City24 to Russia, Mascus to Denmark and Czech Republic

ALMA MEDIA CORPORATION                          PRESS RELEASE 21 FEB 2007

 

 

Alma Media’s Marketplaces unit continues to expand into new territory. The unit has established a subsidiary, OOO City24, in Moscow that will launch the City24 home-buying portal in May this year. City24 currently operates in the Baltic countries, Poland and Ukraine.

 

Marketplaces is also establishing a joint venture in Denmark in preparation for the launch of a Mascus.com marketplace for used heavy machinery in the country. The other party in the joint venture is Bil Markedet Aps, which is owned by Benjamin Holding and Den Blå Avis A/S. Marketplaces will hold 50 % and Bil Markedet the other 50 % of the joint venture. Bil Markedet operates, Bilbasen.dk, the largest vehicle marketplace in Denmark, which it half-owns with Bilinfo A/S, as well as Denmark’s largest used-car magazine Bil Markedet.

 

Mascus.com has also signed a licence agreement with a Czech partner, Webfarm s.r.o., which has the second largest used-car marketplace in the Czech Republic Cars.cz and operates as a provider of web applications to the vehicle sector. The agreement will ensure rapid time-to-market for the Mascus service in the Czech Republic. Under the agreement the service will use the Mascus brand and technology, while the Czech partner will be responsible for sales and marketing.

 

Raimo Mäkilä, SVP, Marketplaces, tel. +358 (0)40 546 1892

 

Benjamin Holding www.benjamin.dk

Den Blå Avis A/S www.dba.dk

Bilbasen.dk www.bilbasen.dk

Webfarm s.r.o. www.webfarm.cz

Cars.cz www.cars.cz

 

Alma Media is a profitably growing and internationally expanding company that invests in the future of newspapers and the online media. Its best known products are Aamulehti, Iltalehti, Kauppalehti and Etuovi.com.

 

Net sales in 2006 totalled EUR 302 million and the operating margin was 16 %. The company’s share is listed in the Mid Cap segment of the OMX Nordic Exchange’s Nordic List, trading code ALN1V. More information at http://www.almamedia.fi/home