In 2003 Metro reported a net profit of £3.7m but this included the £5.7m profit on the sale of shares to a subsidiary.
Metro reported a 48.6% year-on-year increase in net sales to £160.1m and a £6.9m operating profit for its newspaper editions. This compared with net sales of £107.8m and an operating loss of £2.1m in 2003.
Metro said nine of its 16 country operations had an annual operating profit. The 2004 operating profit for its newspaper editions would have been £13.7m excluding the new Lisbon and New York editions.
There are 45 Metro International editions in 17 countries across Europe, North and South America and Asia with a combined daily readership of 15.2 million, but the group does not own the London Metro published by Associated Newspapers.
In Europe 5.2 million 18-40 year-olds read Metro every day out of a total European daily readership of 10.9 million, according to TNS Gallup.
New launches included editions for New York, Rotterdam, four new cities in France and a national edition in Sweden.
By Caitlin Fitzsimmons
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