What a fantastic month!

Sales are looking very positive and our sustained weekly promotional program has really gained momentum in the past 4 weeks.

We have had tremendous support around the Asia Pacific region during this period and congratulate everybody who got involved. Special pat on the back to Ellie in Hong Kong who went the extra mile and ensured our Australia Day campaign was a roaring success. Photos of her efforts are shown.

Title update

For the next two months (February and to Mid March) our Weekly Promotional Calendar (WPC) includes:

• Week 6: Feb 8th to 14th: GWP promotion for Cosmopolitan in Mauritius, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, The Philippines and Malaysia. This is supported by ongoing promotion of NW, Woman's Day, OK! Weekly and Grazia through the Bookazine outlets in Hong Kong. Additionally a 2-4-1 campaign for ADB in Singapore and Thailand is in place.
• Week 7: Feb 15th to 21st: 2-4-1 promotion for Woman's Day with a free Lovatt's Crossword magazine in Thailand and Indonesia. Backed up by a 2-4-1 for Australian Gourmet Traveller in Malaysia.
• Week 8: Feb 22nd to 28th: Mini Cookbook campaign in Singapore and Malaysia for The Australian Women's Weekly, supported by a 2-4-1 for the same brand with a Lovatt's crossword magazine in Indonesia and Thailand.
• Week 9: Mar 1st to 7th - GWP planned for OK! Weekly in Indonesia and Hong Kong supported by a 2-4-1 for Good Food in Fiji and Malaysia.
• Week 10: Mar 8th to 14th - A GWP promotion for Harper's BAZAAR in South Africa supported by a 2-4-1 for the same brand in Japan. Additionally a POS campaign for Bound in South Africa and a newsstand awareness campaign for Men's Style in the US.

Please make sure we support all these promotional initiatives and please provide us with as many photos as possible.

New titles - 3 titles join 8Pt

We welcome Jaguar Magazine to the stable and look forward to growing the circulation for Les over the next 6 issues.

David, who owns Beer & Brewer, has chosen to join Eight Point for both his circulation and overseas sales and marketing needs.

Aside from domestic distribution we will also be exporting Art Monthly Australia and welcome, officially, Maurice and Tania into our business.

Finally, thank you to Antonino of Cream Magazine who has appointed 8Pt for his export requirements. We are most excited about this re-launch and look forward to growing the sales in North America and finding new opportunities in Asia.

HMB review and forthcoming plans

In support of the launch of the new Harlequin Mills & Boon cover designs, Eight Point is pleased to announce that we will be supplying a marketing budget to re-launch these iconic brands through our distribution partners in the Asia / Pacific region.

Some key selling points:

1. Harlequin publish up to 50 new fiction titles a month ex Australia.
2. Sales via 8Pt are over 14,000 units per month.
3. Despatch occurs 2 weeks before the Australian on sale.
4. The titles are a must read in tourist and holiday destinations throughout the region.

Our stand placement has been most successful in Malaysia and a big pat on the back to Patrick Tan at Allscript and Jaime Toh for their continued support. Well done to the team through their tireless efforts.

Overseas Customer Snapshot - MCS CAXTON

Firstly a quick overview of the South African market as supplied by Luisa:

A rebound in manufacturing production in the third quarter ('09) signaled the end of the recession. Exports are starting to respond to improved conditions globally, and lower interest rates have taken some pressure off balance sheets. However, economic activity remains very weak and most households and business will feel that the downturn is still in place until well into 2010. Consumers in South Africa have been particularly badly affected by the massive job losses, which have depressed incomes and hurt confidence. The 2010 FIFA World Cup will help lift activity levels as the year progresses, but the recovery is expected to be slow.

Currently one Australian Dollar buys 6.78 South African Rand.

Eight Point utilize the services of MCS Caxton in this market. MCS is a subsidiary of Caxton's and ironically has the license to publish South Africa CLEO from ACP Publishing in Australia.

The bulk of our distribution is through the CNA chain - Please have a look at the link attached - http://www.cna.co.za/Pages/Stores/StoreLocator.aspx

The Spar Supermarket chain, display the balance of stock of predominantly the women's lifestyle magazines. http://www.spar.co.za/Container.aspx?uc=StoreLocator

Our chief contact is Luisa Rebelo who supports Butch Courtney, the MD - luisar @ magcservices.co.za

Currently magazines are despatched by sea on a monthly basis, and due to the tyranny of distance and geographical nature of Africa's continent compassed against the continent of Australia - WE HAVE TO TRANS SHIP TO SINGAPORE FIRST!

The 2010 FIFA World Cup kicks off on 11 June 2010. Andrew will be up most nights, early mornings and watching the highlights on SBS! Coupled with this is Eight Point's plan to market the key brands during this time.

Currently Eight Point's portfolio exported to South Africa includes the following titles: Australian House & Garden, The Australian Women's Weekly, belle, Australian Gourmet Traveller, Harper's BAZAAR, Australian Mountain Bike, Ralph, Wine Magazine, Lovatt's BIG, Lovatt's Colossus, Lovatt's Cluewords, Lovatt's Mega, Lovatt's Variety Puzzles, Lovatt's Find-A-Word, Lovatt's cryptic Collection, Lovatt's Handy Pocket Wordhunt, Lovatt's Handy Pocket Crosswords, Lovatt's Handy Pocket Fill-Ins, Bound and DMAG (which is currently on trial).

Domestic distribution

Well we are back into the swing of things and throughout January we successfully distributed SCULPTURE + the enemies (issue #2), Landscape Australia (#125), Houses (#72), Acclaim; Street Lifestyle Magazine (#19) and Architecture Australia (J/F 10).

Our outlet base is steady at 70 stores nationally and we are very excited about the re-launch of Art Monthly Australia, with the March 2010 issue, to by distributed by Eight Point in late February.

We welcome Alice Gage and her magazine Ampersand to the stable - details will be distributed separately be letter closer to the release date.

Sheree will be in contact shortly updating you all on our strategies and tactics for 2010 for this niche distribution model.