Stockholm, 24 April 2007 – Modern Times Group MTG AB (publ.) (“MTG” or “the Group”) (The Nordic Stock Exchange: MTGA, MTGB) today announced its financial results for the three months and first quarter ended 31 March 2007. The Group’s consolidated accounts have been prepared according to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as adopted by the European Union.


FIRST QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS
• Group net sales up 11% to SEK 2,629 (2,362) million
• Group operating income up 4% to SEK 468 (453) million
• Viasat Broadcasting net sales up 11% to SEK 2,003 (1,804) million and operating income up 5% to SEK 481 (457) million
• Net income up 4% to SEK 316 (305) million
• Basic earnings per share of SEK 4.55 (4.38)
• Acquisition of 50% of Balkan Media Group Limited for EUR 11.6 million


Hans-Holger Albrecht, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented: “Another quarter of double digit sales growth, increasing investments, and an operating margin of 18%, demonstrate the Group’s ability to balance healthy growth with sustained profitability. This was the best first quarter result in the Group’s history. 2007 is a year of investment and these investments are being made in order to enable us to continue to generate growth across the business in the medium and longer terms.”

“In line with our strategy, we have continued to build our position as Scandinavia’s leading media power house by increasing the combined commercial share of viewing of our channels. We were however impacted by softer advertising markets across the region in a seasonally weaker period of the year, as well as adverse currency translation effects. There are, however, encouraging signs that the measures that we are taking at TV3 Sweden are gradually having the desired effect.”

“The impact of the now imminent analogue terrestrial network switch-off in Sweden is diminishing, with the result that, whilst we still see increasing penetration levels for our free-to-air channels, subscriber acquisition levels have substantially slowed. We are however investing in future growth by exploiting new technologies, embracing new distribution platforms and adding new channels, in order to drive ARPU and further strengthen our market leading premium channel package offerings. At the same time, we are maintaining healthy margins, and the volume sales impact of the digitalization of the terrestrial networks in Norway and Denmark is yet to come.”

“The Eastern European operations delivered another quarter of combined strong growth with Russia leading the way. The exponential growth we witnessed in the Czech Republic in 2006 has slowed, as expected, and we are now focused on delivering ratings growth to support further market share gains. Our return on capital employed of 30% demonstrates the success of the investments that we have made, and we retain the balance sheet flexibility to invest further in the Group’s expansion moving forward.”