Quebecor World Signs A Major Print Contract

The 10-year deal to print telephone books in Brazil is valued at up to $142 million.

Staff -- graphic arts online, 12/1/2000

MONTREAL-Quebecor World Inc. signed a 10-year printing contract with Listel Listas Telefonicas S.A., Sao Paulo, Brazil's leading publisher of telephone directories.

Listel is a subsidiary of Bell South Corporation, a $26 billion communications services company with operations in the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

The deal calls for Quebecor World-said to be the largest commercial print media services company in the world with sales of $6.5 billion, 43,000 employees, and 160 production facilities worldwide-to print more than 11.8 billion directory pages a year for Listel.

The directories will serve upwards of 100 million people in 152 regions and cities across Brazil.

Quebecor World officials say that this single contract represents more than half of all the directory pages the company prints in Canada in one year. The projected value of the contract over 10 years is $142 million, excluding the value of the paper.

"The agreement with Listel is a win-win," explains Charles G. Cavell, Quebecor World's president and chief executive. "Listel gets superior quality and service, while the security of the long-term contract allows Quebecor World to increase its investment in the Brazilian market."

Under the agreement, Quebecor World will print the directories in its new plant in Recife, Brazil's fourth-largest city, and in Quebecor World's Lima, Peru facility.

The transaction will allow Quebecor World to expand its new Brazilian facility. In September, the company announced it was building the Recife plant after signing a 10-year $170 million contract with Editora Abril S.A., the country's leading publisher of consumer magazines.

The plant will be significantly expanded because the Listel contract will double the amount of production.