SCMP Group Limited 12 months results to 30 June September 2001

$HKm Total Revenue 1,968.71,912.9 Operating Costs (before dep) 1,311.81,217.1 EBITDA Depreciation/Amortisation Investments Writedown Operating Profit EBITDA Margin 33.4% 36.4% Net Profit Based on 12 months to 30 June Financial Highlights SCMP Group

Economic slowdown in 2001 reflected in Jan - June 2001 performance – Jan - June 2001 revenue 10.3% y-on-y Gain on disposal of listed shares of HK$51.2m (2000: HK$45.6m) Writedown of HK$135.9m in P&L for investment property and internet investments. Excluding this write-off, Net Profit would be HK$546.6m (2000: HK$585.2m), 6.6% Staff costs 10.2% Financial Highlights (cont’d) SCMP Group

Cost of sales 12.2% –Newsprint cost 22.5% (US$637 vs US$520 last year) –Newsprint usage 10% –Retail sales Rental costs 9% –New office space taken up to converge editorial with online –Relocate other operations to Quarry Bay –Rental review of Daily Stop outlets in MTR stations 10% spending in A&P, legal & professional, etc Financial Highlights (cont’d) SCMP Group

$HKm Total Revenue 1,286.21,262.7 EBITDA Operating Profit EBITDA Margin 42.8% 46.2% Display Advertising flat Classified Advertising 0.4% Circulation Revenue 3.8% Based on 12 months to 30 June Newspaper & Other Publications SCMP Group

$HKm Entertainment, Revenue RecreationEBITDA & EducationOperating Profit RetailRevenue EBITDA Operating Profit (2.0) 6.4 Video & Film PostRevenue ProductionEBITDA Operating Profit Rental IncomeRevenue EBITDA Operating Profit Other Businesses SCMP Group

Better performance from Clubs, revenue 19.7% and EBITDA 85.6% Capital Artist due to reduction in recordings released Education from closure of 2 kindergartens and start-up costs of 3 new ones Retail’s losses from Health Plus operations and closure of Bakers Oven Health Plus outlets at 30, from 33 last year Focus on Daily Stop operations, 68 outlets from 62 last year Rental profits due to provisions on 2 investment properties Other Businesses (cont’d) SCMP Group

HKcents 1 st Interim Special nd Interim Total Net Profit $410.7m$562.6m Payout ratio (excl special) 97.1% 92.3% Payout ratio (incl special) 139.3% Based on 12 months to 30 June Dividend Distribution SCMP Group

Change in accounting policies to comply with new SSAPs: –SSAP 29: Intangible Assets –SSAP 30: Business Combination –SSAP 31: Impairment of assets The changes: –Publishing titles (HK$1,820m) amortised over 10 years from date of acquisition (1987) –Goodwill on acquisition of subsidiaries and associates (HK$610m), either written off or amortised over 4 to 10 years from date of acquisition Net effect is such amortisation and write-offs are charged to previous years’ profits. No further adjustments are necessary in future Goodwill Amortisation SCMP Group

Adjustments to retained profit brought forward: No. of years Amortised HK$000 Publishing titles 101,820,000 Goodwill on acquisition* , Total2,430,033 ======== * Previously written off against Contributed Surplus account. Goodwill Amortisation (cont’d) SCMP Group

HK$000 Reserves as at 1 July ,911,158 Recapitalisation of goodwill previously written off against Contributed Surplus 610,033 Less:Amortisation of goodwill - TVE, Bangkok Post, etc (610,033) - Publishing titles(1,820,000) Reserves restated at 1 July ,091,158 ========= Restatement of Reserves Account SCMP Group

July - DecJan - June WeekdaysSunday July 98 – June 99 July 99 – June 00 July 00 – June 01 *Unaudited * * July 98 – June 99 July 99 – June 00 July 00 – June 01 Newspaper Circulation 1.9% 1.1% 6.8% 0.1% SCMP Group

Source: AC Nielsen ‘000 SCMP dominates English readership in Hong Kong Newspaper Readership SCMP Group

Spent Approved Estimate HK$40m HK$110m HK$120m July - Dec 2000 HK$59m Capital Expenditure Fiscal 2001 Fiscal 2002 HK$m 2 Colour Presses47 Office Relocation/ Network Upgrade34 Systems & Digitisation18 Daily Stops, Kindergartens 5 Maintenance ===== HK$m 2 Colour Presses 26 Systems & Digitisation 68 Maintenance ===== SCMP Group

Market has further weakened since June from the traditionally low season Display July revenue was down from June, Advertisers are holding back waiting for 4 th Quarter Focus on special reports to create ad-hoc advertising opportunities China topics with added distribution arrangements in China –Shanghai Property report (in March) received good response Classified July revenue flat, turnaround not expected soon Outlook SCMP Group

Jiu Jik’s performance satisfactory –Circulation now 98,500 (80,000 at launch), and over 700 distribution outlets –Response from advertisers has been good –More contracts signed with advertisers in July Classifiedpost.com new platform launched in June –Website traffic up over 50% in last 2 months to 1.5m pageviews per week –Instrumental in acquiring new advertisers (30% of July’s contracts are new SCMP clients) –New marketing campaign in September Outlook (cont’d) SCMP Group

Continue to invest in brand building of Jiu Jik and Classifiedpost.com –Maintain our market share in highly competitive market –Acquire new clients –Access new market of younger bilingual audience WTO entry and the relative strength of the China economy could provide an impetus along with some positive signs in the U.S. economy Outlook (cont’d) SCMP Group

Costs –Overall no salary review in July –Implementing cost control measures (eg outsourcing of distribution) –Improve efficiencies, no replacement in natural attrition and continue downsizing where possible –Newsprint prices have softened to below US$640, some spot purchases at US$510 –Next 6 months average newsprint production cost estimated at US$665 –Burn rate of scmp.com to around HK$1m/month next quarter Outlook (cont’d) SCMP Group