Metro International S.A. ("Metro") today announced that it has sold its shares in Metro Holland to Telegraaf Media Groep NV ("TMG"). As a part of this transaction, Metro has entered into a franchise agreement with the new owner who will continue to publish the Metro newspaper in Holland along with its other free daily newspaper, Sp!ts. The transaction was completed today and Metro Holland will be part of TMG from September 2012.
Metro Holland was launched in 1999 and is the second largest daily newspaper in Holland. The two free daily newspapers will have a total readership of 2.3 million daily readers. Free newspapers are attractive for advertisers since they reach a younger audience than traditional newspapers. TMG will further differentiate the profiles of the two titles in order to create more variation in its offer to readers. Also the distribution and printing activities will be merged and optimized in order to minimize the overlap, allowing for a more profiled targeting of readers by advertisers.
Per Mikael Jensen, President and CEO of Metro International, commented: "Metro Holland has a strong position in the Dutch newspaper market and has been one of our most successful operations over the years. We are happy that this deal will secure the future of the title and that the Metro brand will be kept in the market. The deal also allows Metro to maintain its existing pan-European distribution platform which is important to our international advertisers. TMG will benefit from synergies with their existing operations and they have better opportunities to lead the consolidation of the Dutch print market. We are confident that they are the right partner to develop Metro Holland further."
For further information please visit www.metro.lu (http://www.metro.lu/) or contact:
| Per Mikael Jensen | President and CEO, Metro | Tel: +44 78 4167 3230 |
| Hans Elekan | Head of Investor Relations, TMG | Tel: +31 20 585 3308 |
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ABOUT METRO INTERNATIONAL AND METRO
Metro is the largest international newspaper in the world. Metro is published in over 100 major cities in 22 countries across Europe, North & South America and Asia. Metro has a unique global reach - attracting a young, active, well-educated Metropolitan audience of 18 million daily readers.
ABOUT SP!TS AND SPITSNIEUWS.NL
Sp!ts offers 24 hours per day news, sports and entertainment. Primarily Sp!ts is targeting commuters using public transport to go to work or university in the morning. With a circulation of 354,986 copies Sp!ts reaches approximately 1.5 million readers daily with the print edition. Next to the print edition Sp!ts also has a website: www.spitsnieuws.nl (http://www.spitsnieuws.nl/). Sp!ts and Spitsnieuws.nl employ about 65 people and are a part of TMG.
The owner of this announcement warrants that:
(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and
(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the
information contained therein.
Source: Metro International via Thomson Reuters ONE
