New Printing and Production Agreement

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Wednesday 23 June 1999

Associated Newspapers and Quebecor Printing are pleased to announce that they have concluded a new printing and production agreement for the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday and the Evening Standard magazines and supplements.

This new agreement secures the production of Weekend, YOU Magazine, ES Magazine and the greater part of Night & Day, until May 2005.

The contract is worth in excess of £200m and represents a weekly commitment for 8 million magazines, containing around 35 million inserts, to tight production schedules.

Murdoch MacLennan, Group Managing Director of Associated Newspapers, said: "I believe this to be the largest magazine printing contract in Europe and certainly the most complex. This contract had been under negotiation for some time, but the key driver to our eventually reaching agreement was Quebecor's demonstrated willingness to invest in new plant, more than £40m to date, to guarantee secure production of our expanding circulations. Importantly, we also believe in the management of the company and their commitment to our products."

Charles Cavell, CEO of Quebecor Printing Inc. stated: "We take great pride that our timely investments in new technology and the dedication of our UK employees have enabled us to grow with ANL and their 40% volume increase since we first signed our original contract with them in 1995. Further investment in the UK is fully supported by the security of a long term contract from this key customer."

John Dickin, Managing Director of Quebecor Printing (UK), emphasised: "The commitment of each of our employees to Associated Newspapers and their flagship publications has been total and they will be delighted by this announcement. Our company's success and growth is based on providing our people with the tools necessary to meet and exceed the expectations of innovative publishers such as ANL."

This new contract supersedes and combines several existing contracts that were due to run until June 2000.

For further information please contact:
John Bird - 0171 634 7925
John Dickin, Managing Director, Quebecor Printing (UK) - 0171 938 6631