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Metro International S.A. is a Luxembourg limited-liability company
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METRO TO DEREGISTER AND DELIST FROM NASDAQ
11 December 2003
These actions will not affect the continued listing of Metro's series A and series B Swedish Depositary Shares (SDSs) on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Metro will continue to make filings as required by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, until the close of trading on Tuesday, 23 December 2003.
Metro's series A and series B shares were registered with the SEC and listed on the NASDAQ National Market in 2000 and subsequently listed on the NASDAQ SmallCap Market in 2002. The Board of Directors of Metro has decided to pursue this course of action for the following reasons:
- The volume of trading in the shares on the NASDAQ SmallCap Market is very low, with only 101,011 series A shares and 66,560 series B shares traded during 2003, compared to 74.6 million series A SDSs and 116.2 million series B SDSs traded on the Stockholm Stock Exchange during the same period of time.
- The total number of US resident holders of series A and series B shares and SDSs is less than 300 and, as at 10 December 2003, there were only 61,547 series A shares and 48,863 series B shares listed on the NASDAQ SmallCap Market, compared to 263,333,963 series A shares and 262,376,130 series B shares outstanding in total.
- The Board of Directors does not believe that the deregistration and delisting will have an adverse effect on the ability of Metro's principal U.S. shareholders to hold its shares.
For these reasons, Metro's Board of Directors believes that the costs of maintaining the SEC registration and NASDAQ SmallCap Market listing are no longer justified.
Holders of series A and series B shares that are currently listed on the NASDAQ SmallCap Market will be contacted through the American Stock Transfer & Trust Company (the registrar) and Fischer Partners Fondkommission (the depositary bank) with details of how to convert the shares into SDSs.
For further information, please visit www.metro.lu, email info@metro.lu or contact:Pelle Törnberg, President & CEO tel: +44 (0) 20 7016 1300Matthew Hooper, Investor & Press Relations tel: +44 (0) 20 7321 5010