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This
profile deals with Canada's Transcontinental publishing
and printing group.
It covers -
introduction
Quebec-based Transcontinental - formerly GTC Transcontinental
- claims to be one of the ten largest commercial printers
in North America. It is Canada's leading printer of direct
marketing products and second to Quebecor
in printing of magazines, catalogues and directories.
It is also Canada's leading publisher of consumer magazines
and its second-largest publisher of local and regional
newspapers, following acquisitions from Telemedia,
CanWest and individual proprietors.
Activities include door-to-door distribution of advertising
material, web solutions and electronic news services.
As of 2006 Transcontinental had over 14,000 employees
in Canada, the US and Mexico. It reported revenues of
C$1.9 billion and a profit of C$143 million in 2003.
Its corporate site is here.
the group
Transcontinental, hitherto recognised as a major commercial
printer (and publisher on licence of journals such as
Elle), gained attention in July 2002 when it acquired
44 titles - including ten daily newspapers - from CanWest
Global Communications for C$255 million.
It operates networks of papers in Atlantic Canada, Quebec,
Manitoba and Saskatchewan and like rival Osprey Media
Group has been gobbling up community papers, reflecting
the aggressive cluster building of CNHI
and other US chains. The acquisition roundabout in Canada
means that some titles have successively passed through
the hands of Thomson, Hollinger
and CanWest.
In 2004 it acquired Optipress, encompassing some 25 weekly
and bi-weekly papers, nine printing plants and a network
of digital reproduction centres in Newfoundland, Labrador,
Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick.
In 2006 Transcontinental acquired Chenelière Éducation,
the largest French-language educational resources publisher
in Canada. Chenelière Éducation was founded
by Michel de la Chenelière in 1984 and subsequently
acquired publishers such as as McGraw-Hill Éditeur
(the French-language division of McGraw-Hill Ryerson),
Gaëtan Morin Éditeur, Publications Graficor
and Groupe Beauchemin.
holdings
Newfoundland and Labrador newspapers include -
Carbonear
(NL) The Compass
Clarenville (NL) The Packet
Corner Brook (NL) The Humber Log
Happy Valley (NL) The Labradorian
Harbour Breton (NL) The Coaster
Grand Falls-Windsor (NL) The Advertiser
Gander (NL) The Beacon
Labrador City (NL) The Aurora
Lewisporte (NL) The Pilot
Marystown (NL) The Southern Gazette
St. John’s (NL) The Express
Placentia (NL) The Charter
Port-Aux-Basques (NL) The Gulf News
Stephenville (NL) The Georgian
Springdale (NL) The Nor’wester
St. Anthony (NL) Northern Pen
Nova
Scotia newspapers -
Annapolis
Royal (NS) The Spectator
Berwick (NS) Register
Digby (NS) Courier
Kentville, (NS) The Advertiser
Liverpool (NS) The Advance
Middleton (NS) The Monitor-Examiner
Shelburne/Barrington (NS) The Coast Guard
Windsor, (NS) The Hants Journal
Yarmouth (NS) Vanguard
Transcontinental has a joint venture with Metro
International and Desmarais' Power
to publish the Montreal Metro free daily.
studies
There are no major English-language studies of Transcontinental.
Background about its newspaper operations and the publishing
environment appears on the CanWest, Hollinger, Thomson
and Quebecor profiles.
chronology
This chronology is indicative only. Context is provided
by the broader communications and media timeline.
1976 Rémi Marcoux, Claude Dubois and André
Kingsley buy printing company
1978 found distribution company Publi-Maison
1979 buys Les Affaires French-language business
newspaper in Quebec
1992 buys the four Southam printing operations
1993 buys British American Bank Note (BABN) lottery operations
in US, Canada and Australia from BCE
1994 sells BABN to François-Charles Oberthur (FCO)
1995 buys 20 Quebec-area weeklies from Telemedia
2000 buys Telemedia Publishing (11 magazines) for US$102m
2002 buys Éditions Versicolores and Spécialités
Terre à Terre horticulture publisher
2002 buys 2002 12 newspapers, 32 related publications
and printing operations from CanWest
for C$255m
2002 buys remaining 33% stake in Impresora Transcontinental
de México, its Mexican subsidiary
2003 sells The Northern Light weekly newspaper
2003 buys printing and distribution operations, Amherst
Daily News, Citizen and Sackville Tribune-Post
weeklies and related publications from Nova Scotia's Cumberland
Publishing and New Brunswick's Sackville Tribune-Post
2003 deletes 'GTC' from title
2004 buys Optipress newspapers and printing operations
for C$56m
2005 acquires US direct marketer JDM, Inc.
2006 acquires majority interest in Montreal-based Enixa
Media (in-store digital advertising displays)
2006 acquires Chenelière Éducation
2006 acquires Zoupla Communications
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