P Sèvres, October 26, 2007 PagesJaunes Groupe: revenues up 5.7% on constant publication basis in first nine months of 2007-23.9% growth in revenues from Internet services, which represented 32.6% of Group revenues, and printed directories almost unchanged - Confirmation of full-year targets with revenue growth close to 6% and GOM growth close to 4% The consolidated revenues of PagesJaunes Groupe, excluding the impact of divested businesses (1), amounted to 840.9 million in the first nine months of 2007, a rise of 5.3% compared to 2006. On a constant publication basis (2), the consolidated revenue growth of PagesJaunes Groupe amounted to 5.7% over this period. Revenues in the third quarter of 2007 totalled 314.1 million, representing a rise of 4.6% on a constant publication basis compared to 2006. PagesJaunes Groupe is maintaining its target for consolidated revenue growth in full-year 2007. The fourth quarter is expected to show slight growth in the printed directories of PagesJaunes in France, enabling full-year revenues from this business to remain almost unchanged. The growth in revenues from Internet services is also expected to strengthen in the final part of the year. The rate of GOM (3) relative to revenues was stable in the first nine months of 2007 compared to 2006. The dramatic improvement in the 118 008 service and the measures taken with regard to the Group s purchases offset the expenditure associated with the relaunch of the printed directories, the launch of the new pagesjaunes.fr and the start-up of annoncesjaunes.fr. Since these investments are set to continue, GOM growth is expected to slow in the final quarter of 2007 compared to 2006. This will have no effect on our full-year target of a GOM growth close to 4%. On the publication of PagesJaunes Groupe s financial information for the third quarter of 2007, Michel Datchary, Chief Executive Officer, said: PagesJaunes Groupe recorded consolidated revenue growth of 5.7% in the first nine months of 2007. PagesJaunes Groupe generated 32.6% of its revenues on Internet, which has continued to boost its growth with a rise of 23.9% in the first nine months of the year. PagesJaunes Groupe confirms its leading position in Internet advertising in France. The upturn in the 118 008 service and the measures taken with regard to purchases have made it possible to absorb the investments made since the beginning of the year in the printed directories, pagesjaunes.fr and annoncesjaunes.fr. The Group is set to continue these investments in the fourth quarter. PagesJaunes Groupe therefore confirms its targets of revenue growth close to 6% and GOM growth close to 4% for full-year 2007. 1 Press Release
I. Revenues PagesJaunes in France segment The revenues of the PagesJaunes in France segment advanced 5.7% to 784.0 million in the first nine months of 2007. In the third quarter of 2007, the revenues of the PagesJaunes in France segment totalled 290.9 million, a rise of 4.6%. The effects of the new charging structure on the product mix are not expected to impact full-year 2007, but should be felt progressively in the 2008 financial year, particularly with an acceleration in the growth of Internet activities. Printed directories Revenues from printed directories amounted to 477.8 million in the first nine months of 2007, down 0.6% compared to 2006. Revenues from the PagesJaunes directory decreased by 0.1% to 384.5 million, while those of l Annuaire (white pages) decreased by 2.6% to 93.3 million. As expected, the trend improved in the third quarter of 2007, with revenues from printed directories decreasing by only 0.1% compared to 2006. In the third quarter, the decrease recorded in Paris region directories was offset by growth in provincial directories. The decrease in some directories is due essentially to lower revenue per advertiser, although the number of advertisers has continued to rise. In the case of the 2007 edition, over 80% of new PagesJaunes advertisers included the printed medium in their communication plan. Revenues from printed directories are expected to rise slightly in the fourth quarter of 2007, with the full-year 2007 figure almost unchanged compared to the previous year. The final quarter of the year includes a large proportion of directories for midsized towns and cities which are experiencing above-average growth. Internet Internet revenues (pagesjaunes.fr and Internet sites) continued to experience very strong growth of 23.0%, rising to 252.4 million. The successful launch of the new version of the pagesjaunes.fr site on 19 September 2007 (simplified input form, new search system, new visual identity and improved ergonomics) sustained the growth of the audience on the pagesjaunes.fr site, which recorded 10.9 million unique visitors in September 2007 (4), a rise of 17% compared to September 2006. This audience gives pagesjaunes.fr a reach rate of 42.1%, making it one of the most visited Internet sites in France (5) and the most visited directory site in Europe. The introduction of the new version of pagesjaunes.fr was also accompanied by the launch of new advertising products, particularly the national products sold on a cost- 2
per-thousand (CPT) basis with very short publication periods. This should reinforce the growth in revenues from Internet services in the fourth quarter of 2007. Taking into account the impact of the decline in the Minitel service, which will be accelerated by the fact that France Télécom decided in September to charge users for the service from the first second, online services as a whole advanced 16.0% to 273.2 million in the first nine months of 2007. Telephone directory enquiry services PagesJaunes directory enquiry service, 118 008, generated revenues of 18.4 million in the first nine months of 2007, representing growth of 88.4% compared to 2006. The period against which the revenues in the first nine months of 2007 are compared comprised just six months of post-liberalisation activity in 2006. These revenues include both traffic revenues and revenues from advertisements. These more than doubled compared to 2006, with around 80,000 advertisers at the end of September 2007. International & Subsidiaries segment The revenues of the International & Subsidiaries segment, excluding the businesses divested in March 2007 (Kompass France and Kompass Belgium), amounted to 61.9 million in the first nine months of 2007, a rise of 2.0%, or 7.6% on a constant publication basis. In the third quarter of 2007, the growth in the International & Subsidiaries segment amounted to 6.3% on a constant publication basis. The revenues from B to C directories (QDQ Media in Spain, Editus Luxembourg and Edicom in Morocco) grew 5.9% on a constant publication basis to 41.6 million in the first nine months of 2007. The revenues of QDQ Media reached 31.1 million, up 6.2%, driven by the 28.1% growth of qdq.com, but with revenues from printed directories almost unchanged. The revenues of Editus Luxembourg and Edicom amounted respectively to 8.9 million, up 4.8%, and 1.5 million, up 7.6%. Revenues from direct marketing and geographic services increased 6.0% to 19.3 million in the first nine months of 2007, driven essentially by the development of Mappy (geographic services). The small ads business generated revenues of 1.0 million in the first nine months of 2007, essentially in the third quarter of the year. PagesJaunes Petites Annonces had recruited 4,900 customers by 30 September 2007. The site recorded 1.69 million visits in September 2007 (6) and carried more than 400,000 small ads as at 30 September 2007. 3
II. General description of the financial situation and results Description of the results The rate of the consolidated GOM of PagesJaunes Groupe relative to revenues in the first nine months of 2007 was stable compared to the first nine months of 2006, due to the slight improvement in the GOM rate of the PagesJaunes in France segment, which offset the deterioration in the GOM rate of the International & Subsidiaries segment. This segment was impacted by the investments made in the online small ads business. As expected, these investments (printed directories, pagesjaunes.fr and online small ads) are set to intensify in the fourth quarter of the year, although without calling into question the growth targets for GOM previously announced by the Group (growth close to 4%). PagesJaunes in France Segment The GOM rate of PagesJaunes in France relative to revenues in the first nine months of 2007 rose due to growth in activity and the substantial reduction in losses in the 118 008 service (return to normal levels of advertising expenditure, increase in charges and growth of high-margin advertising revenues which should allow this business to be close to break even in 2007) and measures taken with regard to purchases. These investments were made essentially to boost the use of printed directories and support the launch of the new version of pagesjaunes.fr. The advertising effort involved TV advertising campaigns, both for the brand and for pagesjaunes.fr. The publishing effort involved all address distribution of PagesJaunes and l Annuaire printed directories in five cities in the third quarter, compared to four in the first half. These investments are expected to weigh more heavily still on the growth of GOM in the PagesJaunes in France segment in the fourth quarter of 2007, when exhaustive distribution is scheduled to take place in ten additional cities. Overall, the run sizes for printed directories are expected to increase by around 8% in full-year 2007. International & Subsidiaries segment The International & Subsidiaries segment recorded a marked deficit in the first nine months of the year, compared to a positive GOM in 2006, due to the losses at PagesJaunes Petites Annonces. This business bore the launch, communication and marketing costs for its new annoncesjaunes.fr site, which were partly offset by the gradual increase in revenues. This trend is expected to continue in the fourth quarter of 2007. QDQ Media should be close to operational breakeven in 2007 due to lower advertising recruitment. 4
Description of the financial situation The operating cash surplus and the proceeds of the divestment of the Kompass businesses enabled PagesJaunes Groupe to maintain an unchanged level of financial debt in the first nine months of 2007, despite the distribution of 303 million of dividend in respect of 2006. The Group had net financial debt (7) of 1.86 billion as at 30 September 2007, compared to 1.87 billion as at 31 December 2006. With debt of 1,950 million repayable on a bullet basis in November 2013 and a revolving credit line of 400 million maturing on the same date, PagesJaunes Groupe has real financial flexibility and no refinancing requirement. The Company also benefits from five-year interest rate hedging (up to 13 December 2011) on approximately 80% of its net debt. Consequently, the average cost of the debt (8) was only slightly impacted by the sharp rise in interest rates in the third quarter and amounted to 5.88% in the first nine months of 2007. III. Significant transactions and events On 11 October 2007, PagesJaunes Groupe acquired a majority shareholding in Horyzon Média and Horyzon Clics, both advertising companies specialising in the Internet. This acquisition enables PagesJaunes Groupe to strengthen its presence in the dynamic market for national online advertising of the display type. In addition to the advertising representation for the annoncesjaunes.fr site which it already holds, Horyzon Média will be entrusted with the sale of national advertising space on the new version of pagesjaunes.fr, as well as the sale of advertising space on mappy.com. Overall, the sites marketed by Horyzon Média are expected to represent a total reach rate of over 73%, providing advertisers with the widest coverage of French Internet users. Horyzon Média was formed in July 2004 and markets advertising space to national advertisers on around 60 consumer Internet sites. Horyzon Média and Horyzon Clics are expected to generate company revenues of around 10 million in 2007. 5
IV. Reminder of financial targets For 2007, on a like-for-like basis, PagesJaunes Groupe confirms the following financial targets: - Growth of 5% to 7% in consolidated revenues. This growth is expected to be close to 6%; - Growth of 2% to 4% in consolidated GOM, taking into account the investment in Internet small ads, the relaunch of the printed directories and the launch of the new version of pagesjaunes.fr. This growth is expected to be close to 4%. PagesJaunes Groupe aims to distribute the entire net income of the Group in respect of the 2007 financial year. This 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 any other factor which the Board of Directors and the shareholders of PagesJaunes Groupe deem relevant. About PagesJaunes Groupe PagesJaunes Groupe is the leading European publisher of directories on the Internet (pagesjaunes.fr, qdq.com) and the leading publisher of printed directories in France (the PagesJaunes directory and l Annuaire). PagesJaunes Groupe also publishes directories for the general public in Spain, Morocco and Luxembourg, operates telephone directory enquiry services in France (118 008) and provides complementary services such as the geographic services of Mappy and the direct marketing services of PagesJaunes Marketing Services, as well as online small ads in the real-estate and vehicle markets with PagesJaunes Petites Annonces (annoncesjaunes.fr). PagesJaunes Groupe had almost 750,000 advertisers in France, Spain, Luxembourg and Morocco in 2006. PagesJaunes Groupe is the second largest French company in terms of advertising revenue. PagesJaunes Groupe is listed on Euronext Paris (PAJ). Information on PagesJaunes Groupe is available at http://www.pagesjaunesgroupe.com. Contacts: Press Thomas Barbelet / Orith Tabeur +33 (0)1 46 23 34 64 tbarbelet@pagesjaunes.fr otabeur@pagesjaunes.fr Investors Vincent Gouley +33 (0)1 46 23 40 92 vgouley@pagesjaunes.fr 6
Appendix: Consolidated revenues of PagesJaunes Groupe (9) (in millions of euros) 3rd quarter first 9 months 2006 2007 Change Change on constant publication basis 2006 2007 Change Change on constant publication basis Printed directories 184,5 184,3-0,1% -0,1% 480,9 477,8-0,6% -0,6% of which PagesJaunes 151,5 152,2 0,4% 0,4% 385,1 384,5-0,1% -0,1% of which Annuaire 33,0 32,1-2,7% -2,7% 95,8 93,3-2,6% -2,6% Online services 82,2 93,0 13,2% 13,2% 235,4 273,2 16,0% 16,0% of which Internet 72,5 87,0 20,1% 20,1% 205,2 252,4 23,0% 23,0% of which Minitel 9,7 6,0-38,2% -38,2% 30,2 20,8-31,2% -31,2% 118008 directory enquiry 4,6 6,8 48,0% 48,0% 9,8 18,4 88,4% 88,4% service Other revenues 6,9 6,8-2,0% -2,0% 15,8 14,6-7,8% -7,8% Total PagesJaunes in France 278,2 290,9 4,6% 4,6% 741,9 784,0 5,7% 5,7% B to C directories 19,1 18,1-5,1% 2,8% 42,4 41,6-2,0% 5,9% of which QDQ Media 11,4 10,4-8,6% 4,7% 32,5 31,1-4,1% 6,2% Kompass businesses (1) - - - - - - - - Small ads 0,0 0,7 ns ns 0,0 1,0 na na Direct marketing and 6,1 6,3 4,5% 4,5% 18,2 19,3 6,0% 6,0% geographic services Total International & 25,1 25,2 0,2% 6,3% 60,7 61,9 2,0% 7,6% Subsidiaries Inter-segment (1,5) (2,0) na na (4,1) (5,0) na na Group total 301,8 314,1 4,1% 4,6% 798,5 840,9 5,3% 5,7% 552 028 425 RCS Nanterre 7
Notes (1) PagesJaunes Groupe sold the companies Kompass France and Kompass Belgium on March 14, 2007. In accordance with international accounting standards (IFRS 5), the revenues and expenses of the Kompass businesses are stated separately from the continuing businesses on a divested businesses line at the foot of the consolidated income statement until the actual departure from the consolidated group. In accordance with IFRS, this presentation format is used both for the financial data for the current year and for the data for the previous year on a comparative basis. In addition, the data are stated before the elimination of intercompany items between Kompass France and Kompass Belgium on the one hand and all the other companies of the PagesJaunes Group on the other hand. (2) Constant publication basis: the publication schedule of the printed directories of QDQ Media as at 30 September 2007 is not identical to the schedule as at 30 September 2006. To allow a comparison of the revenues from the printed directories of QDQ Media in the two periods, the 2007 publication schedule for each of these entities has been applied to the 2006 financial year. (3) Gross Operating Margin (GOM): revenues less external purchases, operating expenses (net of operating income) and salaries and social charges. The salaries and social charges included in the GOM do not include employee profit-sharing or the cost of share-based payment. The GOM is the key metric of the Group s operating performance. (4) Source: Nielsen//Netratings Home & Work September 2007. (5) Reach rate: number of Internet users visiting the site at least once in the month in question as a proportion of the actual number of active Internet users during this period - Source: Nielsen//Netratings Home & Work domain ranking September 2007. (6) Source: Xiti September 2007 (7) Net financial debt corresponds to the total gross financial debt plus or minus derivative asset and liability instruments for cash flow hedging and minus cash and cash equivalents including mutual fund units. (8) Average cost of debt: interest on the financial debt recognised in the first nine months of 2007, annualised and stated as a proportion of the average of bank loans and overdrafts between 31 December 2006 and 30 September 2007. (9) The technical expenses billed in respect of printed directories were previously allocated in full to the PagesJaunes directory. They are now allocated to the PagesJaunes and l Annuaire directories as appropriate. The breakdown in revenues between PagesJaunes and l Annuaire has accordingly been adjusted in respect of the first nine months of 2006. 8
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: 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 Facteurs de risques of the Document de Référence of PagesJaunes Groupe filed with the French financial markets authority (AMF) under the number R. 07-023 on March 27, 2007. 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. All the accounting data are presented in unaudited consolidated form. 9