"The growth in our revenues and profitability demonstrates how effectively we executed our strategy," said President/CEO François Olivier in a statement. "In the printing sector, with the ongoing integration of Quad/Graphics Canada, we have generated further synergies this quarter.

"We are confident that we will be able to keep improving our profitability over last year given the additional synergies we expect to generate through the ongoing integration of Quad/Graphics Canada, Inc., and with the additional business from new multi-year agreements valued at about $30m per year, which will begin in the next two quarters."

The company added it continued to restructure as part of its ongoing integration of all Quad/Graphics assets in Canada (with the exception of one Vancouver facility). That deal was only finalized last spring and Transcontinental noted: "This allows us to focus on the use of our most productive equipment and leverage the more than $700m (US $682.3m) invested over the past several years to upgrade the printing platform."

As Canada's largest commercial printer, Transcontinental prints the Globe & Mail newspaper in major markets across Canada as well as numerous small newspapers, community weeklies, magazines, inserts and fliers.

In announcing its Q1 results, it noted: "The media sector will continue to be affected by difficult market conditions, particularly with respect to advertising by our national and local clients. To limit the potential impact of these conditions, efficiency measures are being implemented to protect and improve the sector's profit margins."