Acquisitions boost profits for Canadian publisher

MONTREAL— Transcontinental Inc. said Thursday it earned $44.2 million in its latest quarter, up from $30.1 million a year ago.

The publishing and printing company said the profit amounted to 56 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended July 31, up from 39 cents per diluted share a year ago.

Revenue for the quarter totalled $500 million, up from $490.7 million, helped in part to the acquisition of Capri Packaging and Sun Media’s weekly newspapers in Quebec, offset by the soft advertising market.

“The printing operations continued to perform well and should pursue this path in the fourth quarter,” president and chief executive François Olivier said in a statement

“The media sector, for its part, is staying on course to improve its profitability by integrating its recent acquisition and aligning its cost structure with the new reality of the market.”

Last week, Transcontinental announced the closing of 20 publications and the sale of 14 others following acquisition of Sun Media’s weekly newspaper portfolio in Quebec.

The decision to close the papers was made after buyers could only be found for 14 of 33 publications that the Competition Bureau said had to be sold if it were to sanction the $75million deal to buy 74 weekly newspapers owned by Quebecor’s Sun Media.

Transcontinental publishes more than 30 magazines, including Canadian Living and Elle Canada, as well as books and flyers. It also has a network of community newspapers in the Atlantic provinces and websites such as AutoGo.ca and JobGo.ca.