LONDON, October 22 /PRNewswire/ --

- With Statistical Evidence That 25% of Britain's Singles Believe in
Scientific Matching, PARSHIP Disputes Recent Claims That Only 7%
of Brits Would Trust in a Scientific Formula to Help Them Find Love

PARSHIP.com, the online dating service which in 2001 pioneered scientific
compatibility testing in Europe - and is now the largest operation of its
kind across 14 countries, including the UK - disputes recent claims by US
dating service eHarmony that "a staggering 93% of Brits don't believe that a
scientific formula can help them find love".

Active in the UK since 2005, PARSHIP was the first mover in its sector,
and is now firmly established as both the UK and European market leader. The
company cites: i) the many thousands of couples who have met through its
scientifically-based compatibility test, and ii) the findings of its
extensive singles surveys, which over the past four years have tracked the
attitudes and opinions of a representative sample of single people living in
Britain. In 2007 (see notes) the survey found that one in four (25%) of
Britain's 13 million singles believe that scientific matching is the most
effective way to meet someone for a durable and harmonious relationship; this
figure had risen from 18% in 2005.

PARSHIP launched in Germany in 2001 and in the UK in 2005. It has since
matched millions of singles across Europe by means of its scientific process,
which assesses a prospective couple's balance of similar and complementary
personality traits and characteristics. It is based on over 30 years of
scientific research by Professor Hugo Schmale and his team at the University
of Hamburg. Each year, an estimated 10,000 people meet their partner through
the PARSHIP service.

Tony Blin-Stoyle, director of PARSHIP UK and Ireland commented:

"It is misleading to suggest that British singles are unaware of
scientific compatibility matching as a way to meet a potential partner. Since
our launch in 2005 we have worked hard to establish PARSHIP as the market
leader in both the UK and Europe, and our business has tripled in size over
the last year. We believe we are now one of the most trusted and secure ways
of bringing together like-minded people who are looking for a genuine long
term-relationship, as demonstrated by our successful partnerships with media
such as The Independent and Daily Express newspaper groups.

"What's more, PARSHIP - unlike some online services - is open to anyone
who is genuinely single and looking for a relationship. For instance, since
the successful launch of gay-PARSHIP we have established strong links with
the gay and lesbian communities and we now have power dating websites for Gay
Times, Diva Magazine and The Pink Paper."

PARSHIP currently operates in 14 different countries and employs a total
of 180 people. In 2007 it reported a turnover of 46 million Euros. Industry
figures estimate total European revenues for the online matchmaking segment
at some 67 million Euros, which means that PARSHIP's share is a dominant 70
percent.

Notes to editors

About the survey

The PARSHIP Singles Survey was conducted by market research company
Innofact in December 2007 and interviewed 6,000 single people.

About PARSHIP.co.uk

PARSHIP.co.uk is the British subsidiary of PARSHIP.com,
Europe's largest premium online matchmaking service. It is specifically for
people who are serious about forming a lasting relationship and is built on a
rigorous personality profiling test which determines compatibility. Its
members are predominantly affluent, educated men and women between 28 and 55
years old.

PARSHIP GmbH is headquartered in Hamburg and is part of the Georg von
Holtzbrinck publishing group, one of Germany's largest publishing companies
with financial interests in more than 80 companies, including the Macmillan
Group.