DMGT Subsidiary publishing agreement

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Friday 23 January 2004

ASSOCIATED Newspapers, the national newspaper subsidiary of DMGT, and Guardian Media Group ('GMG') today announced the signing of a deal to publish a daily free morning paper in Manchester.

Under the terms of the agreement the paper will be named Metro, editorial will be provided by Associated Newspapers. GMG will publish, print and distribute the paper. Associated will sell national advertising in the paper while GMG will sell regional and local advertising.

The deal will take effect on 12 February, 2001.

The licensing by GMG of the Metro title to Associated enables an agreement which mirrors similar deals signed with other media companies who publish regional editions of Metro under franchise. Metro is currently published in London, Birmingham, Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield, Glasgow and Edinburgh, but in Manchester, where GMG own and publish the Manchester Metro, it has been published as News North-West. GMG publish the Manchester Evening News and 30 weekly newspapers in the Greater Manchester area.

Negotiations have been going on between Associated Newspapers and GMG for several months and the two companies said the terms now agreed were mutually beneficial and made commercial sense.

Inquiries to:
Peter Williams, Finance Director, DMGT 020 7938 6631
Mike Anderson, Managing Director, Associated Metro 020 7938 5280