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The closure of gathering places such as restaurants has stimulated demand for the division of packaging, TC Transcontinental.
The pandemic of COVID-19 has had effects diametrically opposite in the two divisions of TC Transcontinental : if the frame rate of the packaging has not been disturbed, the paused of the economy has darkened the portrait to the side of the print.
Although the quebec-based company was able to proceed to the recall of around 600 employees temporarily laid off from the sector that prints including circulars, which can be found in the publisac network and newspapers, 1000 employees have still not returned to work since the volumes are not yet at the rendezvous. In addition to the grocery chains, few retailers have continued to focus on the circulars when all the shops are considered non-essential were closed, has explained the president and chief executive officer, François Olivier.
“Even pharmacies have skipped their turn a few times, he explained. The circular encourage the consumer to go to the shops and some retailers were not sufficiently equipped to receive consumers. “When the national Cooperative of independent information has decided to discontinue the publication of its six regional dailies in the week, this has also weighed on volumes.
At the present time, the division of the print runs at 70% capacity. Mr Olivier believed that this rate can climb up to 80 %, and, even if the publisac network has lost a customer well-known when Max has decided to abandon its circular paper. “I don’t want to speculate on it, when he was invited to say whether he expected that other retailers make the same decision. At the present time, there is a return to normal for many of our customers [the publisac network]. Some are even more pages. “
On the side of the division of packaging, the portrait was much different. Approximately 80% of its activities specialize in the packaging of consumer products destined to retailers such as grocery chains. Measures to limit the spread of the new coronavirus, which resulted in the closure of venues such as restaurants, have stimulated demand.
For the three-month period ended April 26, the company has seen its revenue decline of 18.5 %, while its net profit was 25.7 million, or 30 cents per share. However, excluding the non-recurring items, adjusted earnings fell 17.1 %, to 43.6 million, or 50 cents per share.
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