Transcontinental Profit Falls on Sale of Mexican Unit

Highlights

• July 13, 2011, Transcontinental announced an agreement to indirectly acquire all of the shares of Quad Graphics Canada Inc. This transaction is currently being reviewed by the Competition Bureau of Canada
• The Mexican Federal Competition Commission approved the sale of Transcontinental's Mexican operations to Quad/Graphics
• Acquired the publishing assets of Groupe Le Canada Français and the majority of the assets of Avantage Consommateurs de l'Est du Québec inc.
• Announced the consolidation of production activities of two commercial printing plants in Montreal, Transcontinental Litho Acme and Transcontinental Direct Montreal
• Ranked by Corporate Knights as one of the Best 50 Corporate Citizens in 2011 and included in the Maclean's/Jantzi-Sustainalytics ranking of the 50 most socially responsible corporations in Canada

Transcontinental's revenues increased 2% in the third quarter of 2011, from $481.3 million to $492.6 million. This increase was primarily due to a number of new contracts, most notably from the expanded relationship with The Globe and Mail. Excluding acquisitions, divestitures and closures, the impact of the exchange rates and the paper component variance, organic revenue growth was 2%, driven primarily by the Printing sector.

Adjusted operating income was flat at $57.2 million, while the adjusted operating income margin slightly decreased from 11.9% to 11.6%. The contribution from new contracts coupled with the synergies associated with the use of our most productive assets and continued efficiency improvement initiatives in the Printing sector was compensated by more difficult market conditions in the Media sector, more specifically related to the educational book publishing division, continued strategic investments in the Interactive sector and the negative impact of the exchange rates. However, we generated 6% of organic growth.

Net income applicable to participating shares decreased 63%, from $28.9 million, or $0.36 per share, to $10.6 million, or $0.13 per share. This decrease is mainly due to a net loss related to the discontinuance of our operations in Mexico. Excluding unusual items and discontinued operations, adjusted net income applicable to participating shares decreased 2%, from $33.4 million, or $0.41 per share, to $32.8 million, or $0.40 per share.

"I am satisfied with our third quarter results, especially with the fact that we have generated organic revenue and profit growth for the sixth consecutive quarter in an industry that faces increasing competition. In the past few months, we pursued our strategy to strengthen our existing assets by making strategic acquisitions, divesting less core businesses and rationalizing certain activities. We also developed our offering of products and services on the digital side by expanding our digital advertising representation relationships as well as mobile partnerships. We will continue with our plan to transform Transcontinental to meet our customers' evolving needs. In the next few months we will launch new digital products and services and make use of our most productive assets in order to continue to grow and transform Transcontinental," said François Olivier, President and Chief Executive Officer.