Canadian media company and publisher Transcontinental Inc. is raising its dividend by 7% after reporting that it slipped to a first-quarter loss.
Transcontinental reported a $33.3 million loss, or 41 cents per share, as it faced tax-related losses. The company booked a tax-loss of $58 million tied to notices of a reassessment on deductions to its capital asset investments.
The results compare to a profit of $25.7 million, or 32 cents per share, a year earlier.
Adjusted net income was down 6% to $27.1 million, or 33 cents per share, a penny lower than analyst expectations, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.
Revenues decreased 4% to $495.9 million from $514.8 million.
Transcontinental completed on March 1 its acquisition of the Canadian assets of Quad Graphics. The transaction is expected to allow the company to leverage more than $700 million in printing platform investments by further consolidating excess commercial printing capacity.
The deal is expected to add about $230 million in revenues and at least $40 million in added EBITDA over 12 to 24 months.
Transcontinental has been consolidating its production in a smaller number of modern plants as it increases its digital media offering.
The company is the largest printer in Canada and fourth-largest in North America. It is the leading publisher of consumer magazines and French-language educational resources and community newspapers in Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.
The Montreal-based company said Tuesday it would raise its dividend to 14.5 cents for both its class A and class B shares.
