Montreal, February 21, 2007 – Today, on the same day as its annual meeting, Transcontinental announced that it has set up a division that will be responsible for developing its model for outsourced newspaper printing in North America and managing its U.S. plants in this niche. The first plant will be built in the San Francisco Bay area in order to print the San Francisco Chronicle starting in the spring of 2009. Ted Markle, who until now has been vice president of development in the Newspaper Group, has been appointed senior vice president of the new division. His core team of about ten people will be expanded in the coming months. “The United States is our priority international market and it is vital for our growth that we develop our presence there,” said Luc Desjardins, president and CEO of Transcontinental. “We are already one of the biggest suppliers of integrated direct marketing services and we plan to become the same in newspaper printing through our unique outsourcing model. The announcement today indicates where we’re headed.” François Olivier, president of Transcontinental’s Printing Products and Services sector, added: “Our approach to the U.S. daily newspaper industry has been a gradual one. We first developed our model in Canada with The Globe and Mail and La Presse. The fact that we’ve been printing The New York Times for the Ontario and upstate New York markets since November 2005, and, as announced in November 2006, have signed a 15-year contract to print the San Francisco Chronicle, has done a great deal for our credibility and visibility in the industry. We were already in talks with most of the major players and now there is even more interest in our model. The potential growth for Transcontinental is enormous. We needed a full-time team dedicated to the job.”