Bangkok--19 Mar--TRIS Rating TRIS Rating Co., Ltd. announces today that the Bt1,000 million senior debentures (NMG092A) of Nation Multimedia Group PLC (NATION) was mature following the resolution of NATION’s debenture holders meeting held on 12 February 2008 to early redeem the company’s debentures from 26 February 2009 to 18 March 2008. At the same time, TRIS Rating said that the company rating of NATION remains unchanged at “BBB” with “stable” outlook, which reflects the sustained strong market positions of the company’s newspapers, “Krungthep Turakit” and “The Nation” and its ability to be a content provider for various media, and the competence of its management team. However, these strengths are partially offset by the company’s high financial leverage and the challenging operating environment of the newspaper business, including a slowdown in advertising for the newspaper segment and sustained high newsprint prices. NATION’s “stable” outlook reflects TRIS Rating’s expectation that the company will maintain its strong position in the daily newspaper publisher business and that advertising spending should recover in the medium term. TRIS Rating expects that management will continue to pursue cost saving programs and the company’s adjusted debt will continue to decline. NATION’s success in selling its non-core assets and using the proceeds to reduce debt will help improve its financial profile from its current weak level.