Corporate | 23 August 2005 10:25

ARQUES subsidiary ddp acquires photo agency Colourpress.com

Corporate-news transmitted by DGAP. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. —————————————————————————— ARQUES subsidiary ddp acquires photo agency Colourpress.com Photo agency opens up lucrative Yellow Press segment Starnberg, August 23, 2005 – Robbie William with a blond beauty on the beach or the latest escapades of hotel heiress Paris Hilton – Deutscher Depeschendienst (ddp) in future also supplies photographs from the multicoloured glamour world of the high society. The second largest news agency in Germany has acquired a 75% majority in the worldwide operating photo agency Colourpress.com with immediate effect. Colourpress.com is one of the leading photo agencies on the strongly growing market for photos in the Yellow Press area. For the current financial year the Danish agency with its German office in Hamburg plans a turnover of more than EUR1 million and thereby substantially increases the photo turnover of the ddp group. After the acquisition of the specialised agency SportART, Colourpress.com is the second successful acquisition for ddp within the news business field. In the current year the ddp turnovers could be clearly increased in all segments. This is attributed not only to substantial quality improvements in the core range of the news marketing, but also to the extension of the product offer around attractive business segments. Thus the new division, “Investigative Research”, succeeded in uncovering several spectacular scandals which consequently found broad acclaim in the media, such as the affair concerning the multiple salaries of the president of the federation of taxpayers, Karl Heinz Däke. Due to the co-operation with the Bielefeld-based opinion research institute, TNS Emnid, customers are offered a current survey special twice weekly since the beginning of March. In addition the photo service could grow substantially, especially after the public recognition it received with the “Sport Photo of the Year”. After the SportART takeover, ddp started a sports service for the first time. Regional reporting was also clearly strengthened by means of the development of the regional offices in Bavaria and Schleswig-Holstein. After the acquisition of Colourpress.com, ddp can now exhibit a further unique selling proposition. None of the other news agencies in Germany possesses such comprehensive own resources regarding Yellow Press photos. “Whoever wants to offer wide-ranging and comprehensive reporting in Germany, can no longer get by without ddp”, according to managing director, Dr. Matthias Schulze. “This is also reflected in the business figures.” Contact: ARQUES Industries AG Investor Relations, CEFA/CIIA Anke Lüdemann Phone: +49 (0) 8151/651 0 Mail: luedemann@arques.de End of announcement (c)DGAP 23.08.2005 —————————————————————————— WKN: 515600 ; ISIN: DE0005156004; Index: Listed: Geregelter Markt (Prime Standard) in Frankfurt; Freiverkehr in Berlin- Bremen, München und Stuttgart 231025 Aug 05