BERTRANGE, Luxembourg, May 25, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Metro International S.A. ("Metro"), the international newspaper group, today announced that all resolutions proposed to its Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of shareholders in Luxembourg today were passed.
The AGM re-elected Hans-Holger Albrecht, Paddy Byng, Vigo Carlund, Lance R. Primis and Cristina Stenbeck as members of the Board of Directors. Henry Guy, Dennis Malamatinas and Pelle Tornberg were elected as new members of the Board of Directors. KPMG was re-elected as Auditor.
Henry Guy is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Modern Holdings Inc., which is a U.S. investment company with assets in the telecommunications, media and financial services industries. Mr. Guy previously served as Chief Financial Officer at software firm, ISIS 2000, and as an Officer in the United States Navy.
Dennis Malamatinas is the former CEO and President of Burger King Corporation and former President of various businesses within Grand Metropolitan PLC / Diageo Plc, including IDV Asia Pacific, the Pierre Smirnoff Company and Metaxa Distillers. Mr. Malamatinas previously served as President of Pepsi-Cola in Italy and as founding Chief Executive of Priceline Europe. Mr. Malamatinas is a former member of the Boards of Directors of Reuters Plc and Diageo Plc.
Pelle Tornberg is the CEO and President of Metro International S.A. Mr. Tornberg joined Metro International when it was spun out of Modern Times Group MTG AB in August 2000, having served as President of Modern Times Group MTG AB between 1997 and 2000. Mr. Tornberg managed the development of Metro from its launch in 1995 and is also a member of the Board of Directors of Modern Times Group MTG AB, MediaCorp in Singapore and the Glocal Forum non-profit organization.
The AGM resolved to issue a total of 100,048 class A shares and 100,048 class B shares to two independent non-executive Directors and two Advisory Board members. These awards of shares are in part compensation for fees for the period from May 2003 until May 2004, and amount to 0.04% of the total outstanding number of Metro shares.
The AGM resolved to approve that the procedure for the nomination of Board Directors for the AGM in 2005 will be chaired by Cristina Stenbeck as Chairman of the Nomination Group. The Nomination Group will be created this Fall in consultation with at least three major shareholders and the composition of the Group will be communicated in the results statement for the third quarter of 2004.
At a Board of Directors' meeting following the AGM and EGM, Vigo Carlund was re-elected as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Henry Guy was appointed as Chairman of the Audit Committee and Lance R. Primis was appointed as a member of the Audit Committee. Lance R. Primis was appointed as Chairman of the Remuneration Committee and Paddy Byng, Vigo Carlund and Cristina Stenbeck were appointed as members of the Remuneration Committee.
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. 37 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 million daily readers and over 30 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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