North Media

Legal Proceedings Report • Feb 15, 2013

15 February 2013
Company announcement no 03-13

The Danish Supreme Court has today made its decision in a case concerning abuse
of dominant position between Post Danmark A/S (appellant) and the Danish
Competition Council (defendant). North Media A/S serves as intervener in the
case in support of the Competition Council.

The case concerns the question whether Post Danmark A/S abused its dominant
position in applying selective prices to Forbruger-Kontakt a-s’ (FK
Distribution) customers. The case is based on events which took place in 2003.

The conclusion of the decision is:

"On 29 September 2004, the Danish Competition Council held that Post Danmark
A/S had been abusing its dominant position in the market for unaddressed
printed matter in 2003 and 2004 by applying different prices to its own
customers and to Forbruger-Kontakt's former customers, namely Coop, Spar and
SuperBest.

The decision was confirmed by the Danish Competition Appeals Tribunal and the
Danish Eastern High Court.

When preparing for the hearing of the case by the Supreme Court, two
preliminary questions were referred to the Court of Justice of the European
Union regarding interpretation of Article 82 EC (now article 102 TFEU) on abuse
of a dominant position.

Given the ruling of those questions by the Court of Justice, the Danish
Competition Council decided to withdraw its claim that the prices that Spar and
SuperBest were charged by Post Danmark A/S were, in themselves, an indication
of abuse of a dominant position. Therefore, this element of the Competition
Council’s decision had been repealed.

As regards pricing by Post Danmark A/S relative to Coop, the Supreme Court held
that the Competition Council’s decision was not based on an examination or
consideration of the issue regarding an exclusionary abuse corresponding to the
requirements of the ruling by the Court of Justice. Therefore, the decision was
to be repealed with regard to Coop as well, unless the Competition Council,
under the criteria laid down in the ruling by the Court of Justice of the
European Union, had satisfied the Court that the decision was correct after
all. The critieria meant that Post Danmark A/S’ pricing relative to Coop should
have resulted in Forbruger-Kontakt probably being eliminated from the market to
the detriment of competition if the Competition Council had not taken action
against Post Danmark A/S. Following an overall assessment, the Danish Supreme
Court found that the Competition Council had failed to satisfy the Court that
this was actually the case.

The Competition Council’s decision was then repealed, and the Supreme Court
amended the Eastern High Court’s judgment."

On 20 May 2009, Søndagsavisen a-s (now North Media A/S) was awarded damages of
DKK 75 million by the Danish Eastern High Court in a related action for
damages, as well as DKK 4 million to cover legal costs. The Eastern High Court
held that, based on established abuse of a dominant position, a basis of
liability could also be established on the part of Post Danmark A/S. North
Media A/S has not recognised the damages awarded as income, and the legal costs
have been expensed on a continuing basis. Post Danmark A/S subsequently brought
an appeal before the Danish Supreme Court.

Today, the Supreme Court ruled that the Competition Council’s decision of 2004,
the Danish Competition Appeals Tribunal's ruling of 2005, and the Danish
Eastern High Court’s judgment of December 2007 cannot be upheld. North Media
congratulates Post Danmark with the judgment and intends to assess the bearing
of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the pending action for damages.

For further details, please contact Kåre Wigh, Chief Financial Officer of North
Media, at +45 39 57 70 00.

Yours faithfully
North Media A/S

Lars Nymann Andersen
Chief Executive Officer

Visit us at http://www.northmedia.dk

This document is an unofficial translation of the Danish original. In the event
of any inconsistencies, the Danish version shall apply.