Canfor Corporation

Good morning, my name is Ina and I will be your conference operator today. Welcome to Canfor and Canfor Pulse's fourth quarter analyst call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any back call noise. During this call, Canfor and Canfor Pulse's chief financial officer will be referring to a slide presentation that is available in the investor relations section of the company's website. Also, the companies would like to point out that this call will include forward-looking statements so please refer to the press releases for the associated risks of such statements. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Ms. Susan Yurkovich, Canfor Corporation's President and Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead, Ms. Yurkovich.

Thanks very much, operator, and good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining the Canfor and Canfor Pulse Q4 2024 results conference call. I'm going to make a few comments first. To start before I turn things over to Stephen Mackey, Canfor's Chief Operating Officer and Canfor PULP CEO, and Pat Elliott, Chief Financial Officer of Canfor Corporation and Canfor PULP. In addition, today we're joined by Kevin Pankratz, our Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. While 2024 was an extremely challenging year, we did successfully execute several strategic priorities that combined with our efforts over the last few years have transformed the structure of our business and will help us navigate the waters ahead. As you'll know, we made some difficult but necessary decisions to close several high-cost assets in British Columbia, given the challenges accessing economically viable fiber in the province. In addition, we rationalized two high-cost mills in the U.S. South, replacing them with low-cost capacity following the completion of our second green silt sawmill in Alabama and a major brownfield investment in Arkansas during the year. While it's going to take some time to ramp up these assets, we've already started to see the benefits of these investments in 2025 and are entering the year with an improved operating cost base, strong balance sheet, and enhanced geographic diversification with approximately 70% of our lumber business located outside of Canada. While 2025 will bring its own set of challenges largely associated with elevated duties and the implementation of tariffs, We have made changes to our operating platform and sales strategy to mitigate as much as possible the impacts of the ongoing trade disputes, with only 20% of our sales exposed to duties or tariffs. While global lumber demand remains tepid, lumber prices have steadily increased over the last several months, which has supported improved profitability in our business, particularly in Western Canada. In the short term, we anticipate continued volatility and market uncertainty with both the threat and implementation of tariffs, but are positioned to manage this volatility and are supported by our strong balance sheet. Looking ahead, we continue to believe the mid- to longer-term lumber demand fundamentals remain strong, and we're well positioned to capitalize on improved market dynamics going forward. As well, notwithstanding current market uncertainty, our balance sheet strength allows us to continue to evaluate strategic growth opportunities should the right opportunity present itself, although we will continue to be patient and disciplined in terms of the allocation of capital. This includes a more modest cap plan in 2025, aligned with our significantly improved asset base, and we also expect to opportunistically repurchase shares throughout the year under a normal course, issue or bid. And now I'd like to turn it over to Stephen Mackey to provide an overview of the CAMFOR pulp.

Thank you, Susan, and good morning, everyone. CAMFOR pulp generated solid financial results in the fourth quarter, largely supported by stable global pulp markets and strong performance in our paper business. Following the successful transition to a smaller operating footprint in recent months, our focus remains on optimizing the economically available fiber supply and improving our cost structure. While we have stabilized our operations and currently have adequate chip inventories, there remains uncertainty with respect to fiber supply in 2025 due to elevated softwood lumber duties and the potential for additional tariffs. Notwithstanding the ongoing uncertainty associated with the fiber supply, Camphor Pulp is currently benefiting from weak Canadian dollar and is well positioned to minimize the impact of tariffs in the short term given our unique high-strength fiber characteristics, specialty product focus, and market diversification. As an organization, we will remain focused on operational excellence as we closely manage factors within our control. I would like to thank our dedicated employees for their resilience as we restructured the pulp business through 2024 and their ongoing commitment as we navigate the challenges facing us in 2025. I will now turn it over to Pat to provide an overview of our financial results.