QRT.L Regulatory News (QRT)

The Quarto Group ANNOUNCES JOINT VENTURE AGREEMENT

WITH SHARJAH BASED KALIMAT GROUP 

London, 14 April 2016 - The Quarto Group (LSE: QRT.L), the world's leading global illustrated book publisher and distribution group, today announces that it has entered into a joint venture agreement with Sharjah based Kalimat Group for Arab language books.

Imprints from around Quarto's publishing businesses will supply titles to the joint venture that will publish and distribute them in Arabic throughout the Middle East and North Africa from early 2017.

The new joint venture will publish under the Kalimat Quarto imprint starting in cookery, a new category of publishing for Kalimat Group. Other categories, including children's books, are envisaged as the co-operation grows.

Quarto and Kalimat see great scope for developing the market for illustrated non-fiction in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as well as the larger Arabic-speaking world. The category is currently dominated by English language imports - excluding a significant potential readership, as English proficiency in the Arabic speaking world is still low.

Marcus Leaver, Chief Executive Officer of Quarto, commented:

"Our stated intention to develop our business internationally sees a further iteration in the Arabic-speaking world. A partnership with such a pioneering publisher as Kalimat Group and the launch of Kalimat Quarto is exciting and raises the bar yet again for further partnerships in other territories."

Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Founder and CEO of Kalimat Group, said:

"This partnership represents an exciting opportunity for Kalimat Group to expand its offerings in a new segment of publishing. Kalimat Group has led the illustrated book field in other categories with its offerings, garnering a number of prestigious international awards. We are delighted to be able to bring the group's talents in narrative illustration to a new line in book publishing and intend to build upon our incipient relationship with Quarto to take our organisation to new heights."

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About The Quarto Group

The Quarto Group (LSE: QRT) is the leading global illustrated non-fiction book publisher and distribution group and is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Quarto has about 400 talented people in five distinct but complementary businesses - Quarto International Co-editions Group; Quarto Publishing Group USA; Quarto Publishing Group UK; Books & Gifts Direct, Australia & NZ and Quarto Hong Kong.

The Group is well positioned in resilient segments of book publishing with rich reserves of Intellectual Property. Quarto is uniquely positioned for growth as the industry adapts to new means of marketing, sales and routes to market. The Group's headquarters are in London where the Company was founded in 1976.

About Kalimat Group

The Sharjah based Kalimat Group, holds under its umbrella a number of leading imprints in Arabic literature publishing with its driving force being progress through innovation.

Kalimat Group is comprised of Kalimat, the first publishing house in the UAE dedicated solely to publishing and distributing high quality Arabic children's books targeting children up to 16 years old, and Horouf, which was established in 2013, and is dedicated to publishing printed books and smart applications that offer a modern integrated education system in the Arabic language that is first of its kind in the Arab World. Horouf's solutions aim to pioneer a fresh, fun, and future oriented approach to Arabic Education that helps build and develop the capacity of students. The latest additions of Kalimat are "Rewayat", specialized in chapter books targeting Adults and young adults, and "Maktaba", the outstanding literary café that offers a unique environment that enrich the passion of reading.

With a portfolio of internationally acclaimed and award winning authors and illustrators, Kalimat focuses on producing books that the children of the UAE and the region can relate to, with vibrant illustrations and stories that talk about the value of family, friendship, simplicity, and happiness. The Best Children's Publisher of the Year Award judges praised the innovative efforts made by Kalimat to produce titles and books in Arabic that are characterised by high literary and artistic standards, and was Recently named the Best Children's Publisher of the Year in Asia at Bologna Book Fair 2016.