro International S.A. ("Metro"), the leading international high quality daily newspaper group, today announced the launch of its first French language edition. The new edition will be distributed free of charge to commuters in Montreal's subway system. The 'Metro' title will be published and distributed in Montreal, Canada, in partnership with the Transcontinental Group, one of the largest publishing companies in Canada and one of North America's leading commercial printers. The partners have signed an exclusive contract with Montreal's transport authority, the Société de Transport de la Communauté Urbaine de Montréal (STCUM), to distribute 'Metro' in Montreal's subway system. Initially 100,000 copies of Metro will be printed by Transcontinental and distributed tomorrow morning from racks and by hand throughout the subway network. This circulation will make Metro the 2nd largest newspaper in Montreal City. The subway has 350,000 passengers a day. Montreal is the largest city in Canada's French speaking province of Quebec and has a population of 3.3 million in the Greater Montreal area. Quebec has a strong advertising industry of US$ 975 million per year, representing 21.7% of the media spend in Canada in 2000 and the print advertising market in Montreal is approximately US$ 350 million. The Canadian Gross Domestic Product increased strongly by 7.4% in the fourth quarter 2000 compared to the same period a year ago. Metro already publishes an English language version of Metro in Toronto, Canada, which was launched in June 2000 and had 269,000 readers at the end of 2000 making it the largest free daily newspaper in Toronto. Metro is now able to service both the French and English speaking populations in Canada. 'Metro' provides fact based independent journalism and features local, regional, national and international news. Metro editions attract, according to a worldwide survey by Gallup in November 2000, an average daily readership of 6.6 million readers worldwide, and achieve a 23% weekly reach of the population of 60 million in areas where Metro editions are distributed. Pelle Törnberg, President & CEO of Metro International, commented: "We are delighted to be launching our first ever French language edition, and look forward to following up the successful introduction of our Toronto edition that has shown strong readership and sales growth. Transcontinental is a powerful player in North America and brings considerable printing and publishing experience to bear on the continuing roll-out of the Metro concept. We are now able to target both French and English speaking populations in two of North America's leading cities and therefore to begin to access national as well as regional and local advertising sales revenues." Metro International was demerged from Modern Times Group MTG AB in August 2000. A and B shares in Metro 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 (0) 707 27 70 22 Metro International S.A. publishes and distributes free daily newspapers, comprising 18 editions in 13 countries: Stockholm (Metro and Everyday), Gothenburg (Metro), Malmö (Metro), Helsinki (Metro), Prague (Metro), Budapest (Metro), the Netherlands (Metro), Zurich (Metropol), Santiago (MTG), Rome (Metro), Philadelphia (Metro), Toronto (Metro), Buenos Aires (Publimetro), Milan (Metro), Warsaw (Metropol), Athens ((Metrorama) and Montreal (Metro). ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by BIT http://www.bit.se The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/02/28/20010228BIT01090/bit0002.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/02/28/20010228BIT01090/bit0002.pdf