Doman Building Materials Group Ltd.

Greetings and welcome to the Doman Building Materials Group Limited Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Financial Results Conference. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Ali Madavi. Thank you, Mr. Madavi. You may begin.

Thank you very much. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for Dolman Building Materials' fourth quarter and full year 2023 Financial Results Conference Call. Joining me this morning are Amar Dolman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Jay Koth, Chief Financial Officer of Dolman Building Materials. If you have not seen the news release, which was issued yesterday, it is available on the company's website at dolmanbm.com, as well as on CDAR+, along with our MD&A and financial statements. I would also like to remind you that a replay of this call will be accessible until midnight on March 22nd. Following the presentation of the 2023 fourth quarter and full year financial results, we will conduct the Q&A session for analysts only. Instructions will be provided at that time for you to join the queue for questions. Before we begin, we are required to provide the following statements regarding forward-looking information, which is made on behalf of Dolman Building Materials Group Limited and all of its representatives on this call. Remarks and answers to your questions today may contain forward-looking information about future events or the company's future performance. This information is subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events or results to differ materially. Any information regarding forward-looking statements is made as of the date of this call and the company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements. These are the forward-looking statements and risk factors in the MDNA as these outline the material factors which could cause or would cause actual results to differ. The company will not provide guidance regarding future earnings during today's call and management does not anticipate providing guidance in future quarterly or interim communications with investors. I'll now turn the call over to Omar.

Thanks, Elian. Good morning, everyone. Thanks very much for being on today's call. And let me begin by highlighting some of our key financial metrics, followed by some color on our operations during the fourth quarter. And then I'll hand the call over to our CFO, Jay Code, who can review the numbers in further detail. 2023 would be best described as a challenging year vis-a-vis pricing and several macroeconomic headwinds. We entered 2023 following an extended period of premium pricing levels for building material products, which began in 2020. and lasted into the early 2022, including some periods of above average volatility. I'm very pleased and encouraged with our ability to demonstrate stability and strength in our financial performance, giving pricing levels for lumber, OSB, and panel markets in 2023, which were meaningfully lower when compared to 2022. While pricing levels are nowhere near their 2020, sorry, 2022 peak, the combination of a more stable pricing environment or continued action towards executing our strategic growth objectives Managing costs and optimizing operational efficiencies resulted in strong financial results as we closed out the year. Despite the impact of the lower pricing environment for construction materials on a year-over-year basis, we exited 2023 with strong performance across all of our key financial metrics, including revenues, gross margin, EBITDA, net income, also while paying our shareholders a quarterly dividend of 14 cents per common share. or 56 cents per common share on an annual basis. I am very proud of the company's performance throughout 2023, given the reversal and decline in the pricing for lumber OSB and panel markets, more so when compared to our record results from 2021. Despite the pricing declines we experienced during the year, we remain encouraged and pleased with the resilience of our diversified business model, withstanding these macroeconomic cycles resulting in annual revenues, gross margin, adjusted EBITDA and net earnings totaling $2.5 billion, $402.7 million, $196.1 million and $75.8 million. Now, focusing on the most recent fourth quarter results, strong activity across all business divisions, our ongoing cost management focused on operational efficiencies enabled the company to realize strong revenue performance while showing robust levels at the gross margin, EBITDA and bottom lines. We are very proud of the strength of our financial performance and believe that there is a lot to be gained from the strength and momentum which has resulted from our successes in recent years. As a result of these efforts during the fourth quarter, we continued to see strong demand for our product categories resulting in revenues coming in about $527 million, gross margin at 15.3% or $80 million, adjusted EBITDA at $33 million, and that earnings at $10.5 million. And lastly, as previously mentioned, our quarterly dividend of $0.14 per share was declared. Our ability to withstand market pricing volatilities during the previous and most recent market cycles as a result of our tireless focus on operations gives credit to the successful acquisitions we have completed throughout the years, which have and continue to diversify our business model and, as such, have enhanced shareholder value. We remain very enthusiastic and confident about the prospects ahead and look forward to further demonstrating the strength and leverage available in our business model as we continue to be well positioned to take advantage of sensible organic growth opportunities. On the heels of successfully integrating our relentless focus on paying down debt and strengthening our balance sheet has resulted in our once again being in a strong position to take advantage of strategic opportunities. Given the strength of our balance sheet and our continued quest to take advantage of strategic growth opportunities, subsequent to quarter end, we announced the all-cash acquisition of Southeast Forest Products, treated limited, in Richmond, Indiana, and near Birmingham, Alabama. The plans complement our central U.S. operations and strengthen our footprint by introducing coverage in eight new states, including the strong southeastern U.S. markets in select eastern states. This strategic acquisition exemplifies our strategy of adding scale and volume to our U.S. operations in pressure-treated lumber and specialty wood products headquartered in Dallas. We welcome all of our new great employees from the acquisition. Thanks for coming on. I also hope that you've noticed our updated branding and logo, which was recently launched to properly reflect our evolution and expanding operating footprint in Canada and the United States. The Dolman brand now represents the majority of our business divisions under one banner, as the leading supplier of choice for construction and building materials in North America for generations to come. Overall, I continue to be pleased with how our growth strategy continues to unfold, resulting in strong sales and earnings in the face of a tough year-over-year pricing environment, while remain focused on margin protection during these times. And with that, I'm going to ask Jay Cote, our CFO, to take over and provide a review of the company's fourth quarter and full-year financial results in greater details, and I will be pleased to open up the call for further questions.