Montreal – Transcontinental announced today that on June 4, 2011 it will be closing the Transcontinental T.R. Offset printing plant at 1850 Bellefeuille, Trois-Rivières in Quebec. As of that date, production of the daily paper Le Nouvelliste, the only publication printed at the plant, will be transferred to the new Transcontinental Transmag plant in Montreal, which has benefited from over $60 million in investments over the past two years. Le Nouvelliste will thus be able to take advantage of the broad scope of printing options available at the state-of-the-art plant, which is part of Transcontinental's Canada-wide network of new hybrid presses. This network is expressly designed to meet the current and future needs of newspaper publishers and provides key services such as faster turnaround times, higher print and production capacity, colour on every page and the ability to print on coated newsprint.

"In the past three years, Transcontinental has invested heavily in new print technology, greatly increasing production capacity," says Ted Markle, Transcontinental's Senior Vice-President, Newspaper Group, Printing Sector. "During that same period, the printing industry has undergone a major transformation. This has led to a complete review of our newspaper printing network and, unfortunately, to the closure of our newspaper printing operations in Trois-Rivières."

Some 50 employees at Transcontinental T.R. Offset will be affected by the closure. All employees will receive severance packages and out-placement services to help them quickly find new jobs.

Transcontinental would like to thank all the employees at Transcontinental T.R. Offset for their dedication and outstanding contribution to the Corporation's success for many years.