Metro's Pelle Thornberg (centre) with Consul General of Sweden Peter Ekelund (right) and Stefan Ronnqvist of the Tomorrow Group Ltd

"In Hong Kong we needed only 16 months to become profitable," said Pelle Tornberg, the president and CEO of Sweden's Metro International S.A., on a stop-over in the SAR.

The local edition of free newspaper Metro - Metropolis Daily - launched in April 2002, had been able to break even after 14 months of operation, despite the outbreak of atypical pneuomia and the challenging economic conditions at the time. It is now the paper with the third largest circulation here.

Compared with other cities in the world where the paper group has often found it a hard job getting established, Hong Kong has been "a walk in the park".

Competitive advantages

Mr Tornberg said: "The legal system works, competition is allowed" and the free flow of information "makes it a place you can believe and trust in."

An important factor in the group's success in Hong Kong was the city's openness to new ways of doing things, the Metro president added.
 
"We found the advertising industry here very receptive and willing to pick up new ideas, so we were able to have high-quality brands from day one. As a result we've been able to achieve profitability more quickly here. That has encouraged us to expand in this region."

"The biggest challenge anywhere is finding the right people," he went on. "A key factor in our success in Hong Kong has been our ability to find a high-quality management team locally, thanks to the talent pool here."

"When we began looking for a place to start up in the region, we wanted to find the best place to serve as a hub, a bridgehead for future expansion."

Mr Tornberg said that whereas in Singapore foreign ownership of the media was restricted to 3 per cent there was no such limit in Hong Kong. In addition, Hong Kong was closer to the Chinese mainland which was now "at the centre of global economic development". 

The Metro president, on a stop over to the mainland, said that his company was looking to break into the market there, using Hong Kong as a springboard.

Metro appears from Monday to Friday. It is in Chinese but with two pages of international news in English.

Related link:
Metro International S.A www.metro.lu