Sifo Group acquires an additional 30 percent of Germany's Argus Media

PRESS RELEASE from Sifo Group, quoted on the O-list of the Stockholm Stock Exchange Sifo Group acquires an additional 30 percent of Germany's Argus Media Sifo Group has reached an agreement with Media Interest S.A. to acquire an additional 30 percent of the shares of Argus Media GmbH as of January 1, 2000. Sifo Group has owned 50 percent of the shares for two years. Argus Media is part of Sifo Group's Observer Media Intelligence Division. In the year 2000 Argus Media will be merged with Germany's Observer RTV Medienauswertungen GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sifo Group. Sifo Group will thereby own 86 percent of the shares of the combined company and will clearly be the leader in media and market research in Germany, with a market share of just over 40 percent. Combined sales amounted to SEK 110 million in 1998. "By increasing our ownership stake in Argus Media, we have the opportunity to speed up the development of operations in Germany," says Hans Strand, Head of the Observer Media Intelligence Division. "Compared with Sweden, the German market for media and market information is relatively untapped. By integrating Argus Media with Observer RTV Medienauswertungen, we can offer clients in the German market all the services that are part of the Observer Media Intelligence concept." Facts about Sifo Group Sifo Group, which is quoted on the O-list of the Stockholm Stock Exchange, has three divisions: Observer Media Intelligence, which works with media and market research; Sifo Research & Consulting, which works with surveys and consulting operations; and SMG Consulting, which is active in management and strategic consulting. Sifo Group has sales of nearly SEK 900 million and employs around 1,100 people in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Germany and the Baltic states. For further information, please contact: Robert Lundberg, President and Chief Executive Officer, phone +46-8-625 15 43, e-mail robert.lundberg@sifogroup.se Hans Strand, Head of the Observer Media Intelligence Division, phone +46-8-702 53 06, e-mail hans.strand@observer.se This press release is also available at http://www.sifogroup.com ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/04/20/19990420BIT00730/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/04/20/19990420BIT00730/bit0002.pdf