Edipresse macht einen Fünftel weniger Gewinn

2006 RESULTS OF THE EDIPRESSE GROUP

In a highly competitive environment and despite some contrasting results, the Group has implemented a number of important strategic measures which will significantly strengthen its earnings capacity and its prospects for expansion.

• Turnover remained stable (-0.8%) mainly as a result of the exit of the IRL print facility from the consolidation scope.

• EBITDA increased by 4.1% to CHF 92.1 million.

• Adjusted EBITAL (EBIT adjusted for launch expenses and material special items) was down 11.6% at CHF 70 million. This trend is attributable amongst other factors to a very tough market situation in the Iberian Peninsula and to new competition from free dailies in French Switzerland. While the impact connected with the free dailies is structural in nature, the outlook in Spain is very positive following the agreement reached with the company RBA, which will give birth to the leading Spanish magazine group. The business activities in Eastern Europe have, for their part, improved their profitability.

• Net income before taxes increased by 18%, while Group net income from ongoing operations of CHF 34.7 million recorded a slight rise of 0.8%. This lower level of increase is due to a large rise in taxes, which this year include an exceptional charge connected with a change in tax legislation in Spain.

A detailed review of the financial statements is provided in the attachment.

In Switzerland the year was marked by the success of the free newspaper Le Matin Bleu which has already attained a daily audience of 400,000 readers and exceeded its advertising volume budget, despite the arrival of its Zürich competitor 20 minutes. However, this situation is generating heavier competition in the market and giving rise to increased pressure on our margins.

The excellent results and strong progress of the Group’s Internet activities, each of which is the leader in its market (jobup.ch, homegate.ch, swissfriends.ch) were confirmed. Edipresse continued its expansion strategy with three major initiatives:

• the successful relaunch of edicom.ch, which is now the largest online small-ads portal in French Switzerland;

• the acquisition of 20% of Virtual Network SA, an operator of numerous high-traffic thematic portals, including romandie.com in French Switzerland, jeux.com, musique.com and humour.com in France;

• the creation in January 2007 (as a joint venture with Virtual Network) of Romandie Online, the largest online advertising agency in French Switzerland, which commercializes all the sites of Edipresse and its partner on the Internet, grouping together more than 50 million page views per month.

The industrial restructuring of the Swiss print facilities was completed in the course of the year: the newspaper print facilities (CIE – Edipresse Printing Centre) have been grouped together on a single site at Bussigny since July 2006 and the Vernier site was closed down; the IRL commercial print facility was sold to the Swiss Printers group effective 1 July 2006.

At the international level, Eastern Europe and Asia achieved good results. Edipresse increased its stake in its Russian subsidiary Edipresse-Konliga (to 69.9%) and in its Asian subsidiary (to 100%).

The launches completed in Russia, Ukraine and Romania were successful; in particular, the very swift expansion of the Ukrainian subsidiary should enable Edipresse to become the largest publisher in that country.

In Spain and Portugal the magazine market experienced a dismal economic situation. Edipresse’s Iberian subsidiaries generally posted unsatisfactory results. This situation will not occur again in 2007. A marked recovery is expected in Portugal, where Edimpresa is still the unchallenged market leader, but the main change will come from the Spanish market, where Edipresse’s strategy will be radically altered:

• A very important agreement was signed with the Spanish group RBA, with the intention of merging a significant portion of the two groups’ magazine businesses to create the largest Spanish group in the sector. RBA will hold a majority share of the new group in view of the value of the respective assets contributed, but the spirit is that of a joint venture with similar rights for the two partners. The new company, called RBA Edipresse, is already preparing for further acquisitions and will generate a very sound level of profitability.

• Focus Ediciones, the Spanish market leader in men’s magazines (DT, FHM) will remain majority-controlled by Edipresse and will continue its expansion in this sector with the launch of the Spanish edition of the magazine Stuff.

• The Madrid-based company Edipresse Focus Interactive, which is wholly owned by Edipresse, is expanding vigorously in Internet products and mobile services. An important portal aimed at men on the go will be launched in spring 2007 under the brand name El Polvorín.

Edipresse is presenting a section entitled Environment and social responsibility in its annual report for the first time. This initiative highlights the substantial efforts made by the Group to protect the environment, develop its staff and support activities of a humanitarian nature.

Notes on the Edipresse Group’s results for financial year 2006 and the 2006 Annual Report are available on the site www.edipresse.com.

For further information on the results: Christopher Bolton, Chief Financial Officer christopher.bolton@edipresse.com, +41 21 349 45 26

For other information: Gregory Blatt, Director Marketing, Communications and Strategy gregory.blatt@edipresse.com, +41 21 349 45 02

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