MONTREAL, QUEBEC--Luc Desjardins, President and Chief Operating Officer of Transcontinental Group, today announced the retirement of Wayne Newson, President of Transcontinental Printing. His retirement is effective January 1, 2002. "Mr. Newson did a fine job for Transcontinental over the four years he spent as head of the Printing sector, leading the sector during that time to a period of rapid growth,'' said Mr. Desjardins. "On behalf of the management team and employees, I thank Wayne for his contribution and wish him all the best in his future endeavours. The process of finding a replacement for Mr. Newson will begin in the coming days.'' One of the largest commercial printers in North America and Canada's largest publisher of consumer magazines, Transcontinental Group is a Canadian corporation that is also engaged in interactive marketing and Internet solutions, the publishing of weekly newspapers and the door-to-door distribution of advertising material. The Corporation has over 10,500 employees in Canada, the United States and Mexico. Transcontinental's Class A Subordinate Voting Shares and Class B Shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbols GRT.A and GRT.B, respectively.