Martin Lépine decided to start a business with a childhood friend, Claude Desjardins. It would take more than a year of work to carry out the market study, the business plan and to obtain financing. With a downpayment of $10,000 each, the two associates obtained a loan guarantee from the Société d’investissement de Jeunesse and a grant from the Jeune Promoteur program. With an amount raised of $110,000, Groupe Imprimeur L’Impression opens its doors with the two partners and a press operator as well as its staff.

Groupe Imprimeur l’Impression opens its doors at 4000 côte vertu in Ville St-Laurent.
Sales in the first year were $310,000, then doubled in 1990, reaching $1 million in 1991. In its early years, the company was forced to expand and renovate to meet the growing demand.

Groupe Imprimeur l’Impression makes its first business acquisition, Destra (Design and word processing). This period coincides with the emergence of Apple technologies and allows the organization to acquire the expertise of what is now called pre-printing. The new division is called Paragraph.

As the turnover is increasing rapidly, the company is forced to move again. It is in their new premises at 7770 Trans-Canada Highway that several new employees are added to the team and the business volume reaches the $3M mark.
In June of the same year, the company receives the award for Business of the Year at the 9th edition of the Alpha Gala organized by the St-Laurent Chamber of Commerce.

One of the founders, Claude Desjardins, chose to leave the company and operate in another sector of activity, which made Martin Lépine the sole owner. Lépine then decides to truly merge Le Groupe Imprimeur l’Impression and Paragraph to become a true one-stop shop renamed Impression Paragraph.

Martin Lépine refines his global vision of performance optimization. As the world market is changing with the arrival of new technologies, customer requirements are increasingly important in terms of quality, speed and achievable savings. The printer is constantly transforming and must satisfy new criteria, making it a consultant and manager of integrated solutions.

Acquisition of Scabrini Media, strengthening the position of Paragraph printing in the field of digital printing.

The company acquires Goliath Printing, adding 30 new employees to the Impression Paragraph team.

Impression Paragraph is elected as Manufacturing Company of the Year in Ville St-Laurent.

Acquisition of Imprimerie Repro Litho and change of company name from Impression Paragraph to Paragraph.

Acquisition of Laurier Repro, establishing a foothold in downtown Montreal for Paragraph.

Acquisition of the PLB Graphique Group and the Excellence Bindery Group, solidifying Paragraph’s position in the industry.

Impression Paragraph continues its leading role in the consolidation of the printing and graphic services market by acquiring Kayjon Printing.

Paragraph stands out at the Canadian Printing Awards in Toronto, winning 3 gold and 1 silver maple leaf. Paragraph then became the most decorated Quebec printing company in Canada.

Paragraph consolidates its Packaging and POS division by acquiring Imprimerie Dumaine in Saint-Hyacinthe. In the same year, Paragraph won the Alpha trophy by being elected for the second time as the Manufacturing Company of the Year, an award granted by the Chamber of Commerce of Ville Saint-Lawrence & Mont-Royal.

Expansion of Paragraph’s packaging and POS production facilities by 30,000 square feet, bringing the total area of the organization to 130,000 square feet with sales of $36 million. In the same year, Paragraph earned a place in the “Growth 500” ranking of Canada’s fastest growing companies.

Investments of more than $2M. This financing became part of a dynamic plan to set up an e-commerce site and fund equipment that will allow us to stand out in our digital printing.