NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLYOR INDIRECTLY IN OR INTO AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN, THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, THE UNITED STATES OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO  SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OF SUCH JURISDICTION

This announcement is an advertisement and not a prospectus. Neither this announcement nor anything contained herein shall form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any offer or commitment whatsoever in any jurisdiction. Investors should not purchase any transferable securities referred to in this announcement except on the basis of information contained in the prospectus (the "Prospectus") in its final form that is published by National World plc in connection with the admission of the Company's ordinary shares (the "Ordinary Shares") to listing on the standard segment of the Official List of the Financial Conduct Authority (the "FCA") and to trading on the main market for listed securities (the "Main Market") of London Stock Exchange plc (the "London Stock Exchange"). This announcement is not an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to acquire, securities in the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan or in any other jurisdiction.

National World plc

("National World," or the "Company")

Publication of Prospectus

National World, which is focussed on becoming a technology-driven news publishing business and aims to transform the sector through acquisition and partnership, is pleased to announce today the publication of its Prospectus in relation to the admission of 54,000,000 Ordinary Shares of 0.1 pence each to listing on the standard segment of the Official List of the FCA and to trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange (together, the "Admission").

A new operating model

National World's strategy will involve consolidation and transformation of publishing by combining digital technology and innovation with traditional print assets to grow revenues by aggregation of audiences and reduce costs via shared services. The strategy is also designed to accommodate services provision to industry partners as an alternative to a transfer of ownership and may involve contractual or corporate joint ventures.

The Company's operating model will focus on:

§ deploying new technology to enable  online publishing of reliable news content;

§ opportunities to aggregate digital audiences to match the scale of social media, using enhanced monetisation tools to accelerate revenue growth;

§ harnessing technology to enable transformation of the news publishing operating model; and

§ strategies designed to effect a radical overhaul of costs through increased industry collaboration, including establishing shared facilities to service the Company's own operations and those of other publishers. This includes print and distribution, purchasing, IT, finance and administration, property and regulatory compliance

David Montgomery, Executive Chairman, said:

"Our objective is to create a modern platform for news publishing by implementing a new operating model, powered by the latest technology. National World will jettison legacy systems and archaic industrial practices to create efficient dissemination of news, monetising it by matching content to audience. With the relevant technology embedded in National World it is intended to deploy these capabilities across news publishing assets, whether acquired by the Company or via partnerships."

The path to sustainable growth 

National World's strategic approach is intended to address several weaknesses in the current publishing models, including:

§ sub-scale individual publisher-owned platforms lacking user data and revenue growth;

§ the revenue imbalance between news publishers and Facebook/Google, which reap many times more revenue per user; and

§ the preponderance of programmatic and low cost online advertisements.

The Company's management team is highly operationally and strategically experienced. It is led by David Montgomery and Vijay Vaghela. David has run major publishing companies in both the UK and Europe. Recently he successfully developed and deployed the National World strategy in the local and regional news market at Local World where Vijay was a non-Executive Director.

Supporting the management team on the Board are Mark Hollinshead, Steve Barber and John Rowe as non-Executive Directors who also have considerable and relevant experience in publishing and digital technology focused on monetisation of scale audiences.

The Company's management has been working together to create a strong platform and is focussed on a number of targets for acquisition and/or commercial partnerships.

Future acquisitions are likely to be financed by the issue of further equity and, where appropriate, utilising conservative levels of debt.

Admission

It is expected that Admission will become effective and that dealings will commence at 8.00 am on 19 September 2019.

The Prospectus will be available from the Company's registered office at 201 Temple Chambers, 3-7 Temple Avenue, London EC4Y 0DT, United Kingdom and online at www.nationalworld.com (subject to applicable securities laws).

An electronic copy of the Prospectus will also be submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and should be available shortly for inspection at http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/NSM.

National World is a company incorporated in England and Wales with company number 12021298. The Ordinary Shares are registered with ISIN GB00BJN5J635, SEDOL code BJN5J63 and TIDM NWOR.

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