BERTRANGE, Luxembourg, Oct. 1, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Metro International S.A. ("Metro"), the international newspaper group, today announced that Metro Holland will launch a new edition in Rotterdam on Monday 4 October. 120,000 copies of the new edition will be distributed six days a week in the second largest city in Holland, including the 70,000 national edition copies that are currently distributed in Rotterdam and will now be converted into the local format featuring both national and local news, as well as a localized front cover.
The increased circulation is expected to almost double the number of Metro readers in the city to approximately 400,000 and make Metro the most read newspaper in the city and its surrounding region. The metropolitan area has a population of 1.3 million people and, with the largest sea port in the world, Rotterdam is the most important economic area in the Netherlands.
Metro is already published six days a week and distributed nationwide in Holland, reaching more than 1.1 million daily readers.
Pelle Tornberg, President and CEO, commented: "Holland was the first country in which Metro provided national coverage and we have since expanded our circulation to achieve national coverage in eight out of our 15 country operations. We have subsequently focused on targeting new advertising segments in Holland and the local Rotterdam edition follows the launch of a weekend edition last year."
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 largest and fastest growing international newspaper in the world. 38 daily Metro editions are published in 54 major cities in 16 countries in 15 languages across Europe, North & South America and Asia. Metro has a unique global reach -- attracting a young, active, well-educated audience of more than 14.5 million daily readers and over 32 million weekly readers. Metro has an equal number of male and female readers and 70% are under the age of 45. Metro's advertising sales have grown at a compound annual rate of 47% since the launch of the first edition in 1995.
Metro International S.A. 'A' and 'B' shares are listed on the Stockholmsborsen 'O-List' under the symbols MTROA and MTROB.
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