Transcontinental Q1 2026 Earnings Report

Transcontinental EPS Results

• Actual EPS: C$0.08
• Consensus EPS: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

Transcontinental Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $263.50 million
• Expected Revenue: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Transcontinental Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q1 2026
• Date: 3/10/2026
• Time: Before Market Opens
• Conference Call Date: Tuesday, March 10, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 4:00PM ET

Transcontinental (TSE:TCL.A), or TC Transcontinental, is a Canadian printer and flexible packaging provider that operates in three segments: packaging, printing, and other. Its packaging segment features the production of different plastic products geared toward consumer goods. Production plants specialize in extrusion, lamination, printing, and converting. The company offers premedia, printing, and distribution services through the printing segment. Publishers, retailers, cataloguers, and marketers are some of the customers who tap TC Transcontinental for these printing solutions. The smaller other segment focuses on the media sector, which generates revenue from print and digital publishing products.

Transcontinental Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Sale and shareholder return: The company completed the sale of its packaging business and the board approved a CAD 20 per share special dividend to be paid on March 20, returning most proceeds to shareholders.
• Positive Sentiment: Leadership transition: Sam Bendavid will become CEO effective April 6 with Pat Braley as newly created COO, both internal promotions the board says will focus the company on disciplined, profitable growth.
• Negative Sentiment: Quarterly financials: Q1 continuing-operations revenue rose 2.3% (driven by ISM acquisitions and FX), but adjusted EBITDA fell 17.9% to CAD 33.1m and adjusted EPS was CAD 0.08 (vs CAD 0.10) due to lower volumes and price concessions.
• Neutral Sentiment: Near-term cash, leverage and refinancing: Adjusted net indebtedness was 1.69x; management expects leverage to rise over the next two quarters before improving in Q4, closed a revised credit agreement to refinance July 2026 notes, and expects a near-term real-estate sale of ~CAD 30m.
• Positive Sentiment: Growth initiatives and M&A pipeline: Management plans to expand retail/printing and education businesses (including rolling out raddar in Ontario with potential national deployment within 12 months) and continues to integrate ISM acquisitions with another deal expected to close in Q2.

Presentation

[Operator]

Welcome to the TC Transcontinental first quarter of fiscal year 2026 results conference call. During the presentation, all participants will be in listen-only mode. Afterwards, we will conduct a question and answer session, and instructions will be provided at that time. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded today, March 10th, 2026. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Yan Lapointe, Senior Director, Investor Relations and Treasury. J'aimerais maintenant céder la parole à Yan Lapointe, Directeur, Relations avec les investisseurs et trésorerie. Monsieur Lapointe, please go ahead.

[Yan Lapointe, Senior Director of Investor Relations and Treasury at TC Transcontinental]

Thank you, Joelle, and good afternoon, everyone on the call. Welcome to Transcontinental's first quarter of fiscal 2026 earnings call. Before we begin, please note that you can find on our website at www.tc.tc our quarterly report, including financial statements and related notes, as well as the slides supporting management's remarks. A replay of this conference call will also be available on our website shortly after the call. Please note that this conference call is intended for the financial community. Media are in listen-only mode and should contact Laurence Boussicot, Senior Advisor, Corporate Communications, for more information. We have with us today our Executive Chair of the Board, Isabelle Marcoux, our next Chief Executive Officer, Sam Bendavid, our President and Chief Executive Officer, Thomas Morin, and our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Donald LeCavalier.

[Yan Lapointe, Senior Director of Investor Relations and Treasury at TC Transcontinental]

As referenced on slide two, some of the financial measures discussed over the course of this conference call are non-IFRS. You can refer to the MD&A for a complete definition and reconciliation of these measures to IFRS. In addition, this conference call might also contain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on the current expectations of management and information available as of today. Forward-looking statements also involve numerous risks and uncertainties, known and unknown. The risk, uncertainties, and other factors that could influence actual results are described in the fiscal 2025 annual MD&A and in the latest annual information form. With that, I would like to turn the call over to our Executive Chair of the Board, Isabelle Marcoux.

[Isabelle Marcoux, Executive Chair of the Board at TC Transcontinental]

Thank you, Yan, and good afternoon, everyone. First and foremost, let me say how proud I am that we successfully completed the sale of our packaging business. Earlier today, our board approved a special dividend of CAD 20 per share. This delivers immediate and tangible value to our shareholders. It reflects the strength of a business we've built over the past 12 years, as well as our courage to act decisively and our determination to keep building the company. With this transaction behind us, we're opening a new chapter for TC Transcontinental with a clear focus on growing our businesses of retail services and printing and educational publishing. To lead the company through this next phase, we announced earlier today senior management changes effective April 6. This transition is part of a strong succession planning process focused on continuity and growth.

[Isabelle Marcoux, Executive Chair of the Board at TC Transcontinental]

I'm pleased that these changes come from internal promotions of leaders we know well and who have delivered strong results for us over many years. Before introducing our upcoming CEO, Sam Bendavid, I wanna take a moment to express my deepest gratitude to Thomas Morin for the role he's played at Transcontinental. Thomas, in 2019, we were looking for a leader with deep packaging expertise to lead our sector, and we were fortunate to find you. You did such an outstanding job that four years later, the board and I asked you to become CEO, bringing your leadership and operational expertise to the entire organization. You delivered in both roles, and I'm deeply grateful for everything you've done. Today, with the sale of the packaging business you helped build and elevate, we come full circle.

[Isabelle Marcoux, Executive Chair of the Board at TC Transcontinental]

You can be very proud of your accomplishments in operational and financial performance, in people leadership, and in reinforcing our health and safety culture. On a personal note, Thomas, it's been an immense pleasure working with you every day and a true privilege to have such a great partner. I will miss you. On behalf of the board and my family, thank you warmly and sincerely for everything. Turning now to Sam. I hired Sam more than 18 years ago, and I've worked closely with him ever since. I can say this without hesitation. He's a man of action, focused on performance, and an exceptional deal maker. I know him well, and I trust him fully. At this stage in our journey, we need a leader with a vision for growth, analytical rigor, and strong execution capability.

[Isabelle Marcoux, Executive Chair of the Board at TC Transcontinental]

Given his drive, his track record, and his experience, the board saw in Sam the leader we need to generate profitable growth. Sam has consistently delivered results, whether in M&A, procurement, leading our coatings business, or executing our recent two-year program to increase profitability and strengthen our financial position. Sam will be supported by Pat Brayley, who will step into the newly created role of COO. Currently leading our retail services and printing activities, Pat has driven the sector's strategic risk repositioning. He has also led key innovation initiatives, including the launch of raddar and the deployment of artificial intelligence in the production of content for retail flyers while improving operational performance. He's the right leader to support Sam in transforming our organization with discipline and innovation.

[Isabelle Marcoux, Executive Chair of the Board at TC Transcontinental]

Patrick Lutzy, a respected industry leader with more than 20 years at TC, will continue to lead our educational publishing business as president of TC Media. Under his leadership, the media sector has more than doubled revenues over the past decade. He's also introduced AI to improve processes and product offerings, reinforcing our leadership in educational publishing across print and digital. In conclusion, the board is very pleased to promote Sam and Pat, two leaders we know extremely well and who have proven themselves time and again. These appointments reflect our ability to develop and promote strong leaders from within. This is an important and exciting moment for Transcontinental, and I look forward to working with our leadership team as we pursue our next phase of growth. Sam will now say a few words before turning the call over to Thomas and Donald to discuss our Q1 results.

[Isabelle Marcoux, Executive Chair of the Board at TC Transcontinental]

Over to you, Sam.

[Sam Bendavid, Chief Corporate Development and Procurement Officer at TC Transcontinental]

Thank you for your kind words, Isabelle, and good afternoon, everyone. I strongly believe in the growth potential of our company, and I'm energized by the opportunity to turn that potential into reality. My objective is clear. Through discipline, profitable growth, and targeted acquisitions, as well as smart use of technology, including AI, we will build an innovative, high-performing organization, one that delivers real value to our customers across the retail, education, books, and information sectors. We have a strong balance sheet, businesses with a strong competitive advantages, and an outstanding team that has repeatedly proven its ability to execute. With the support of Isabelle and the board, I'm excited and confident as I embark on this next chapter with our leadership team. I also feel very fortunate to carry forward the experience and insights I've gained working closely with exceptional leaders such as Thomas.

[Sam Bendavid, Chief Corporate Development and Procurement Officer at TC Transcontinental]

Thomas, thank you for all your insights, coaching, and mentoring. I wish you all the best in what's to come. With that, I'll now turn it over to Thomas, and I look forward to speaking with many of you in the weeks ahead.

[Thomas Morin, President and CEO at TC Transcontinental]

Thank you, Sam. Thank you, Sam, and thank you, Isabelle. It's truly been an honor to work alongside with you, Isabelle, as well as Donald and so many talented colleagues around the organization. I have a great confidence in the future of the new TC Transcontinental because of your leadership and because of the exceptional talent I've encountered at every level of the company. I also want to say that the board has made excellent choices. Having worked closely with Sam and Pat over the years, I can attest to their talents, their high energy, and their readiness to take on these important new roles. I'm convinced they will do a tremendous job, and I wish them every success. Thank you, Isabelle, again, for your wise counsel.

[Thomas Morin, President and CEO at TC Transcontinental]

I also thank the Marcoux family, the board of directors, and the talented employees of TC Transcontinental for their unwavering support. Let's now turn to our Q1 continuing operations results. In the retail services and printing sector, our recent ISM acquisitions have enabled us to partially offset lower volumes in our traditional books and flyers printing activity. Profitability was also affected by price concessions. It is important to note that strategic price concessions are an important element of our toolkit to secure multiyear commitments from large customers for our traditional activity. In our media sector, we saw lower volumes, mainly attributable to the end of the contract related to the electronic tendering system. Let's keep in mind that this is a seasonal business, as Q3 and Q4 are the important quarters for the media sector.

[Thomas Morin, President and CEO at TC Transcontinental]

As this is my last call with you, I must say how confident I am to pass it on to Sam, two solid sectors, both well-advanced in their transformation and both with potential to grow. As an illustration of this, our flyers business continued to evolve. In response to a challenging flyer market dynamic, we're preparing to launch raddar in Ontario in the next few months, providing our customers with lower costs and greater reach. This will set the stage for further deployments as we see an opportunity for raddar to become a national advertising platform within the next 12 months. Another example is the growth of our in-store marketing business. As we continue the integration of the three acquisitions we made in 2025 that have reinforced our geographical footprint and expanded our offering, we're expecting to close yet another ISM acquisition soon within Q2.

[Thomas Morin, President and CEO at TC Transcontinental]

We maintain, of course, an active pipeline for further other opportunities. In conclusion, I'm confident in our growth plans, and I believe that the new TC has a bright future ahead. On this, I will pass it over to you, Donald.

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

Thank you, Thomas. It's been a real pleasure to work with you over the last six years, and I wish you the best. To you, Sam, congratulations on your new role. I'm confident you'll do a great job.

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

Moving to slide five of the earnings call presentation. For the first quarter of fiscal 2026, we reported a 2.3% increase in revenues from continuing operations versus the same quarter last year. This growth comes from acquisitions in our in-store marketing activities and a positive exchange rate impact. The growth was partially offset by lower volume and price concessions in our retail services and printing sector. Regarding profitability, consolidated adjusted EBITDA declined CAD 7.2 million or 17.9% to CAD 33.1 million. The decline was mainly due to lower volume and price concessions in the retail services and printing sector, partially offset by recent acquisitions and favorable exchange rate. The increase in our share price also contributed to higher incentive compensation expenses.

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

Net financials expenses decreased by CAD 4.4 million-CAD 9.3 million, mainly due to a lower debt level following strong cash flow generation in the last twelve months. This was partially offset by lower interest income we earned last year from the proceeds of the sale of our industrial packaging activities before we declared a special dividend in April last year. Adjusted income tax decreased by CAD 4 million-CAD 1.5 million and represented an effective rate of 18.3%. This led to adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations of CAD 0.08 compared to CAD 0.10 in Q1 last year. While our results after Q1s are lower than last year, we remain confident in our outlook.

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

We expect adjusted EBITDA to be below last year in the second quarter before recovering in the second half of the year as we start seeing the positive impact of significant cost reductions and profit improvement initiatives. Now turning to cash flow. As expected and in line with normal seasonality, we saw negative working capital in the first quarter of 2026. At CAD 10.8 million working capital usage, it was, however, much better than the 36.4 million we had in Q1 last year. Improvement was mainly due to lower inventory. Our CapEx at CAD 11.9 million was in line with last year and on target to be around our guidance of CAD 55 million-CAD 60 million for the full year.

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

Our adjusted net indebtedness ratio was at 1.69x at the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2026, compared to 1.59x three months ago. While we expect to generate strong operating cash flows in the rest of the year, our adjusted net indebtedness ratio is expected to increase over the next two quarters before improving in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026. As for the monetization of real estate, we expect to close the sale of one building in the next few months. Our financial position is solid. The board has approved today to return most of the proceeds from the sale of our packaging business to shareholders with a special dividend cash distribution of CAD 20 per share.

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

With the sale of our packaging business, we also sign a revised credit agreement with our banks, securing the funds to repay our CAD 250 million notes that are due in July 2026. The new agreement will also provide the flexibility to pursue our growth strategy. On that note, we will now proceed with the question period.

[Operator]

Thank you. One moment, please. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. If you have a question, please press star followed by the one on your touch tone phone. You will hear a tone acknowledging your request. Your questions will be pulled in the order they are received. Please ensure you lift the handset if you are using a speakerphone before pressing any keys. One moment, please, for your first question. Your first question comes from Sean Stewart, TD Cowen. Your line is now open.

[Sean Stewart, Managing Director of Equity Research at TD Cowen]

Thanks. Good afternoon, everyone. Congratulations to Thomas, Sam, and Pat. I have a couple of questions. I guess just trying to dial in on the guidance that you would expect that adjusted net debt ratios are gonna increase the next couple of quarters before starting to improve in fiscal Q4. Can you give us a bit of perspective on what's feeding into that expectation? You know, I imagine a part of this is the back-end weighted cost savings coming through later in the year. Can you give some perspective on the dollar magnitude there and expected follow-through into 2027?

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

Well, you're right. Actually, the cost saving not only will help on the debt-to-EBITDA ratio at the end of the quarter, but this is why also we're positive regarding maintaining EBITDA compared to last year. That's one thing. Second thing is when we gave guidance for Q2 and Q3, we include the possible acquisition that Thomas mentioned a bit earlier. There's some timing in payments. I will say lastly, the fourth quarter is always a very strong quarter for us in terms of EBITDA and free cash flow. Those are the key limits.

[Sean Stewart, Managing Director of Equity Research at TD Cowen]

Okay, thanks for that. You touched on an expectation that there'll be one property sale in the near term. Any updated thoughts on, I believe there was at least two properties that you had line of sight on and maybe some more behind that, context on expected proceeds and timing of additional real estate sales.

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

Yeah. The one that's close in the pipeline and hopefully that will close in the next few months is in order of CAD 30 million of value. So that's one of the big one that we had in the pipeline. I will say for the rest of market, it's still a market. Depending on the region where you are, it's, I will say, it's kind of slow, and it will depend also what's going on in the current global economy. We're confident at least to close this one in fiscal year, and we'll see the timing for the other ones. We have two other ones in the pipeline also. A small one in the U.S. and one other one in the south of Montreal.

[Sean Stewart, Managing Director of Equity Research at TD Cowen]

Okay. Just one last question from me. Your credit rating was downgraded yesterday. Any thoughts on how that changes your overall cost to capital, perspective on, I guess, higher borrowing costs going forward?

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

Well, not really because the new financing, as I mentioned in my opening comment that we put in place, will be based more on debt to EBITDA ratio. That current rating pricing will be close to the pricing we had regarding BBB- or investment grade. As far as, you know, the investment grade for us, it's more a question that the size of the business because the balance sheet, as you can see, will be very solid. It's more a question of the size of the business regarding the decision by the agency.

[Sean Stewart, Managing Director of Equity Research at TD Cowen]

Okay. Thanks very much for all of that. I'll get back in the queue.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Nikolai Goroupitch with CIBC Capital Markets. Your line is now open.

[Nikolai Goroupitch, Equity Research Associate at CIBC Capital Markets]

Hi. Could you elaborate more on the price concessions you took, how these developments unfolded and potentially quantify the impact on revenue growth as well?

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

The price concession we took in the first quarter is, I would say, it's north of CAD 1 million. It's in that region, so we're annually it's about CAD 4 million. This is something that when we do important renewal that we had in the past, and we always find ways in the coming quarters to with our synergies or efficiencies to compensate for that. Since we at the beginning of new contracts, it hit us directly in the P&L for this quarter.

[Nikolai Goroupitch, Equity Research Associate at CIBC Capital Markets]

Okay. I see. Thanks. Could you also provide some more detail on the size of the new acquisition you're expecting to close? How do you expect the rest of the year to shape up on the M&A front?

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

We're confident, as we said in the comment, we're pretty much advanced on discussion. Obviously, we need to close some transaction. In terms of size, we won't disclose any amount, but you can expect that it is in the area we did for this group, over the last few years. Not a big one compared to what we're doing in packaging, but very important for us, and that will create a lot of good synergies, on cost side and commercial side also.

[Nikolai Goroupitch, Equity Research Associate at CIBC Capital Markets]

Okay, great. I see. Thank you. I'll turn it over.

[Operator]

Adam Shine with National Bank. Your next question comes from Adam Shine with National Bank. Your line is now open.

[Adam Shine, Managing Director, Assistant Head of Research and Analyst of Media and Telecom at National Bank Financial]

Okay. Thanks a lot. Sam, congratulations. Of course, Thomas, it was wonderful interacting with you, and I wish you all the best. Maybe we just start in terms of, you know, the Q1 disclosure around ISM timing, where the volumes were a little bit lighter in the Q1. Can you just maybe speak to that, both in terms of quantum and, you know, what was the driver of that?

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

You know, regarding ISM, that was for us in Q1. We were expecting when we disclose at the end of fiscal year, you know, on the retail side because of the current condition in Ontario and the rest of Canada will be tough. ISM, we were expecting a little bit better in this quarter, but it's mostly timing. Having said that, if you look at the impact of pure growth in the quarter, this is something we disclose in our financial notes. It's about 5% decline. We still expect that overall in fiscal 2026, we will have positive organic growth, excluding acquisition for that group. It's mostly because of timing of some contract renewal or some, you know, stores that delayed some of the improvement they were supposed to make in first quarter.

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

We're still very confident for the rest of the year.

[Adam Shine, Managing Director, Assistant Head of Research and Analyst of Media and Telecom at National Bank Financial]

Okay. No, I appreciate that. Then obviously, you know, interesting development in regards to raddar going into Ontario. I didn't think that was gonna happen until, like, a year or two from now. Is that based on some negotiation with Torstar that allows this to happen, or is there something different going on?

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

Well, obviously, they're an important partner of us, so anything we will do in Ontario, rest of Canada will be in discussion, negotiation, in collaboration with them. You know, regarding the timing, we say that we will do more in Ontario. The timing of where we will be doing, all Ontario, rest of Canada is still not decided, but we will certainly do some tests in the coming quarter. You know, it's important for us to stabilize this business, and raddar is a great solution for us regarding that.

[Adam Shine, Managing Director, Assistant Head of Research and Analyst of Media and Telecom at National Bank Financial]

Just to be clear, if Torstar is doing, you know, flyers and distributing it in their territory for you, are you looking to offer raddar as sort of a complementary alternative solution to replace those flyers? It comes in as an alternative solution for customers to decide upon.

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

Well, all flyers are done by us, it's just we're talking about distribution.

[Adam Shine, Managing Director, Assistant Head of Research and Analyst of Media and Telecom at National Bank Financial]

Yeah.

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

What you might see in coming months is some region might have a distribution of raddar, but they will still like in, you know, be some flyer that might be done directly by Canada Post. What we're saying is we will do in some region in Ontario some tests regarding raddar in coming months in Ontario. Yeah.

[Adam Shine, Managing Director, Assistant Head of Research and Analyst of Media and Telecom at National Bank Financial]

Okay. No, I appreciate that. Maybe, you know, given that Isabelle's on the line. Hi, Isabelle. Just a quick question in terms of the nature of the new sort of structure, just having a COO, is that something where we kinda look upon Patrick as pseudo-president, Sam as CEO, although he does have both titles, or will get both titles? Or do we look upon this as something whereby there's maybe more in play regarding COO in regards to a future transitionary dynamic? Just curious.

[Isabelle Marcoux, Executive Chair of the Board at TC Transcontinental]

No, no. You're way ahead. There's no

[Adam Shine, Managing Director, Assistant Head of Research and Analyst of Media and Telecom at National Bank Financial]

Okay.

[Isabelle Marcoux, Executive Chair of the Board at TC Transcontinental]

There's just an upcoming transition. I think you should look at Sam as a very strong growth-oriented person, deal maker. He's done M&A for the company for the past 18 years, and you should look at Patrick Brayley as a true operator, innovator, knowing print so well. A great team with both of them. I think we have one plus one is 2.5.

[Adam Shine, Managing Director, Assistant Head of Research and Analyst of Media and Telecom at National Bank Financial]

Okay. I appreciate that. Thank you. I'll queue up again.

[Operator]

Stephen MacLeod with BMO Capital Markets. Your next question comes from Stephen MacLeod with BMO Capital Markets. Your line is now open.

[Stephen MacLeod, Managing Director of Equity Research at BMO Capital Markets]

Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Thomas, congratulations on your tenure, and congrats to Sam and Patrick as well. Just wanted to touch on a couple of things. Just firstly with respect to ISM, I mean, you sorta touched upon a pending transaction, or one that's in advanced discussions. I was just wondering if you could just remind us kind of the strategy with ISM M&A. Is it about filling in geographic coverage, or is it more about broadening your customer base, or is it a little bit of both?

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

Yeah, it's a little bit of both. We also already, you know, moving in Western Canada with our own platform on the retail side, so we're active over there. But it's adding products, but also it will be geographical. We see many opportunities in the next few years to grow that business. So yes. It's to expand our offering to our own clients, also.

[Stephen MacLeod, Managing Director of Equity Research at BMO Capital Markets]

Okay. That's

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

Yeah.

[Stephen MacLeod, Managing Director of Equity Research at BMO Capital Markets]

Sorry, go ahead.

[Thomas Morin, President and CEO at TC Transcontinental]

No, no. I mean, I was reinsisting on Donald's message. It is really both the geographic reach and the product offering.

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

Yeah.

[Thomas Morin, President and CEO at TC Transcontinental]

At the same time. It's both.

[Stephen MacLeod, Managing Director of Equity Research at BMO Capital Markets]

Okay, that's helpful. Are there any? When you think about both of those vectors, geographic and product, I mean, are there any notable geographies or products where you're underrepresented?

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

In terms of product, it's a very large market, so we can go into a lot of detail. We have a very good position in the product that we deliver for our main clients right now. In terms of regional, geographical, we're solid in Quebec and Ontario. We have some operations in Western Canada, but I think we have the right balance regarding where the business is done actually.

[Thomas Morin, President and CEO at TC Transcontinental]

We were underrepresented in Quebec.

[Stephen MacLeod, Managing Director of Equity Research at BMO Capital Markets]

Okay.

[Thomas Morin, President and CEO at TC Transcontinental]

We've acquired the businesses in Quebec to balance indeed the footprint between Ontario and Quebec. We're pretty okay.

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

Yeah.

[Stephen MacLeod, Managing Director of Equity Research at BMO Capital Markets]

Okay. That's great. Thank you. I just wanted to clarify, Donald, did you say that ISM was down 5% in Q1?

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

Yes.

[Stephen MacLeod, Managing Director of Equity Research at BMO Capital Markets]

Maybe just turning to leverage, as you think about your. Is it still fair to assume that your net debt EBITDA target exiting 2026 is in that 1.6-1.7x range?

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

Well, first, we don't have a target. This is something.

[Stephen MacLeod, Managing Director of Equity Research at BMO Capital Markets]

Okay.

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

that we said that, we're not doing acquisition. It was the case before, and even though the rating is not there anymore, we will remain very prudent with the balance sheet. We have a solid balance sheet, and the idea is to maintain it to give us the flexibility to do M&A. I would say that we don't have a target, but we're right now, we can be in the zone of 1.70-2, depending on timing of acquisition. But other than acquisition, we should be under two and going, you know, very rapidly close to one because this business, our business will manage a lot of free cash flow in the coming years. If there's no acquisition, we should be in a very good position.

[Stephen MacLeod, Managing Director of Equity Research at BMO Capital Markets]

Okay. That's very helpful. Maybe just finally, if you're able to give some color around it, can you give some guidance or color on what the magnitude of the corporate cost savings might be in the back half of the year?

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

You know, we're working on it, but it depends also on the TSA we have with ProAmpac right now because we will, you know, we will work with them. We said over the next two years is to save, you know, roughly CAD 30 million of corporate cost. The timing still need to be established regarding exactly when we'll be able to do some movement. Some of it will come in the second half, and some of it will be mostly next year for full run rate.

[Stephen MacLeod, Managing Director of Equity Research at BMO Capital Markets]

Okay, that's great. Thanks so much for the color, guys. Appreciate it.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Maher Yaghi with Scotiabank. Your line is now open.

[Maher Yaghi, Managing Director and Telecom, Cable and Media Analyst at Scotiabank]

I just wanted to ask you a question. You know, putting aside the incentive compensation cost increase, just, you know, on the retail and services and printing. I was trying to figure out the drop in organic revenue of CAD 6.7 million came with a drop of CAD 5 million approximately on the EBITDA side. Seems pretty high. Can you just help me understand? You mentioned earlier that pricing was about CAD 1 million. So I was trying to figure out why the EBITDA decrease was so elevated compared to the revenue drop. Thank you.

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

Yeah. Well, yeah, you're right. For sure, price concession north of CAD 1 million as an impact. Also, where we had some decrease is in the distribution of flyers in the rest of Canada. You know that this is very high margin for us. That had an impact for sure also. I will say that that's the mix that didn't help us on the EBITDA side versus what we lost on the sales side.

[Maher Yaghi, Managing Director and Telecom, Cable and Media Analyst at Scotiabank]

Okay. Is that running through the P&L completely now, or there could be, like, an additional step-down function in Q2 on that side?

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

When you said step-down function, what do you mean by it?

[Maher Yaghi, Managing Director and Telecom, Cable and Media Analyst at Scotiabank]

I mean the lower profitability from the lower distribution that you have in the rest of Canada. Is that running through or there are additional geographies that will be affected in Q2 that have not been affected yet?

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

Well, what we said, and that's what I said in my opening comments, we remain confident for the full year to be stable versus last year. The impact you see in the first quarter should be roughly the same in the second quarter because the cost saving program we put in place and some other action we're taking will start to kick more in the second half of the year.

[Maher Yaghi, Managing Director and Telecom, Cable and Media Analyst at Scotiabank]

You know, looking back at the revenue line, you mentioned you're you know launching raddar in the rest of the country. How should we think about the revenue trajectory in the second half if you're launching that process in Q2?

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

Yeah. Hard to say for the moment because we don't know at which speed the progress will come. As we said, when we have this transition for Quebec and also a little bit of BC, you know, for sure, top line will go down. The most important for us is to maintain the EBITDA. It's really hard to say what will be the impact of percentage. It depends on the timing. The reason, to be clear, that the top line will be affected is that we're using less paper, therefore, it does have an impact, but the VA and the EBITDA is not affected. We saw the impact in Quebec. It's hard for us to say right now because it depends, again, at the speed the progress will go. It will affect the top line, for sure.

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

It will stabilize the EBITDA, and this is the most important thing for that part of the business.

[Maher Yaghi, Managing Director and Telecom, Cable and Media Analyst at Scotiabank]

Yeah. No, I totally get that. Maybe just if you can give us the total revenue that you currently generate that could eventually transition to raddar for the rest of Canada, just to get an understanding of how much, you know, we're talking about.

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

Well, this is something that Yan can give you some more color offline.

[Maher Yaghi, Managing Director and Telecom, Cable and Media Analyst at Scotiabank]

Okay, great.

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

Yeah.

[Maher Yaghi, Managing Director and Telecom, Cable and Media Analyst at Scotiabank]

Just on the leverage side, you know, you know, there's a lot of wacky, I mean, you know, ratios going on now that, you know, you still haven't cycled through the P&L and you're on a pro forma basis. Let's say a year from now, Donald, you know, where would you like that leverage to land?

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

Well, again, it depends on the timing of acquisition. As Sam mentioned in his comments, we're confident to grow the business on the ISM. Therefore, we will be active on acquisition. We have a business that will generate a lot of free cash flow. This is the business I mentioned that will need maybe CAD 50-55 million of CapEx. We don't have a target for that. Obviously, the approach remains the same for us to be prudent regarding the balance sheet. We're confident regarding our balance sheet as we speak right now. We will have room for acquisition. If there's no acquisition, we don't mind to get to a position of, you know, 1x debt to EBITDA, but it's not a target for us.

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

The target for us is to stabilize the business on the flyer side and to grow the business on the ISM, obviously, organic growth and acquisition.

[Maher Yaghi, Managing Director and Telecom, Cable and Media Analyst at Scotiabank]

Okay.

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

More the way to look at it while maintaining a strong balance sheet.

[Maher Yaghi, Managing Director and Telecom, Cable and Media Analyst at Scotiabank]

Okay, maybe I'll ask it a different way. Assuming, you know, the M&A transactions are available to you and everything, where do you think the business could run long term in terms of leverage? What level would you be comfortable taking the leverage up to? That's what I'm trying to figure out.

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

Well, I would say, honestly, it's a little bit of a hypothetical question. Like, when we did in the past coverage, we were comfortable to go up as far as 3.50 because we were strongly confident in our ability to get back under two, and that's what we did, that's what we deliver. We don't see, and this is something we mentioned earlier, any big acquisition coming the ISM, so I don't see any big acquisition that will push us like above three. It's, like I said, we think we should be in a range of 1.50-2.50 in the next months. If there's no acquisition, we don't mind to be, you know, close to 1x debt to EBITDA.

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

When we bought Coveris, the last comment on that one, we had almost no debt on the balance sheet, and we were quite happy about that.

[Maher Yaghi, Managing Director and Telecom, Cable and Media Analyst at Scotiabank]

Okay. Merci beaucoup.

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

Merci.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, if there are any additional questions at this time, please press star followed by the one. As a reminder, if you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset up before pressing any keys. J. Sebastian van Berkom with Van Berkom and Associates. The next question comes from J. Sebastian van Berkom with Van Berkom and Associates. Your line is now open.

[Sebastian van Berkom, President and CEO at Van Berkom and Associates]

Thank you very much for taking my call. Isabelle, I know you're on the line, so hello again to you. I have two simple questions. I just arrived, so I was a little late in kicking into the conference call. I guess number one, I would like to know what is the exact date of the CAD 20 share distribution?

[Isabelle Marcoux, Executive Chair of the Board at TC Transcontinental]

We will be paying out the dividend on the 20th of March, and that's next Friday.

[Sebastian van Berkom, President and CEO at Van Berkom and Associates]

March?

[Isabelle Marcoux, Executive Chair of the Board at TC Transcontinental]

20.

[Sebastian van Berkom, President and CEO at Van Berkom and Associates]

March 20?

[Isabelle Marcoux, Executive Chair of the Board at TC Transcontinental]

Exactly.

[Sebastian van Berkom, President and CEO at Van Berkom and Associates]

Okay. Number two, given that you sold a substantial part or all of the packaging business, the stub or the remaining Transcontinental, can you, Isabelle, give us some kind of a sense of, you know, what kind of a company this is gonna become in the next, you know, five years? Because at the moment, the market seems to say that, you know, it's only worth about CAD 3 after this distribution. It means a very, very low multiple. For me, it's just there's something wrong with this picture. I was wondering if you could give us some clarification.

[Isabelle Marcoux, Executive Chair of the Board at TC Transcontinental]

Sure looks like a great buy right now.

[Sebastian van Berkom, President and CEO at Van Berkom and Associates]

The stub isn't trading yet, but it probably will trade soon after the March 20th distribution. I'm just trying to figure that out. Like, it seems to be there's something wrong with the picture and that it seems to be awfully cheap, the remaining part of the business. Is the remaining part of the business so bad that it's being sold, it's being traded at such a low price?

[Isabelle Marcoux, Executive Chair of the Board at TC Transcontinental]

We think it's a good business. It's a business with potential.

[Sebastian van Berkom, President and CEO at Van Berkom and Associates]

Pardon me.

[Isabelle Marcoux, Executive Chair of the Board at TC Transcontinental]

We think it's a good business. It's a business with great cash flows. It's a business that's poised for growth. We see growth opportunities in the ISM sector, and we see growth opportunity in these.

[Sebastian van Berkom, President and CEO at Van Berkom and Associates]

Is this a business that you expect to grow top line at 10% a year or 15% a year? Like, what kind of order of magnitude are we talking over the next five years?

[Isabelle Marcoux, Executive Chair of the Board at TC Transcontinental]

We'll surely look to grow it internally and through acquisitions. We have already started doing that with three acquisitions under our belt only in the last year in the ISM business.

[Sebastian van Berkom, President and CEO at Van Berkom and Associates]

What kind of order of magnitude are you talking, Isabelle? Are we talking a 15% grower or a 10% grower? Like, where are we in the next five years?

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

I think this is not something that we will disclose today. What we have said in the past is that we're, you know, now with the sale of packaging, over the last two years, we were able to stabilize the retail and service printing business. We have growth in the media business. Today for us, and by saying that we're confident to again stabilize the EBITDA business, we're putting this business for growth in the next few years because the portion that's growing is getting bigger and bigger, which is the ISM and even the education side of the business. We're confident to grow the business organically over years and then add it over acquisition. We won't disclose any organic plan or acquisition plan for the next five years.

[Sebastian van Berkom, President and CEO at Van Berkom and Associates]

Oh, no, why not? Many companies do.

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

Well, this is not our approach, so we're not gonna disclose that.

[Sebastian van Berkom, President and CEO at Van Berkom and Associates]

Okay. Thank you very much.

[Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO at TC Transcontinental]

All right. Thank you.

[Operator]

There are no further questions at this time.

[Yan Lapointe, Senior Director of Investor Relations and Treasury at TC Transcontinental]

Before closing the call, I'd like to turn it over to Thomas for a few words.

[Thomas Morin, President and CEO at TC Transcontinental]

Thank you. Thank you, Yan. In closing, I'd like to thank you all, our participants to these quarterly calls, and especially to you financial analysts on the line. I want to say that your questions were always so thoughtful and well-received, and today is no different, obviously, as you could all hear. It's been a pleasure getting to know you over the past two years, and I'd like to thank you all today. Thank you very much.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the conference call for today. Thank you for participating. Please disconnect your lines.

Participants

Executives

• Donald LeCavalier, EVP and CFO
• Isabelle Marcoux, Executive Chair of the Board
• Sam Bendavid, Chief Corporate Development and Procurement Officer
• Thomas Morin, President and CEO
• Yan Lapointe, Senior Director of Investor Relations and Treasury

Analysts

• Adam Shine, Managing Director, Assistant Head of Research and Analyst of Media and Telecom at National Bank Financial
• Maher Yaghi, Managing Director and Telecom, Cable and Media Analyst at Scotiabank
• Nikolai Goroupitch, Equity Research Associate at CIBC Capital Markets
• Sean Stewart, Managing Director of Equity Research at TD Cowen
• Sebastian van Berkom, President and CEO at Van Berkom and Associates
• Stephen MacLeod, Managing Director of Equity Research at BMO Capital Markets