BERTRANGE, Luxembourg, Oct. 30, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Metro International S.A. ("Metro") (Nasdaq:MTROA) (Nasdaq:MTROB), the international newspaper group, today announced the first findings of the latest worldwide readership survey by Gallup. The survey last week in Stockholm coincided with the launch of a new free newspaper by a competitor publishing group and shows that Metro Stockholm now has 633,000 daily readers, compared to the rival's 268,000 readers.
Furthermore, the new rival has entered a saturated market that already has three other daily morning newspapers. The new paper has consequently only added 16,000 new readers to the Stockholm morning newspaper market, which proves it to be a complimentary paper that does not add significant reach for advertisers.
Metro has therefore increased its readership by 10% since the Gallup survey at the same time last year. The survey also found that 65% of daily newspaper readers believe that Metro is a better newspaper than its new competitor, while only 16% thought the new title was better.
Pelle Tornberg, President & CEO of Metro International, commented: "Our readership has now reached record levels and our market share, in terms of readership and advertising, continues to grow. We are currently the second largest newspaper in Stockholm and the largest daily morning newspaper in Sweden. Despite being published by a traditional subscription-based newspaper group, from which Metro has been taking market share, our new competitor in Stockholm has only served to reinforce the ever-increasing interest in the free newspaper medium and we welcome this further support."
The worldwide readership survey is conducted by leading independent research company Gallup International, twice a year, and comprises 45,000 interviews in the 15 countries around the world where Metro editions are published. It is the largest ongoing international readership survey in the world. The full findings of the latest Gallup survey will be published with Metro International's full year results in February 2003. The last survey in May 2002 established that Metro had 10.8 million daily readers and was therefore the fourth most read newspaper in the world.
For further information, please visit www.metro.lu, email info@metro.lu or contact:
Pelle Tornberg, President & CEO, tel: +44 (0) 20 7016 1300
Matthew Hooper, Investor & Press Relations, tel: +44 (0) 20 7321 5010
Metro is the world's largest free newspaper, publishing and distributing 25 editions in 16 countries in 14 languages: Stockholm, Prague, Gothenburg, Hungary, the Netherlands, Helsinki, Malmo, Santiago, Philadelphia, Toronto, Rome, Milan, Warsaw, Athens, Montreal, Barcelona, Boston, Madrid, Copenhagen, Aarhus, Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Hong Kong and Seoul.
Metro International S.A. 'A' and 'B' shares are listed on NASDAQ and the Stockholmsborsen under the symbols MTROA and MTROB.
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