speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

The conference will begin shortly. To raise your hand during Q&A, you can dial star 1 1.

speaker
Aaron Hobos
Vice President, Investor Relations

And other materials. Slides 2 and 3 of the earnings presentation provide notices and detail regarding non-GAAP financial metrics and forward-looking statements. The appendix of the presentation also contains reconciliations that are further supplemented by this morning's AK filings. Rather than reading those statements, I incorporate them herein by reference. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Brad.

speaker
Brad Southern
President and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Aaron. Good morning and welcome to LP's earnings call for the second quarter of 2022. LP's ongoing transformation continues to deliver results with another very strong quarter of growth and value creation. We face ongoing inflationary pressures for raw materials and freight, but as Alan will discuss later, LP's growth more than offset these cost headwinds in the quarter. While we are watching inflation, mortgage rates, the housing market, and the broader economy very closely, so far we have seen a few signs of reduced demand for LP's products. This is especially true of demand for our more specialized and higher value added offerings. Siding Solutions grew at 24% year over year to hit $356 million in sales, which is another quarterly record. Commodity OSB prices fell steeply through the quarter, But LP's portfolio of specialty structural solutions products significantly improved price realization and margin for the OSB segment. As a result, we somewhat outperformed our algorithmic guidance for OSB revenue. Structural solutions volume increased by 28% to reach 53% of total volume in the second quarter. Through the first half of 2022, LP has delivered over a billion square feet of structural solutions products. The logistics challenges we faced earlier this year, especially in British Columbia, have eased somewhat, helping our operations team minimize logistics-related downtime. Alan will give a more detailed capital allocation update in a moment, but LP remains committed to returning cash to shareholders via dividends and share repurchases. In fact, LP returned almost $500 million to shareholders in Q2 And we have spent a little under $200 million so far in Q3 on buybacks. And LP's Board of Directors approved another quarterly dividend of 22 cents per share, as you may have seen in Friday's press release. Slide six of the presentation shows more detail about siting growth. The bar chart on the left shows that siting solutions revenue has grown 17% through Q2 on a trailing 12-month basis compared to the prior period. By contrast, single-family housing starts were flat over the same period as multifamily starts rebounded from COVID lows. Comparing only the second quarter of 2022 to 2021, single-family starts were down about 3%. The siting volume and price both hit records, pushing revenue growth to 24%. This is hardly surprising given the diversity of products, applications, and customers served by siting. Only about 40% of siding volume goes to single family new construction. The products that tend to go into repair and remodeling applications are more specialized and generally have a higher price point. The fastest growing component of the siding portfolio continues to be innovative products like shakes, corners, expert finish, pre-finish siding, and builder series. In the second quarter, those products combined for 12% of total siding volume up three points from last year. That 12% of volume contributed 16% of Siding's Q2 revenue. LP is committed to investing in this growth. The newest siding mill in Holton, Maine is ramping up ahead of schedule. Earlier this summer, we broke ground at LP's new expert-finished, pre-finished facility in Bath, New York, and work continues at LP's OSB mill in Sagola, Michigan. Segola remains on schedule to produce SmartSides starting late in Q1 of next year, and when fully operational, will bring siding manufacturing capacity to just under 2.3 billion square feet. Let me also add a brief word about the engineered wood product segment. The sale of the EWP business closed last Monday, the 1st of August. Including LP's equity in the I-JOIST joint venture with Resolute, and before taxes, fees, and other adjustments, The total proceeds from the EWP divestiture was $260 million. Throughout the process, we sought a buyer that was committed to investing in the EWP business and who could ensure a smooth transition for its customers and employees. We believe we have found that rightful owner in Pacific Wood Tech. I want to thank all the people who have shepherded this process to its successful conclusion. And I also want to thank the nearly 700 EWP employees for their many years of service an unwavering focus on safety, value creation, and customer service. I wish the EWP team and Pacific Wood Tech nothing but success. Looking forward to this divestiture complete, LP is more focused, more specialized, less dependent on new construction, and exceptionally well positioned for ongoing growth and innovation. Finally, LP celebrated its 50th anniversary of incorporation on the 20th of July. That is a milestone few companies reach, and one that is impossible without the creativity, determination, and dedication of countless employees, past and present. Thanks to all of them, LP has endured and transformed. Today, LP is an innovative, ethical, safe, and sustainable force in our industry, delivering high-quality specialty building solutions to our customers, and exceptional value for our shareholders. I am confident that LP will continue to build on our history, and that we have a bright future ahead of us. And with that, I will turn the call over to Alan for a more detailed review of LP's financial results in the quarter and our updated guidance for Q3 and the full year.

Disclaimer

This conference call transcript was computer generated and almost certianly contains errors. This transcript is provided for information purposes only.EarningsCall, LLC makes no representation about the accuracy of the aforementioned transcript, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the information provided by the transcript.

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Investor presentation