Metro International S.A., a parent company of the Vancouver Metro commuter paper, has reported a fairly sizeable first-quarter loss.

The company announced a loss of US$11.5 million through the first three months of 2007, compared to a loss of US$3.9 million over the same period of 2006.

"Toronto and Montreal deliver good profit margins while Ottawa and Vancouver are currently loss-making," the company stated.

Metro International didn't reveal how much money is being lost on the Vancouver edition, which was created just over two years ago. Its partners are Torstar Corp. and CanWest Media Works.

In a company news release issued earlier today, president and CEO Pelle Tornberg attributed the first-quarter loss primarily to performance problems in Sweden and Spain, as well as to a "temporary weaker advertising market" in France, which occurred after a 40 percent increase in circulation.

The company also revealed that the Polish edition of Metro, which was recently shut down, contributed to an increased first-quarter loss of US$0.9 million over the previous year.

Metro lost US$3 million on U.S. operations, up significantly from the US$2.4-million loss in the first quarter of 2006.