Mondo Visione Worldwide Financial Markets Intelligence

FTSE Mondo Visione Exchanges Index:

Standard & Poor’s Updates Changes To The S&P Global 100 Index

Date 17/03/2005

On December 7, 2004 S&P announced technical changes to Global 100 index data files to account for the addition of News Corporation to the S&P 500 at half-float on Friday, December 17.

S&P announced, at that time, that all S&P U.S. index additions would be made using the added companies' half float-adjusted market capitalization, rather than full market capitalization. This strategy was implemented in light of S&P’s goal of avoiding unnecessary turnover, and would continue until March 18, 2005, at which point the U.S. indices will transition in their entirety to a half float-weighted structure.

This transaction temporarily affected the shares outstanding and the investable weight factor for News Corp. -- a constituent of the Global 100 as well as the S&P 500 index – reported in the Global 100 index files. The S&P Global 100 has always operated under a full-float methodology. Effective Friday, March 18 2005, after the close of business the shares outstanding for the company will be adjusted to 2,938,341,000 with an investable weight factor of 0.7500.

Please note, this is a technical adjustment to Global 100 data files only. It does not affect the float adjusted shares or the weight of News Corp in the index.

Additions to and deletions from an S&P equity index do not in any way reflect an opinion on the investment merits of the companies concerned.

About Standard & Poor's

Standard & Poor's, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP) is the world's foremost provider of independent credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, investment research, data and valuations. With 5,000 employees located in 20 countries, Standard & Poor's is an essential part of the world's financial infrastructure and has played a leading role for more than 140 years in providing investors with the independent benchmarks they need to feel more confident about their investment and financial decisions. For more information, visit http://www.standardandpoors.com.

About The McGraw-Hill Companies

Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies is a leading global information services provider meeting worldwide needs in the financial services, education and business information markets through leading brands such as Standard & Poor's, BusinessWeek and McGraw-Hill Education. The Corporation has more than 280 offices in 40 countries. Sales in 2003 were $4.8 billion. Additional information is available at http://www.mcgraw-hill.com.