8th Jun 2005 13:15
Independent News & Media PLC08 June 2005 INDEPENDENT NEWS & MEDIA PLC Completion of iTouch Sale and AGM Statement --------------------------------------------- Dublin/London -- 8th June 2005: At the Annual General Meeting of IndependentNews & Media PLC (ticker: INWS.L; INWS.I) ('Independent'), the Company said itwas pleased to announce that the For-side.com Co. Limited offer for the entireissued and to be issued share capital in iTouch plc ('ITU.L') had today beendeclared wholly unconditional. Accordingly, Independent expects to receive itsfull cash consideration of STG£67.3m (approx. €100m) by June 24th 2005, at thelatest. In addition, Independent reaffirmed its results' guidance for 2005. Sir AnthonyO'Reilly, chief executive, told shareholders that: "Underlying trading continues in a positive fashion with both circulation andadvertising revenues comfortably ahead of last year. Your Group is unique inthat it operates leading newspaper brands in six of the world's fastest growingeconomies, and our recent expansion into India, provides for yet furthereconomic balance and diversity. As ever, active cost management will remain acentral focus of the Group as we strive to be the industry low cost operator. "Strong revenue conditions have carried on through the second quarter, andassuming a continuation of these favourable conditions, your Board remainsconfident of a meaningful improvement in underlying profit for 2005." In line with prior years, Independent will issue a more detailed pre-closetrading statement at the end of June, designed to provide further guidance onthe Group's trading conditions and the prospects for the remainder of 2005. -- ENDS -- 8th June 2005 For further information: Gavin O'Reilly Donal BuggyChief Operating Officer Chief Financial OfficerIndependent News & Media PLC Independent News & Media PLCDublin DublinTel: +353 (0)1 466 3200 Tel: +353 (0)1 466 3200 Pat Walsh Mark KennyMurray Consultants K Capital SourceDublin DublinTel: +353 (0)1 498 0300 Tel: +353 (0)1 631 5500 Mark EdwardsBuchanan CommunicationsLondonTel: +44 (0)207 466 5000 Independent News & Media PLC: GROUP PROFILE--------------------------------------------Independent News & Media PLC (ticker: INWS.L; INWS.I) ('Independent') is aleading international media and communications group, with interests inAustralia, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and mostrecently, India. Spanning four continents and nine individual countries,Independent is the market-leading newspaper publisher in Ireland, New Zealandand South Africa and is the market-leading regional newspaper publisher inAustralia. In the United Kingdom, Independent owns the largest newspaper groupin Northern Ireland and publishes the quality, award-winning Independent titlesfrom London. The Group publishes over 166 newspaper and magazine titles with a weeklycirculation of over 15.7 million copies and operates 70 on-line editorial andclassified sites, achieving over 100 million page impressions per month inaggregate. The Group is also the largest radio broadcaster and outdoor advertising operatorin Australasia - with leading outdoor advertising operations also in, Hong Kong,Malaysia and Indonesia and in South Africa, through its joint venture company,Clear Channel Independent. The Group has grown consistently over the last ten years by building ageographically unique and diverse portfolio of market leading brands. Managingturnover of over €1.6 billion and gross assets of €3.4 billion, the Groupemploys over 10,800 people worldwide. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Independent News & Media