The Gazette G.T.C. Transcontinental Group Ltd. is on a roll, and you have to wonder when the stock market is going to wake up to the story. Transcontinental is the Montreal printing and publishing company that launched the free Metro newspaper yesterday. It has now posted 23 consecutive quarters of revenue and profit growth as part of a consistent record of growth throughout its 25-year history. Transcontinental's cheap stock is obviously a source of consternation in the company's Place Ville Marie headquarters.
Nobody here understands that.
In fact, the two companies are a study in contrasts. Quebecor, under the abrasive Pierre Karl Peladeau, has loaded up on debt, paying top dollar for Videotron and various Internet properties in pursuit of a much-ballyhooed convergence strategy. Transcontinental, on the other hand, has hummed along quietly. Its strategy is to tie Internet sites tightly to its magazines. For example, two new women's portals that are to be launched this spring will use content from its women's magazines, like Canadian Living and Homemaker's, and will allow Transcontinental to cross-sell advertising, subscriptions and products between the magazines and the Internet.