METRO INTERNATIONAL CLOSES METRO POLAND

METRO INTERNATIONAL CLOSES METRO POLANDMetro International S.A. ("Metro International"), the international newspaper group, today announced that it is discontinuing the activities of its wholly-owned subsidiary TPP Sp. z o.o. ("Metro Poland") which publishes the free daily newspaper Metropol in a number of cities in Poland. Friday 5 January 2007 was the last day of publication for Metropol. Metropol was launched in Warsaw in 2000 and had grown to become one of Poland's largest daily newspapers. Despite this, Metro Poland's financial performance has been below expectations and local market conditions have proved difficult for the press sector as a whole and the free press sector in particular. The closure of Metro Poland will result in a one-off charge in Metro International's financial results for the quarter ending 31st March 2007 and will be earnings enhancing for the full year ending 31st December 2007. Cash and non-cash closure costs are estimated at circa US$2.5 million. Metro Poland, which employed 70 full time-employees, had unaudited sales of US$5.2 million and an EBIT loss of US$ 3.7 million for the year ended 31st December 2006. Pelle Törnberg, CEO and President of Metro International said "Despite local management's success in establishing Metropol as a trusted and innovative newspaper on the Polish media scene, Metro Poland has failed to meet the required profitability and growth criteria set for each of our operations. We have thus taken the decision to exit the Polish market and close down Metropol in order to focus our resources on higher growth and larger scale strategic markets. With the sale of Metro Finland announced earlier and today's announcement of the closure of Metro Poland we have successfully enhanced the attractiveness of our portfolio of mature operations and we are more than ever committed to reaching the right balance between growth and profitability for the benefit of our shareholders". ***For further information, please visit www.metro.lu, or contact: Pelle Törnberg , President & CEO Tel: +44 20 7016 1300 ABOUT METRO INTERNATIONAL Metro is the largest and fastest growing international newspaper in the world. Metro is published in over 100 major cities in 20 countries across Europe, North & South America and Asia. Metro has a unique global reach - attracting a young, active, well-educated Metropolitan audience of over 18 million daily readers. Metro has an equal number of male and female readers, of which 70% are under the age of 45. Metro's advertising sales have grown at a compound annual rate of 44% since the launch of the first edition in 1995. Metro International S.A. 'A' and 'B' shares are listed on the Stockholmsbörsen 'O-List' under the symbols MTRO SBD A and MTRO SBD B. Attachment: Press release (PDF)Text version / Internet version / Print / Close