“We also increased HQ and Online investment, and increased circulation by 10 percent over the quarter. We are disappointed, therefore, to report an operating loss for Q1 07 of US$11.5 million against an operating loss for Q1 06 of US$3.9 million. On a like-for-like basis, excluding investment in new businesses and one off costs, the Q1 07 operating loss was $5.1 million. Performance problems in Sweden were identified in early 2007 and these were reinforced in the March figures. This is primarily due to loss of sales staff and inadequate management focus plus severe under-performance of the Bostad edition. As a result, we have undertaken management restructuring and a review of the Swedish operations during the past quarter, and we will continue that overhaul with the aim of improving margins and restoring the Swedish operations to be the centre of excellence and benchmark for cost control and growth across the Group. Performance in Spain has been affected by price pressures in Madrid. In France the 40 percent circulation increase combined with temporary weaker advertising market in certain key segments affected performance negatively. The U.S. market underperformed our expectations due to tough local market conditions. Metro continues to invest in building our global business with new editions in Mexico, Portugal, Sweden, Canada and Brazil. Increased circulation in Sweden and France in Q3 06 and our investment in Online will deliver higher ad revenues later in 2007, but these investments dilute our financial performance in Q1 07 compared to Q1 06 by $4.5 million. We saw strong performance from our operations in Chile, Hong Kong, Portugal, and Holland as revenue and margins increased substantially over the quarter." http://cws.huginonline.com/M/132142/PR/200704/1120515_5.html; April 23, 2007