Boise Cascade, L.L.C.

Good morning. My name is Emily, and I will be your conference facilitator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Boise Cascades first quarter 2019 conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer period. If you would like to ask a question during that time, simply press star, then the number one on your telephone keypad. Questions will be taken in the order they are received. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press the pound key. Before we begin, I remind you that this call may contain forward-looking statements about the company's future business prospects and anticipated financial performance. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and the company undertakes no duty to update them. Although these statements reflect management's expectations today, They are subject to a number of business risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in this call. For a discussion of the factors that may cause actual results to differ from the results anticipated, please refer to Boise's Cascades Recent Filings with the FDC. It is now my pleasure to introduce you to Wayne Rancourt, Executive Vice President CFO and Treasurer, Boise Cascade. Mr. Rancourt, you may begin your conference.

Thank you, Emily. Good morning, everyone. I would like to welcome you to Boise Cascade's first quarter 2019 Earnings Call and Business Update. Joining me on today's call are Tom Cork, our CEO, Nate Jorgensen, our Chief Operating Officer, Mike Brown, Head of our Wood Products Operations, and Nick Stokes, Head of our Building Materials Distribution Operations. Turning to slide two, I would point out the information regarding our forward-looking statements. The appendix of the presentation includes reconciliations from our GAAP net income to EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA. I will now turn the call over to Tom Quirk.

Thanks, Wayne. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for our earnings call today. I'm on slide three. Our first quarter sales of $1 billion were down 12% from the first quarter 2018. Our net income was $11.4 million, or $0.29 per share, down from $0.94 per share in the year-ago quarter. The first quarter results reflected weaker performances in both businesses. Total U.S. housing starts declined approximately 10% compared to the same period last year. Single-family starts, the primary driver of our sales, decreased by 5%, and multifamily starts decreased 19%. In particular, single-family housing starts in the western United States reflected significant weakness, with the Census Bureau reporting year-over-year declines in that region in excess of 20%. Our wood products manufacturing business reported segment income of $11.6 million in in the first quarter compared to $26.1 million in the year-ago quarter. These results reflect lower plywood pricing and lower volumes of EWP and plywood, partially offset by higher EWP sales prices and lower OSB input costs. Depreciation and amortization was also lower due to the discontinued depreciation on manufacturing facilities curtailed and sold in 2018. Our building materials distribution business reported segment income of $17.5 million on quarterly sales of $908 million for the first quarter, compared to the $32.4 million of segment income on quarterly sales of $992 million in the comparative prior year quarter. Lower average commodity prices and sales volumes caused a decrease in gross margin dollars in the quarter. On the strategic front, we successfully completed the previously announced acquisition of American Lumber in Birmingham at the end of April. I want to welcome all the associates at American to Boise Cascade. They have a terrific reputation for customer service in their trade area, and we are delighted to have them as part of our distribution group. Wayne will walk through the financial results in more detail, and then I will come back to provide our outlook before we take your questions.