QRT.L Regulatory News (QRT)

5 May 2005 15:00

Quarto Group Inc05 May 2005 THE QUARTO GROUP, Inc CHAIRMAN'S ANNUAL MEETING STATEMENT At the Annual Meeting in London this afternoon of Quarto, the London-based andlisted international book publisher, the Chairman, Laurence F. Orbach, willstate: "It is still early in the year, but we believe that we are on target to meet ourexpectations for the year. For the first quarter, ended March 31, 2005,unaudited sales were £17.0 million (2004: £14.6 million) and for the trailingtwelve months, were £82.3 million (2004: £74.9 million). These figures are inline with our internal budgets. "Following an eventful and successful 2004, we are now consolidating our newbusinesses and, with the acquisition this year of Premier Books, are continuingto deliver on our growth strategy. In order to improve the performance of our UKpublishing services business, we have decided to amalgamate our operations atone manufacturing site, starting in June. We expect that this will return thebusiness to historic levels of performance. There will be a one timerestructuring charge of approximately £0.6 million. "I am happy to report that Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c. has joined, on a paripassu basis, our revolving syndicated loan facility, so increasing our financialbase. "I must take this opportunity to remind holders of Quarto's ConvertibleCumulative Redeemable Shares of Preferred Stock that June 1st is the final dateto convert into Quarto's Common Stock and, at this time, Quarto's share pricemakes conversion, rather than redemption, a more attractive option. If all suchholders take up their conversion rights, this will result in the issue ofapproximately 3.1m new equity shares, increasing the equity base byapproximately 16.6%." Notes for Editors: Quarto is an international book publisher with two principal strands ofactivity: it publishes, under imprints owned by the Group, books and art printsin the US, the UK, and Australia; and it creates books that are licensed toother publishers for publication under their own imprints in many languagesaround the world. 2004 was Quarto's sixth successive year of increase in underlying EPS. Quartomade three acquisitions in the second half of 2004 - in the USA, the UK, andAustralia - and another in April 2005 - in New Zealand. Enquiries: The Quarto Group, Inc. 020-7700 9000Laurence Orbach (Chairman & CEO)Mick Mousley (Finance Director) Bankside Consultants LimitedCharles Ponsonby 020-7444 4166 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange