The FT Weekend announced today a 30% increase in its readership over the last six months*. The results, from the National Readership Survey (NRS), help confirm the growing success of the paper since its refresh in April.

The figures represent an increase of 80,000 readers on the six months prior to the refresh. The total readership of FT Weekend is currently 349,000, a 36% year-on-year increase**. The substantial increases reflect the success of the refresh in April that was designed to provide readers with a more inviting, striking and stimulating weekend newspaper and which has both helped to attract new readers and bring back former customers.

Andy Davis, Editor of FT Weekend commented, “The figures are a real vindication of the hard work and investment that we have put into the FT Weekend, which is still the only newspaper on newsstands all weekend. We have had some very positive feedback from the refresh and we’re obviously pleased to see this reflected in these figures.”

The paper has also succeeded in attracting a large number of younger readers bringing the average age of a FT Weekend reader down by four years to 44. FT Weekend’s gain in readership compares with a fall of 0.9% for the Saturday quality market overall.

Sources: * October 2007 – March 2008 v April 2008 – September 2008

** April 2007 – September 2007 v April 2008 – September 2008

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For further information, please contact:

Tom Glover, Financial Times, +44 20 7775 6840 or tom.glover@ft.com

About the Financial Times:

The Financial Times, one of the world’s leading business news organisations, is recognised internationally for its authority, integrity and accuracy. Providing extensive news, comment and analysis, the newspaper is printed at 24 print sites across the globe, has a daily circulation of 448,523 (ABC figures, November 2008) and a readership of 1.3 million people worldwide. FT.com is the definitive home for business intelligence on the web, providing an essential source of news, comment, data and analysis for the global business community. FT.com attracts 7.1 million unique users, generating 72 million page views (ABCe figures, March 2008).