Big payment offsets smaller print runs

Article Excerpt

TRANSCONTINENTAL INC. $11 (Toronto symbol TCL.A;Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 78.2 million; Market cap: $860.2 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; Dividend yield: 5.3%; TSI Network Rating: Average;www.tctranscontinental.com) has amended the terms of its contract to print the San Francisco Chronicle, which runs to 2024.The newspaper’s print circulation is falling, so it needs fewer copies. To compensate, the Chronicle will pay Transcontinental$200 million U.S.To put that in context, Transcontinental earned $149.4 million(Canadian), or $1.85 a share, in its 2012 fiscal year, which ended October 31, 2012. That’s down 3.8% from $155.3 million, or $1.92a share, in fiscal 2011. However, revenue rose 6.2%, to $2.1 billion from $2.0 billion, mainly because it bought new printing plants.That offset lower ad revenue at its newspapers, as well as the completion of a big contract to print census forms in 2011.Transcontinental is a buy. buy…