Transcon's CEO says -- cautiously -- that advertising slump is stabilizing

Well, that's all right then. Francois Olivier, CEO of printer-publisher Transcontinental Inc., said Monday that the 2008 slump in newspaper and magazine advertising is stabilizing in Canada and probably in the U.S. He told the Montreal Gazette:

"The signs give us hope in Canada but we won't get a firm idea where the market is heading until autumn," he said after addressing the Canadian Club of Montreal.

"The recession started much earlier in the U.S. than in Canada and we need to see a recovery in banking and financial services there," he added.

The company is not anticipating more layoffs. (It has to be remembered that Transcon laid off 10% of its staff, instituted a hiring freeze to save $50 million and borrowed $400 million for debt refinancing and ended share buybacks. It also expects more special charges in the second quarter, but also to keep paying its dividend of 32 cents a share.)

Not that this is a surprising thing for a major printer to say, but while Olivier expects 25% of advertising will be on the internet by 2012, print is not dying.

"Print will pay an important part of any communications, sales or marketing strategy, complementing new media."