BERTRANGE, Luxembourg, Nov. 20, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Metro International S.A. ("Metro"), the international newspaper group, today announced the launch of a new Real Estate newspaper in Stockholm. 'Metro Hus & Hem' will be delivered by mail each Friday to 875,000 homes in the Stockholm area and thereby become Sweden's largest real estate newspaper.
The first edition will be published on 9 January 2004. The weekend newspaper is being produced in association with leading monthly magazine 'Hus & Hem,' which is published by Ica Forlaget. Metro is already Sweden's most read daily morning newspaper, attracting over 1 million daily readers in Sweden and over 620,000 daily readers in the capital city of Stockholm.
The real estate advertising market in Stockholm is one of the largest segments of the Swedish advertising market. Metro has already signed agreements with a number of Stockholm's largest real estate agencies for the inclusion of residential lettings and sales advertisements. 'Hus & Hem' will provide the editorial content.
The launch follows the introduction of a successful new weekend edition in Holland and is part of Metro's ongoing strategy to access new advertising segments by launching specialist sections, supplements and weekend editions.
"We have chosen to advertise in Metro because 'Metro Hus & Hem' is the best product that we have seen for our customers. With 875,000 copies distributed every week, we can be sure that our information will reach the total market," said Bo Widman of Svensk Fastighetsformedling, one of Sweden's leading real estate agencies.
"By delivering the newspaper to homes on Friday, we will ensure that people have the whole weekend to spend on house hunting or home improvements, so this new newspaper is good for our readers and for advertisers," commented Pelle Tornberg, Metro's President and CEO. "This product is designed to have broad appeal by covering the whole real estate market."
Metro is the world's largest newspaper, publishing and distributing 29 Metro editions in 16 countries in Europe, North & South America and Asia. Metro attracts 13 million daily readers in 60 cities around the world with an easy to read combination of headline local and international news and information. Metro International S.A. 'A' and 'B' shares are listed on the Stockholmsborsen 'O-List' and on the Nasdaq stock market under the symbols MTROA and MTROB.
This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" with respect to our expectations and plans, strategy, management's objectives, future performance, costs, revenues, earnings and other trend information. It is important to note that our actual results in the future could differ materially from those anticipated in forward- looking statements depending on various important factors. Please refer to the documents we have filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including our most recent annual report on Form 20-F, for a discussion of certain of these factors.
All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to us on the date hereof. All written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to Metro International S.A, any Metro International S.A. members or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the factors referred to above. We do not intend to update these forward-looking statements.
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