Boise Cascade, L.L.C.

Good morning. My name is Celine, and I will be your conference facilitator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Boise Cascades' fourth quarter 2020 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 order they are received. If you would like to withdraw a question, 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 not subject to a number of business risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in this call. For discussion of the factors that may cause actual results to differ from the results anticipated, please refer to Boise Cascade's recent filings with the SEC. It is now my pleasure to introduce you to Wayne Rancourt, Executive Vice President, CFO and Treasurer, Boise Cascade. Mr. Rancourt, you may now begin your conference.

Thank you, Aline. Good morning, everyone. I'd like to welcome you to Boise Cascade's fourth quarter 2020 earnings column business update. Joining me on today's call are Nate Jorgensen, our CEO, Mike Brown, head of our wood products operations, Nick Stokes, head of our building materials distribution operations, and Jeff Strom, the incoming head of our building materials distribution operations. Nick has announced his retirement for March of this year. Turning to slide two, I would point out the information regarding our forward-looking statement. The appendix of the presentation includes reconciliations from our GAAP net income to EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA and segment income to segment EBITDA. And with that, I will turn the call over to Nate.

Thanks, Wayne. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us on our earnings call today. I'm on slide number three. Our fourth quarter sales of $1.5 billion were up 34% from fourth quarter 2019. Our net income was $26 million, or 66 cents per share, compared to net income of $14.6 million, or 37 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Fourth quarter 2020 results include a non-cash pension settlement charge of $6.2 million, or 12 cents a share after tax, related to the elimination of our qualified defined benefit pension plan. Fourth quarter 2020 results also include a $38.8 million income tax expense, or $0.98 per share, related to the release of stranded tax effects upon elimination of our qualified defined benefit pension plan. In fourth quarter 2020, total U.S. housing starts increased 12% compared to the same period last year. Single-family housing starts, the primary driver of our sales volumes, increased 30%. Given the extraordinary market conditions caused by an ongoing imbalance between industry supply and end product demand for wood-based commodities, both businesses delivered higher than expected operating and financial results during the period. Our wood products manufacturing business reported segment income of $40.8 million in the fourth quarter compared to $8.1 million in the year-ago quarter. Wood products continued its focus on establishing pre-COVID-19 manufacturing production levels in response to strong end product demand, particularly for our EWP business during the fourth quarter. Our building materials distribution business reported segment income of $67.1 million on sales of $1.3 billion for the fourth quarter, compared to $26.3 million of segment income on sales of $1 billion in the comparative prior year quarter. BMD sales and income were strong, and our long-term strategy and commitment to consistently carry a broad base of in-stock products, supported by high service levels and a solid financial position, continues to deliver value to our vendor and customer partners in the supply chain, as well as our shareholders. Wayne will walk through the financial results in more detail, and then I'll come back and provide our outlook before we take your questions. Wayne? Thank you, Nate.