Wolters Kluwer First Quarter 2003 Trading Statement


	First quarter 2003 results impacted by weak trading conditions, compounded by negative currency effects and divestments; nevertheless total continuing revenues were flat (expressed in constant currencies)
	Share of electronic revenues at 35% thanks to sizeable growth of Internet sales (+20% in constant currencies)
	Overall EBITA margin down, mainly due to pressure on top line, divestments and one-off charges in Legal, Tax & Business North America
	Benchmark ordinary net income (before amortization of intangible fixed assets) down to EUR 39 million; negatively influenced by currency effects of EUR 12 million and divestments of EUR 5 million
	Stable free cash flow thanks to stringent working capital management
	Net debt reduced by 25% to EUR 2.2 billion
	Implementation of overall cost savings programs to minimize margin deterioration
	At present market conditions, we have to decrease our outlook expectations for 2003 by a few percentage points

Rob Pieterse, Chairman of Wolters Kluwer's Executive Board, commented: "The first quarter is typically the weakest for Wolters Kluwer, due to the seasonal nature of parts of our business. The increase in Internet sales encourages us to accelerate product development to ensure future growth. Business was hampered by a weaker economic environment, which put pressure on margins, particularly in North America. To minimize margin deterioration we are implementing overall cost savings measures. The strengthening of the euro versus the dollar and other currencies had a negative impact on reported earnings. Despite these adverse circumstances we were able to generate a stable free cash flow and to improve our overall financial situation, by significantly reducing net debt."


EUR million	Q1 2003	Q1 2002	% Change	% Change Constant Currencies


Total Revenues	779	921	-15	-5


EBITA	87	144	-40	-30


EBITA margin %	11	16


Ordinary net income *	39	74	-47	-31


Variances	Revenues		EBITA		Ordinary net income *


	EUR million	% change	EUR million	% change	EUR million	% change


Organic	-25	-3	-36	-25


Acquisitions	25	3	4	3


Continuing revenues	0	0	-32	-22


Divestments	-46	-5	-11	-8


At constant rates	-46	-5	-43	-30	-23	-31


Currency	-96	-10	-14	-10	-12	-16


Total (EUR)	-142	-15	-57	-40	-35	-47

* Benchmark ordinary net income before amortization intangible fixed assets

Overall Business Development:

Within Legal, Tax & Business Europe, which showed a stable performance, most countries performed well and showed good organic growth figures. A transnational sourcing project has begun to leverage scale by enabling efficiency, consistency and quality improvements.

In the United Kingdom, next to a strong growth in consultancy, we saw a decline in subscriptions. In Belgium operational issues showed improvement, notwithstanding the loss of loose-leaf subscriptions and delays in new product development. The Netherlands saw a decrease in advertising, flat revenues in other areas, and order management difficulties, which affected some volumes.

In March, Wolters Kluwer improved its competitive position in the Italian legal market by acquiring a 33% interest in CEDAM, Italy's highly regarded publisher of legal doctrine and authoritative proprietary content, with an option for 100% ownership.

Within our Legal, Tax & Business North America cluster Tax Compliance and CCH Canada continued to perform well, showing good organic growth. At CCH US Publishing overall revenue growth was flat.

The already stagnant economy, significantly diminished acquisition activity and corporations not making capital investments depressed the results for Bankers System Inc. and Legal Information Systems. Aspen Publishers had a very slow start and showed lower results than in the first quarter last year.

In reaction to these developments, the cluster has initiated significant cost savings initiatives. Plans for realigning the cluster, accelerating investment in new products and increasing efficiency are being rolled out.

The revenue growth of the Legal, Tax & Business Asia Pacific cluster was primarily driven by the acquisition of the practice management company Diskcovery. New product launches are on target and new sales results in the quarter were good. The restructuring of the business and the investments made in the past year in a shared services model to improve efficiency and leverage scale clearly started to bear fruit.

In the Health cluster comparison with last year is skewed due to a change in the nature of our business, following the migration from print (one-off sales) to electronic (subscription income).

Further investments were made in Pharma Solutions and Clinical Tools. The cluster continues its strategy to expand its portfolio of top medical content, increase market share in medical research, accelerate growth of clinical tools, and revitalize its core text-, reference- and pharmaceutical businesses. Health enjoyed a growth in Internet revenues, as management successfully managed to migrate clients from CD-Rom to the Internet. Indicative of its expanding lead in content, Ovid enjoyed a 5% growth in journal articles over last year.

The acquisition of Skolar, a well-established on-line reference service, was completed in March.

The Education cluster's first quarter results are not very indicative of anticipated performance for the full year due to the seasonal nature of the schoolbook business, where most revenues and profits are realized later in the year. In the United Kingdom the total market showed a decline.

In reaction to this an immediate additional cost cutting exercise was put in place. Furthermore new management will be installed. For the cluster, new product development is on schedule and will be available in the summer when the new school season arrives.

Excluding divestments, non-core businesses showed a decline in revenues due to shortfalls in the advertising market, but managed to show a flat EBITA due to strict cost control measures taken. The divestment of ten Hagen & Stam (the Netherlands) was cancelled.

Financial Overview Clusters

Legal, Tax & Business Europe


					Change


Million		Q1 2003	Q1 2002	Organic	Acquisition/ Divestment	Currency	Total


Revenues	(EUR)	301	297	-3	13	-6	4


EBITA	(EUR)	44	46	-2	1	-1	-2


EBITA margin %		15	15

Legal, Tax& Business North America


					Change


Million		Q1 2003	Q1 2002	Organic	Acquisition/ Divestment	Currency	Total


Revenues	(USD)	272	278


	(EUR)	254	317	-17	11	-57	-63


EBITA	(USD)	51	70


	(EUR)	48	79	-22	2	-11	-31


EBITA margin %		19	25

Legal, Tax & Business Asia Pacific


					Change


Million		Q1 2003	Q1 2002	Organic	Acquisition/ Divestment	Currency	Total


Revenues	(AUD)	32	29


	(EUR)	18	17	0	2	-1	1


EBITA	(AUD)	5	5


	(EUR)	3	3	0	0	0	0


EBITA margin %		17	16

Health

Change

Million
Q1 2003

Q1 2002

Organic

Acquisition/ Divestment

Currency

Total

Revenues (USD)
153

152

(EUR)
143

174

0

1

-32

-31

EBITA (USD)
12

15

(EUR)
11

17

-4

0

-2

-6

EBITA margin %
8

10

Education


					Change


Million		Q1 2003	Q1 2002	Organic	Acquisition/ Divestment	Currency	Total


Revenues	(EUR)	39	43	-4	1	-1	-4


EBITA	(EUR)	-10	-6	-4	0	0	-4


EBITA margin %		-26	-15

Non core activities


					Change


Million		Q1 2003	Q1 2002	Organic	Acquisition/ Divestment	Currency	Total


Revenues	(EUR)	25	74	-2	-47	0	-49


EBITA	(EUR)	0	10	1	-11	0	-10


EBITA margin %		-1	14

Miscellaneous announcements over the first quarter:


	March 11, 2003 - Nancy McKinstry was appointed Chairman of the Executive Board as of September 1, 2003.
	March 14, 2003 - Wolters Kluwer announced that it intends to buy up to a maximum of 10,000,000 of its own depository receipts, equaling a maximum of 3.2% of the fully diluted share capital (to date, approximately 650,000 shares have been bought).
	March 28, 2003 - Wolters Kluwer announced that clusters will report directly to the Chairman of the Executive Board enabling shorter reporting lines and better coordination.
	As announced on the 31st of March, 2003, the divestment of ISBW is close to completion.
	April 16, 2003 - Boudewijn Beerkens (CFO) was appointed as a Member of the Executive Board as of May 1, 2003.
	April 16, 2003 - Wolters Kluwer shareholders approved the proposed dividend of EUR 0.55. This year 52% of the dividend was paid out in stock (last year 38%).

This press release is based on un-audited figures and data for the first quarter of the year 2003. The financial results for the first half year 2003, including the profit and loss account, balance sheet, cash flow statement and other financial details, will be released on August 12, 2003 before trading. Wolters Kluwer will release a quarterly trading update over the third quarter on November 12, 2003.

Forward-looking statement

This trading statement contains forward-looking statements. These statements may be identified by words such as 'expect', 'should', 'could', 'shall', and similar expressions. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results and events could differ materially from what is expected presently. Factors leading thereto may include without limitations general economic conditions, conditions in the markets in which Wolters Kluwer is engaged, behavior of customers, suppliers and competitors, technological developments, as well as legal and regulatory rules affecting Wolters Kluwer's businesses.

Note for the editor

Wolters Kluwer is a multinational information services company with annual revenues of more than EUR 3.9 billion, employing almost 20,000 people in Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific. The company's core activities are Legal, Tax & Business, Health and Education. Wolters Kluwer's shares are quoted on the Euronext Amsterdam and are included in the AEX and Euronext 100 indices.

Internet:

www.wolterskluwer.com

For more information, please contact:

Press:

Caroline Wouters, tel. +31 20 6070 459

e-mail: press@wolterskluwer.com (press)

Analysts/Investors:

Oya Yavuz, tel. +31 20 6070 407

e-mail: ir@wolterskluwer.com (investor relations)