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Transcontinental Q4 profit plunges from prior year's gain from sale of U.S. plant

MONTREAL — Printer and packager Transcontinental Inc. saw its profits drop by more than half in the fourth quarter on lower revenues, but its performance was still better than expected.
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MONTREAL — Printer and packager Transcontinental Inc. saw its profits drop by more than half in the fourth quarter on lower revenues, but its performance was still better than expected.

The Montreal-based company on Thursday said its net income attributable to shareholders was $51.3 million, or 59 cents per share.

That was a 54.3 per cent decrease from $112.3 million, or $1.28 per share, for the same period last year when it recorded a gain on the sales of a printing plant in California.

Excluding one-time items, adjusted profits were $72.4 million, or 83 cents per share, compared with $69.9 million, or 80 cents per share, a year earlier.

Transcontinental's revenues for the three months ended Oct. 25 totalled $655.7 million, compared with $790.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Analysts on average expected adjusted earnings of 62 cents per share on $647.3 million of revenues, according to financial data firm Refinitiv.

"These results, an indication of our growth potential, reflect the resilience of our business model as well as the responsible management of our operations as a whole," CEO Francois Olivier said in a news release.

"Faced with the challenges of a year marked by COVID-19, we were able to provide our employees with a safe work environment and focus on our objectives to deliver a solid performance."

For the full-year, its net profit decreased 20.7 per cent to $131.7 million or $1.51 per share, from $166.1 million or $1.90 per share in 2019

However, adjusted profits rose 3.1 per cent to $227 million or $2.61 per share, up from $220.2 million or $2.52.

Revenues were $2.57 billion, down 15.3 per cent from $3.04 billion in the prior year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 10, 2020.

Companies in this story: (TSX:TCL.A)

The Canadian Press