John Robert Stobo Prichard, OC, O.Ontis a Canadian lawyer, economist, and academic. He is the past President and Chief Executive Officer and former Director of Torstar Corporation. He is now the Chairman of the Bank of Montreal... (wikipedia)
The reduced profitability reflects our continued significant investments in geographic expansion, new product launches, Torstar Digital and TTN, all of which we expect will increase profits in future years.
Harlequin stabilized its operating profit in 2005 after experiencing a significant decline in profits in 2004.
Harlequin finished a bit higher in the quarter than we anticipated, and the newspapers finished a bit lower than we anticipated, but the up on the one side offset the down on the other, and it settled in right where we expected it.
We did achieve revenue growth in the (newspaper) segment for the year, but we didn't convert that revenue growth sufficiently to profit during the year. Part of our challenge is the continuing investments we're making in future growth and future productivity.