Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon and welcome to our annual meeting of shareholders. Our meeting this year is a special one for me since it marks the end of my first year as president and chief executive officer of Transcontinental. First, I want to tell you that I'm proud of our performance in 2004 and the first quarter of 2005. I'd like to mention two aspects that are particularly encouraging. First, operating results in fiscal 2004 ended on a strong note and that momentum carried through the first quarter of 2005. Our continued growth despite difficult market conditions truly differentiates us from the majority of our competitors. And don't forget that in our case, the growth of the past year follows on record years in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003! The other positive element for our shareholders is that we have continued to invest more than ever in the future: in training, in promoting our brands, in capital expenditures and in strategic acquisitions. Our continued success year after year is due to our way of doing things, which means that:

• our employees share common values and those values are central to our business model;
• our people receive ongoing and structured training in a team-based environment;
• we are developing ever-deeper knowledge of the constantly evolving needs of our customers, individually and by major category;
• our unique business model is focused on simplifying the work of our customers;
• we have a systematic strategy of niche-based growth;
• we have disciplined financial management;
• and, lastly, we are committed to protecting the long-term interests of our employees, our customers and our shareholders, the three pillars of the Corporation.

So I'd like to take this opportunity to publicly thank all of our 14,000 employees in Canada, the United States and Mexico for their daily commitment to Transcontinental, its customers and its shareholders. We can never say it often enough: at Transcontinental, it's the people who make the difference!

CONTRACT TO PRINT THE NEW YORK TIMES

This morning at our annual press conference we announced that we have signed a new contract that fits in perfectly with Transcontinental's niche-based development strategy. Starting this fall, we will be printing The New York Times, one of the most prestigious newspapers in the world, for the Ontario market as well as the Buffalo and Rochester regions of New York State. The paper will be printed at Transcontinental Interweb Toronto, where we already print The Globe and Mail.

With this contract, we now have a foothold in the U.S. market for outsourced newspaper printing.

This new partnership illustrates the relevance of our targeted U.S. development strategy and is a logical outcome of the strong growth in our newspaper printing activities in Canada since 1997.

In fact, we honed our newspaper printing skills in Canada with great success before we started exporting them. Let me just mention that since October 2003 we have been the designated printer for the daily newspaper La Presse, which is produced at Transcontinental Metropolitan, the most modern newspaper printing plant in North America. We also print The Globe and Mail for its main markets in Canada. In fact, our Canada-wide network of specialized printing plants makes us the biggest newspaper printer in the country and we plan to reinforce that position in the years ahead.

Our decision to develop newspaper printing is rooted in our conviction that the move to entrust newspaper printing to the experts is an irreversible trend. Thanks to outsourcing, newspaper publishers can concentrate on producing better content and graphics, while we can provide state-of-the-art equipment, greater flexibility and higher quality.

Becoming the trusted partner of The New York Times is thus a major step forward in developing the newspaper printing niche in the United States. Furthermore, François Olivier, senior vice president of the Newspaper Group at Transcontinental Printing, and Ted Markle, the Group's vice president of business development, have started to systematically approach U.S. publishers to make them aware of our unique outsourcing model.

DIRECT MARKETING IN THE UNITED STATES

That which we seek to become in the U.S. newspaper-printing market we have already achieved in direct marketing. So let me tell you about our game plan for the United States, especially since the two main highlights of fiscal 2004 and the first quarter of 2005 relate to the acquisition of two key players in the U.S. direct marketing industry, that is, CC3 in December 2003 and JDM in February 2005.

The United States represents a strategic market for Transcontinental, but in specific niches. In other words, our goal is not to become the biggest commercial printer in the United States, but rather to become the best in niches that have strong growth potential by, among other things, offering value-added services.

In terms of geography, CC3, which is now called Transcontinental Direct U.S.A., increased our presence in the Philadelphia area, where we already had a plant, and extended our positioning in the vital western and central U.S. markets, with facilities in Los Angeles and Dallas. We estimate that 75% of the U.S. population lives within 800 kilometres of these three centres. Today, with our facilities in Toronto and Montreal, we cover all of North America and we are the only company to do so in this way.

CC3 offers its customers a broad array of direct marketing services through a one-stop shop, and that was exactly the integrated model we were looking for.

In 2004, Transcontinental Direct U.S.A.'s integrated offer and its unique geographic positioning were very well received by major American corporations, as shown by the fact that revenues grew strongly and the integration was a success.

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On February 14, we acquired JDM, which has five plants in eastern Pennsylvania. This transaction more than doubled our production capacity in the U.S., to five billion pieces of direct mail per year, making Transcontinental the biggest player in the production of printed direct marketing items in the United States.

JDM is a fast-growing company known for its operational excellence and leadership.

Given that our major North American customers are consolidating their purchases and decreasing their number of suppliers, we are in a better position than ever to continue our growth.

The acquisition of JDM also added a group of seasoned managers to our U.S. team. In fact, several members of the Transcontinental Direct U.S.A. management team are here today and I'd like to introduce them to you (and I'll ask them to stand up):

• Don McKenzie, president of Transcontinental Direct U.S.A., who was president of CC3 when we acquired it;
• Denis Mathieu, the senior vice president who, after a 10-year career in Montreal, agreed to move with his family to Philadelphia to help us on site;
• Alon Stephens, senior vice president, based in Dallas;
• Chris Carosella, son of the founder of JDM and its president when we acquired the company last month. He is now our operating vice president for the eastern United States;
• Steve Pasi, senior vice president, sales and marketing;
• and Barry Carton, vice president, finance.

On behalf of our shareholders, welcome to our annual meeting.

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In Canada, our goal is to be the leader in each of our niches and we are constantly strengthening that position through organic growth and acquisitions.

Thus, since 2000 we have become Canada's leading publisher of consumer magazines. When we acquired Avid Media's magazines in June 2004 we added top quality publications that complement our existing editions in the gardening, renovation, home decor and outdoor segments. Our national advertisers know that they can reach their target audience anywhere in Canada through our publications. Here I'd like to welcome Jacqueline Howe, president of Avid Media at the time of the acquisition, and now vice president and senior publisher for our Magazine Group. In the photo, Jacqueline is to the right of Francine Tremblay, senior vice president for consumer publications.

OVERVIEW OF MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2004

I will now give you a brief overview of our main achievements in fiscal 2004. In fact, that comes down to describing how well our troops have been mobilized under our Horizon 2005 business project.

On the continuous improvement front: to date, about 10,000 of our 14,000 employees have taken the Phil - The Three Pillars course aimed at building common values, common objectives and new ways of doing things, and broadening employee participation in Transcontinental's culture of continuous improvement.

Also, since the launch of Horizon 2005, our employees have completed about a hundred Kaizen workshops, which adds up to more than 130,000 hours of employee participation. This has made our operations more efficient, which is one of the areas where we excel.

The screen shows Serge Bragdon, president of the Information Products Printing Sector, personally participating in a Kaizen workshop at Transcontinental Interweb Montreal early in the year. Note the pride and pleasure of the employees and, of course, their president!

Plus, in September 2004, we launched the Mission: Leadership program at a meeting attended by 125 managers. This is an initiative that is particularly close to my heart. We must keep upgrading our skills and giving our managers the tools they need to provide leadership in the years ahead.

Lastly, in 2004, we conducted an in-depth review of our manufacturing strategy, to see whether our equipment was being used to its full potential. As a result, we consolidated our flyer printing operations in Western Canada. We then evaluated the new printing technologies and developed an investment plan for each niche. That is the background to our announcement in November 2004 of a major $53 million capital investment program over the next two years, which involves purchasing three presses and their finishing equipment. This special investment is in addition to the planned yearly capital investments.

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On the standardization front: along with the ongoing deployment of an integrated manufacturing software program in our printing and distribution operations, we have started to implement our new vision of premedia. Premedia is a strategic asset. When a customer entrusts you with management of their digital services, you become an important link in their business process and systems. So we set up the Premedia Integrated Solutions Centre and asked Nicky Milner, a recognized authority in digital services in North America, to run it. In the photo, Nicky is with Réal Boulet, vice president and chief technology officer, and Jean Denault, vice president, production and procurement efficiency.

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On the sales development front: given that our customers are decreasing the number of suppliers they deal with, and that we needed to gain a greater share of their advertising and printing budgets, we had to innovate.

Thus, as we speak, about 15 market teams comprising about a hundred employees are hard at work. Their efforts are providing us with in-depth knowledge of specific markets in North America so that we can adapt the products and services we offer to the needs of groups of targeted clients. Our clients now increasingly view us as an advisor and business partner who can add value to their business projects. Plus, over the course of the year, we have also increased cross-selling to our existing customers, especially major companies, so that we can make them aware of all of our products and services.

The leader of this strategic area is the president of the Marketing Products Printing sector, Guy Manuel. Guy is constantly telling us, with great conviction, that what we're seeing today is only "the tip of the iceberg." I like that, Guy. Coming from you, it's very promising! Our organic growth will continue to do well.

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In Mexico, where we are one of the leading printers and also operate a door-to-door distribution service, we began to reap the benefit in 2004 of many employee training, efficiency improvement and sales development programs. I'd like to mention the work of our new manager in Mexico, Roberto Serra Mercado, who brings us 25 years of experience in the South American market. In the photo he is on the left, with François Ouellet, the operating manager.

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Finally, I'd like to say a few words about our recognized leadership in Canada with respect to social and environmental responsibility.

On March 9, at a press conference with our partners the Montreal Transit Corporation and Cascades, André Préfontaine, the president of Transcontinental Media, and Stéphane Gagné, publisher of the daily paper Métro, launched a recycling awareness campaign called Un métro qui nous est propre, which roughly translates as "a clean metro that belongs to us all". At the press conference they outlined the scope of this ambitious project, which will see the installation of about 200 special recycling bins in the Montreal subway system. This is a significant contribution to environmental protection that enhances Transcontinental's reputation in this area. Let me just point out that the person to the left of André in the photo is the mayor of Montreal. I mention that because we tend to think that André is better known than the mayor.

To say a little bit more about André Préfontaine, I will just mention that in June of 2004 he was appointed chairman of the Board of Canadian Press, the largest media information service in Canada. In addition to being a well-deserved personal honour, this appointment acknowledges Transcontinental's significant growth in the print media industry in Canada.

CONCLUSION

To conclude, I am proud of what we have accomplished thus far. Transcontinental continues to be a great North American success story. But much remains to be done and we're not going to stop here. We are in the last year of our Horizon 2005 business project and I can tell you that we will follow that with a program for the next several years that will be just as interesting and motivating.

Our objective will remain the same: through employee participation and our culture of continuous improvement, approach to innovation, entrepreneurship and ability to execute, we aim to do better than ever in each of our markets and become a world-class corporation.

I am very optimistic about the future. Since I joined Transcontinental in May 2000, I've never seen the company in better shape for further growth and further development.

Thank you for listening. Over to you Daniel.