- Launch of the telephone directory enquiry service PagesJaunes

Transcription

1 Sèvres, October 26, 2005 PagesJaunes Groupe: Investor Day - Re-launch of L Annuaire (alphabetical directory) - Pursuit of innovations on pagesjaunes.fr and QDQ.com - Launch of the telephone directory enquiry service PagesJaunes PagesJaunes Groupe today presents its main plans for growth and its major lines of development. On the occasion of Investor Day for PagesJaunes Groupe, Michel Datchary, CEO, declared: The growth of PagesJaunes Groupe relies on growth of our audience, the acquisition of new customers, the strengthening of pagesjaunes.fr and new products and businesses (PagesJaunes , mobile Internet, etc.). The strong position of PagesJaunes Groupe on the Internet and the capacity of its sales force in marketing effectively a full range of multi-media advertising products in France and Spain should allow it to benefit from the huge potential of the Internet. Beyond that, PagesJaunes Groupe has three areas of development: finding a 3/5 year relay for growth, strengthening the Internet market and improving its financial structure by using its debt capacity and the opportunities for operational synergies. The internal growth of PagesJaunes Groupe in 2006 and 2007 should mainly arise from: - the re-launch of L Annuaire in 2006, - continued innovations on the Internet, - the launch of a platform of telephone directory enquiry services: PagesJaunes All these innovations and developments are marketed with advertisers through a multi-media sales force of more than 1800 sales persons in France and 400 sales persons in Spain. 1 Press Release

2 Re-launch of the Annuaire in France By relying on the setting up of the universal directory, PagesJaunes Groupe has decided to reposition L Annuaire (alphabetical directory) in 2006 via a new publishing and advertising offer: - new scoping in the largest départements, - new range of advertising products, - increased circulation. Continued innovations on the Internet Over the first 9 months of the full-year 2005, revenue from the on-line services of PagesJaunes Groupe represented 30% of total revenue in France and 15% in Spain. With a monthly reach rate of 37% in September 2005 (1), pagesjaunes.fr now occupies 5 th position in the ratings for the most visited Internet sites in France (1). Pagesjaunes.fr is pursuing a growth strategy based on the development of its functionalities, the enrichment of its content and the promotion of customer and advertiser contact. After the successful introduction of the maps (1998), the town photos (1999), the routes (2002), the search for local services (January 2004), a new Internet website offer (November 2004), the content Ville en Direct (February 2005) and the aerial photos (July 2005), PagesJaunes Groupe is preparing: - the launch of a «click to talk» service in November 2005 allowing you to be contacted directly by an advertiser and its generalisation in 2006, - a new more intuitive user interface using the wealth of the content of pagesjaunes.fr to improve the search result in the second half of In 2001, PagesJaunes was one of the pioneers of the mobile Internet. The year 2005 marks a new development phase with the free service (excluding connection costs of the mobile operators). The new version of its service on mobile Internet has been awarded Best on-line service to the general public by the European Association of Directory Publishers (EADP) in September In Spain, QDQ.com will use the same development axes to seize the opportunities of a dynamic Spanish market. 2

3 PagesJaunes : to become one of the three market leaders PagesJaunes Groupe confirms its ambition to rank among the 3 main players for directory services in France. The group presents a twin strategy: - from November 2, 2005, date of the opening of the market, to build awareness and have a service of impeccable quality, - from April 3, 2006, date of the disappearance of the old numbers, to develop added value services, to build brand loyalty and develop the average revenue per user. The ambition of PagesJaunes Groupe on the telephone directory enquiry market relies on a mixed business model combining revenues arising from users (around 1 euro per call) and revenues from advertising insertions marketed to PagesJaunes Groupe advertisers. PagesJaunes Groupe points out that the investment, of a mainly advertising nature, on this new business will be of the order of 10 million euros in The group aims at breakeven in 2007 and has a target gross operating of above 20% in the medium to long-term for the directory enquiry services business. Financial targets PagesJaunes Groupe confirms and specifies its financial targets: - Consolidated revenue growth of 5.5 to 6.5% in 2005, - Growth in consolidated gross operating margin (3) in excess of 10% including telephone directory enquiry services in 2005, - Target of gross operating margin (3) at breakeven at QDQ Media by the end of 2006, - Maintained target of distributing entire income from the Group s operating activities in respect of full-year It should be noted that the dividend distribution target in no way constitutes a commitment on the part of PagesJaunes Groupe. Future dividends will depend on the Group s results, its financial situation and other factor which the Board of Directors and the shareholders of PagesJaunes Groupe deem relevant. All the presentations of PagesJaunes Groupe s Investor Day are available at the company s institutional web site, 3

4 About PagesJaunes Groupe PagesJaunes Groupe, a subsidiary of France Télécom, is France s leading publisher of printed directories (the PagesJaunes directory and L Annuaire) and online directories (pagesjaunes.fr, PagesJaunes 3611) for the general public, handling the sale of advertising space. The businesses of PagesJaunes Groupe also include website creation and hosting, the publication of the PagesPro BtoB directories, the publication of the QuiDonc reverse directory and the advertising representation in France for the Europages European BtoB directory. PagesJaunes Groupe also publishes directories for the general public outside France in Spain, Morocco, Luxembourg and Lebanon and the Kompass directories (company databases) in France, Spain, Belgium and Luxembourg. It also provides complementary services such as the geographic services of Mappy and, in the field of relationship marketing, the sale of data files and the processing of marketing databases by Wanadoo Data. With more than 580,000 advertisers in 2004, PagesJaunes Groupe is the second largest French company in terms of advertising revenue. Information on PagesJaunes Groupe is available at Contacts : PagesJaunes Press Thomas Barbelet / Orith Tabeur +33 (0) tbarbelet@pagesjaunes.fr otabeur@pagesjaunes.fr France Télécom Press Nilou du Castel / Bertrand Deronchaine +33 (0) nilou.ducastel@francetelecom.com bertrand.deronchaine@francetelecom.com PagesJaunes Investors Vincent Gouley +33 (0) vgouley@pagesjaunes.fr 4

5 Notes (1) Monthly reach rate: number of internet users visiting the site at least once during the month in question as a proportion of the actual number of active internet users during this period - Source: Nielsen Netratings Home & Work domain index September *** This document contains forward-looking statements. Although PagesJaunes Groupe believes its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, these statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results anticipated in the forward-looking statements include, among other things: the effect of competition; PagesJaunes usage level; the success of the investments of the PagesJaunes Group in France and abroad. A description of the risks borne by the PagesJaunes Group appears in section 4.9 Analyse des risques du Groupe of the Document de Référence of PagesJaunes Groupe filed with the French financial markets authority (AMF) under the number R on 30 March A description of the objectives of the PagesJaunes Group appears in chapter VII of the Document de Référence. The forward-looking statements contained in this document apply only from the date of this document, and PagesJaunes Groupe does not undertake to update any of these statements to take account of events or circumstances arising after the date of the said document or to take account of the occurrence of unexpected events. Unless stated otherwise in this document, all the accounting data are presented on an unaudited pro forma consolidated basis (including PagesJaunes S.A., Kompass France, QDQ Media, Mappy S.A., Wanadoo Data, Eurodirectory S.A., Editus Luxembourg, Kompass Belgium, e-sama and Edicom). 5