Transcontinental Inc.

Mesdames et messieurs, merci d'avoir patienté et bienvenue à la conférence téléphonique concernant les résultats du premier trimestre de l'exercice 2022 de TC Transcontinental. Pendant la conférence, tous les participants seront en mode d'écoute seulement. Une période de questions suivra la présentation et des directives vous seront données à ce moment. Nous désirons vous rappeler que cette conférence est enregistrée aujourd'hui le 8 mars 2022. Welcome to the TC Transcontinental first quarter of fiscal 2022 results conference call. During the presentation, all participants are in a 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 8, 2022. I would like to turn the conference over to Jan McLean, Director, Investor Relations. J'aimerais maintenant céder la parole à Julien Lapointe, directeur relations avec les investisseurs. Mr. Lapointe, please go ahead.

Thank you, Julien, and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to TC Transcontinental's first quarter 2022 results conference call. Before we begin, I'd like to highlight that the earning call presentation, the press release, and the MDMA along with complete financial statements and related notes that were issued earlier today, are all available on our website at tc.tc under the Investor Relations section. A replay of this conference call will also be available on our website after the call. We have with us today our President and Chief Executive Officer, Peter Bruce, and our Chief Financial Officer, Donald LeCavalier. Before I turn the call over to management, I would like to specify that this conference call is intended for the financial community. Media are in listen-only mode and should contact Nathalie Saint-Jean, Senior Advisor, Corporate Communications, for more information or interview requests. Please be reminded that 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 such 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, and they involve numerous risks and uncertainties, known and unknown. The risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could influence actual results are described in the fiscal 2021 annual MD&A and in the latest annual information form. With that, I would now like to turn the call over to our president and CEO, Peter Bruce. Thanks, Jan.

Good afternoon, and thanks for joining our call. First, from a safety perspective, we were pleased to see a 7% decrease in the number of injuries in the quarter. In terms of COVID, we continue to take measures to keep our coworkers safe and ensure that no outbreaks start in the plant. In contrast to previous COVID variants, Omicron's impact on our operations was significant. In December and January, we had about the same number of COVID absences as we experienced in the previous 19 months of the pandemic.