(Montreal) Transcontinental changes CEO barely 18 months after the appointment of Peter Brues, who leaves the company.
The packager and printer made the announcement on Wednesday, following the publication of its quarterly results. He will be replaced by Thomas Morin who ran the company’s packaging division. The French-born executive has 27 years of international packaging experience.
The Quebec company did not wish to explain the reasons for this early departure. “Both parties agreed that this was the right way to go,” said spokesperson Nathalie St-Jean.
The decision comes in a difficult context for the printing industry, which must deal with a structural decline in its activities and an increase in production costs.
Mr. Brues succeeded François Olivier who led the Montreal company for 13 years before retiring. Le Journal de Montréal later noted that Mr. Olivier and the daughter of the founder and chairman of the board of directors, Isabelle Marcoux, had begun divorce proceedings.
Mr. Olivier was entitled to a $1.5 million severance package “in recognition of his significant accomplishments,” according to regulatory filings by the company.
For his part, Mr. Brues would also be eligible for a severance package, again according to the shareholders’ circular. This compensation would be equivalent to twice his annual base salary in addition to a payment equivalent to twice the average incentive compensation received over the past two years.
In 2022, he received a salary of 1.1 million, but he was only in office for ten months. His annual bonus was $55,000.
Ms. Marcoux will also take on a more prominent role within the company. CFO Donald LeCavalier will also see his responsibilities increase.
Transcontinental said the same day that its profit had declined by 6.2% to 22.2 million in the second quarter, ended April 30. Revenues, for their part, increased by 4.4% to 747.2 million.
The new big boss of the company explained, in a press release, that the company had recorded a drop in volumes in both the printing and packaging sectors.
Price increases and cost-cutting initiatives would have helped preserve profitability in the packaging business, Morin said. “As for the printing sector, the necessary actions have been taken to adjust our cost structure and to increase prices in order to compensate for the cost increases due to inflation,” he adds. These measures helped to mitigate the effects of lower volumes in flyer printing and distribution activities. »
Transcontinental shares gained 37 cents, or 2.54%, to $14.91 on the Toronto Stock Exchange around noon.
