Transcontinental Inc.

Mesdames et messieurs, merci d'avoir patienté et bienvenue à la conférence téléphonique concernant les résultats du premier trimestre de l'exercice 2023 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 2023. Welcome to TC Transcontinental first quarter of fiscal 2023 results conference call. During the presentation, all participants will be in a lesson-only mode. Afterwards, we will conduct the question and answer session and instructions will be provided at that time. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded today, March 8, 2023. I will now turn the conference over to Yann Lapointe, Director, Investor Relations and Treasury, I would now like to give the floor to Yann Lapointe, Director, Relations with Investors and Treasury. Mr. Lapointe, please go ahead.

Thank you, Julie, and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Transcontinental's first quarter of fiscal 2023 earnings call. Before we begin, please note that the press release, the MD&A, along with complete financial statements and related notes, as well as the slides supporting management's remarks, are all available on our website at www.tc.tc under the Investor Relations section. A replay of this conference call will also be available on our website shortly after the call. We have with us today our President and Chief Executive Officer, Peter Bruce, and our Chief Financial Officer, Donna 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. Please be reminded that some of the financial measures discussed over the course of this 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, and they involve numerous risks and uncertainties, known and unknown. The risk, uncertainties, and other factors that could influence actual results are described in the fiscal 2022 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, everyone. Starting with safety, I'm pleased to report that our focus on safety is generating improved results. We're off to a good start with a 21% decrease in recordable injuries compared to last year. In terms of financial results, increased profit in packaging for the quarter was more than offset by the impact of lower volumes in printing. In this context, I appreciate the speed with which both sectors implemented initiatives that will generate savings of over $15 million in fiscal 2023. In packaging, we did not see our usual volume growth. As supply chains have improved and interest rates have gone up, many of our customers have worked to decrease excess inventories and have not ordered their usual volumes. With banana customers suffering from volume declines and increased costs, our Latin American business also experienced significant pressure on volume. Despite these volume issues, the work the team has done to develop products that create value for our customers and focus on developing low-cost operations resulted in an 11% increase in profit versus last year's first quarter, the sector's fourth consecutive quarter of improvement. In print, having worked diligently to increase our prices to reflect inflationary cost increases, the sector experienced significant volume decline in key businesses. With six marketing budgets, the pass-through of increased costs resulted in a 10% decrease in retail flyer volume. This decrease had an adverse impact on our retail flyer and distribution businesses' profit. Coupled with a key retailer's decision to postpone its in-store marketing renewal work until later this year, Print experienced a $16 million decrease in profitability. Our print team has a strong track record of adjusting our cost structure. They've already implemented measures to mitigate the impact of lower demand. We're seeing the early benefits of our actions and will continue to adjust as necessary. Our financial position is solid thanks to our ability to generate significant cash flow and no major debt maturities until 2025. we remain focused on our disciplined approach to profitable growth while maintaining our dividend and reducing our net debt. And now, over to you, Donel.