July 10, 2002 -- (WhatTheyThink.com) -- Yesterday, GTC Transcontinental Group said it would hold a news conference this morning in Montreal to announce "a major acquisition". Transcontinental Group is Canada's largest consumer magazine publisher and second-largest printer. Sources we spoke with were unable to comment further. At the news conference, Remi Marcoux, Chairman of the Board, Luc Desjardins, President and Chief Operating Officer, and Daniel Denault, Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer plan to announce the acquisition and then answer questions from the media. Transcontinental Group has been one of the better performing printing companies mostly as a result of acquisitions. In February, Remi Marcoux, Chairman and CEO of Transcontinental said that the company wants to develop a Canada-wide network of sheet-fed printers, just as they have done for their flyer and newspaper printing businesses. "We are currently studying other possible acquisitions with this goal in mind.'' Outside of Canada, Transcontinental said in May it would buy Mexican book printer Editorial Offset making it the largest commercial printer in Mexico. In their most recent quarter, Daniel Denault, CFO explained their strategy. “This performance, which continues to distinguish us from the majority of the industry, confirms the appropriateness of Transcontinental’s strategy of targeted growth, both as a printer and as a publisher, and its leading position in almost all of its niches.” Transcontinental maintains a strong balance sheet with a net funded debt to total capitalization ratio of 30%. Given its performance over the first six months, recent acquisitions, and anticipating further improvement of its results, the company even raised earnings per share guidance for 2002 by 12% to 18%. We will have further details later today.