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Montreal, Friday, November 17,
2006 – Transcontinental announced today that it has
signed an exclusive 15-year contract with Hearst Corporation
to print the San Francisco Chronicle daily newspaper
and its related products, as well as provide complete post-press
services. North America’s seventh-largest printer and
Canada’s leading newspaper printer is slated to begin
production in spring 2009 in a new plant it will equip with
state-of-the-art technology in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The contract with the Chronicle plus the printing
of other products at this new facility will surpass US$1 billion
in total revenues over the 15-year period. Transcontinental’s
total investments are estimated at over US$200 million
(C$228 million).
Founded in 1865, the San Francisco Chronicle
is the Bay Area’s principal newspaper. It had the U.S.’s
14th largest ABC-verified circulation as of September 30,
2006 (Monday to Friday, 373,805; Saturday, 383,378; Sunday,
432,957), with a readership of 1.2 million per Sunday in the
richest, second most-educated, and fifth most-populous market
in the U.S. The Chronicle is one of 12 daily and 20 weekly
newspapers owned by Hearst Corporation, also one of the world’s
largest publishers of monthly magazines.
“We are extremely pleased to sign this contract with
such prestigious brands as the San Francisco Chronicle
and Hearst Corporation,” said Luc Desjardins, president
and CEO of Transcontinental Inc. “Our unique newspaper
production model, combining the latest technology with highly
skilled, autonomous work teams, has led major dailies to entrust
their printing to us and concentrate their resources on their
core business – producing top-quality content, leveraging
it and developing their brand. Such is the case with The
New York Times for the Ontario and upstate New York markets,
as well as the two most highly regarded dailies in Canada,
The Globe and Mail and La Presse. This contract
with such a reputable company as Hearst Corporation is yet
another vote of confidence for our market-leading newspaper
production model, and is just the first of many strategic
footprints Transcontinental is developing in the U.S. with
newspaper industry leaders.”
François Olivier, president of Transcontinental’s
Printing Products and Services sector, explained: “This
agreement came into effect because of the decision of the
Chronicle’s management to exit the printing
and related components of their business. Our production model
gives publishers the tools they need to help them maintain
and strengthen their market position: more color; greater
flexibility for advertisers and insert distribution; the flexibility
to create more niche products, special sections, and opportunities
for innovation; and greater overall printing quality. Our
strategy is to join forces with the innovators who have decided
to be winners through this period of rapid change in the newspaper
publishing industry. Indeed, our business model has been custom-tailored
to appeal to them.”
Frank Vega, president and publisher of the San Francisco
Chronicle, commented, “This agreement is part of
our continuing effort to elevate the Chronicle, and its related
products, to a new level of service for both readers and advertisers.
With a new plant coming on line in spring 2009, we will be
able to better produce our content and present it in a more
crisp, colorful and timely fashion. By providing complete
post-press services, the relationship benefits our advertisers
through more targeted pre-print capability.”
Additional Information
Transcontinental will hold a press conference for this announcement
in Montreal this morning at 9:30 a.m. at the Salles de
bal – Le Windsor, Salon Windsor, 1170 Peel Street, which
will also be webcast live on transcontinental.com. A conference
call for the financial community will follow at 11:00 a.m.
today, and will also be webcast live on transcontinental.com.
The conference call for the financial community will be for
questions and answers only; it will be assumed participants
from the financial community have listened to the press conference
webcast.
About Hearst Corporation
Hearst Corporation (www.hearst.com)
is one of the nation's largest diversified communications
companies. Its major interests span 12 daily and 20 weekly
newspapers including the San Francisco Chronicle,
Houston Chronicle and Albany Times Union;
nearly 200 magazines around the world, including Cosmopolitan
and O, The Oprah Magazine; 29 television stations
through Hearst-Argyle Television (NYSE: HTV) which reach a
combined 18% of U.S. viewers; ownership in leading cable networks,
including Lifetime, A&E, The History Channel and ESPN;
as well as business publishing, Internet businesses, television
production, newspaper features distribution and real estate.
About Transcontinental Inc.
The largest printer in Canada and seventh-largest in North
America, Transcontinental also ranks as the country’s
leading publisher of consumer magazines and French-language
educational resources, and its second-largest community newspaper
publisher. Transcontinental distinguishes itself by creating
strategic partnerships that integrate the company into its
customers’ value chain, notably through its unique newspaper
printing outsourcing model and its value-added services. From
mass to highly personalized marketing, the company offers
its clients integrated solutions which include a continent-leading
direct marketing offering, a diverse digital platform and
a door-to-door advertising material distribution network.
Transcontinental is a company whose values, including respect,
innovation and integrity, are central to its operation.
Transcontinental (TSX: TCL.A, TCL.B) has more than 14,000
employees in Canada, the United States and Mexico, and reported
revenues of C$2.2 billion (US$1.9 billion) in 2005.
Note: This press release contains certain
forward-looking statements concerning the future performance
of the Corporation. Such statements, based on the current
expectations of management, inherently involve numerous risks
and uncertainties, known and unknown. We caution that all
forward-looking information is inherently uncertain and actual
results may differ materially from the assumptions, estimates
or expectations reflected or contained in the forward-looking
information, and that actual future performance will be affected
by a number of factors, many of which are beyond the Corporation’s
control, including, but not limited to, the economic situation,
exchange rate, energy costs, increased competition, the Corporation’s
capacity to implement its strategic plan and cost-reduction
program and to make and integrate acquisitions.
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For Information:
Media
Jake Brennan
Media Relations Coordinator
Transcontinental Inc.
Telephone: (514) 954-4000
jake.brennan@transcontinental.ca
Financial Community
Stéphane Milot
Director, Investor Relations and
External Communications
Transcontinental Inc.
Telephone: (514) 954-2821
stephane.milot@transcontinental.ca
Hearst Corporation
Paul Luthringer
VP Communications
Hearst Corporation
Telephone: (212) 649-2540
pluthringer@hearst.com
www.hearst.com
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