Stella-Jones Inc.

Good morning and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Stella Jones' fourth quarter and full year 2025 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will hold a question and answer session. To queue up for questions by phone, please press star followed by one. If anyone experiences difficulties hearing the conference call, Please press star followed by zero for operator assistance at any time. I would like to remind everyone that this conference call is being recorded on Thursday, February 26, 2026. I will now turn the call over to David Galison, Vice President, Investor Relations at Seller Jones.

Thank you, Jenny. Good morning, everyone. Earlier this morning, we issued our press release reporting of results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2025. Along with our MD&A, it can be found in the investor relations section of our website at www.stella-jones.com, as well as on CDAR+. As a reminder, all figures expressed on today's call are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated. Please note that the comments made on today's call may contain forward-looking information And this information, by its nature, is subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from the views expressed today. For further information on these risks and uncertainties, please consult the company's relevant filings on CDAR+. These documents are also available on the investor relations section of Stella Jones website at www.stella-jones.com. Additionally, During this conference call, the company may refer to non-GAAP measures which have no standardized meaning under GAAP and are not likely to be comparable to other similar measures presented by other issuers. For more information, please refer to the company's latest MD&A and available on Stella Jones' website and on CFER+. Lastly, we have prepared a corresponding presentation which we encourage you to follow along with during this call. I'll now hand the call over to Eric Vachon, President and Chief Executive Officer of Stella Jones, for a strategic business update, followed by Silvana Travolini, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Stella Jones, who will provide a more detailed financial overview.

Eric, over to you. Thank you, David. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. 2025 was a pivotal year for Stella Jones. We delivered solid profitability as we advanced our value creation strategy. By completing two strategic acquisitions in the utility space, we have propelled our mission forward to become the supplier of choice for our infrastructure customers. The additions of Lockwell and Brook have broadened our total addressable market. We are now leveraging these new growth avenues to expand our steel lattice tower business in the U.S. as we actively execute the growth priorities outlined at our investor day. The results reported today reflect the strength of our infrastructure focus strategy and our team's unwavering commitment to long-term value. We successfully delivered top-line results within our latest guidance and met our three-year commitment to return $500 million to our shareholders. I'm especially proud of our team for delivering EBITDA margins over 18% ahead of guidance amidst a year where all three of our product categories face softer demand. This full year's strength was supported by our performance in the final quarter of the year. As we look at the fourth quarter highlights, our results were bolstered by the volume growth in wood utility poles and the contributions of our newly integrated steel structures and cross-arm businesses. This helped offset the lower volumes we saw in railway ties. Although tie sales came in below our forecast, the tie business delivered a solid margin performance and remained a resilient contributor to our overall profitability and margin strength. The operational investments to double our steel structure production capacity at our contact facility are well underway. We are on track for completion by mid-2026 with a full production ramp-up in the second half of this year. Building on this momentum, we are taking an important step forward by establishing a U.S.-based manufacturing footprint for steel lattice towers. We will invest approximately 50 million U.S. dollars to build a new greenfield facility in the southeast United States, adding approximately 20,000 tons for total production capacity. The selection is down to a few sites that offer superior access to skilled workforce and proximity to key galvanizing partners. With commissioning expected by late 2027 and full three-shift capacity by the end of 2028, this facility will provide the scalability required to meet the growing demand of U.S. utilities. In the fourth quarter, we also marked our entry into the pole fixtures and accessory market with the acquisition of Brooks. By adding these complementary products, we are better positioned to serve our utility customers and capture new cross-selling opportunities across our network. This acquisition is a perfect example of our strategy to leverage existing customer relationships for incremental growth. Notably, we completed this $140 million US dollar transaction without increasing our debt leverage, a result that underscores the strength of our cash flow and our disciplined approach to capital allocation. Integration of the Brooks acquisition is well underway and is progressing in line with our expectations. From a sustainability perspective, we are excited to share that following year end, we acquired a one-third equity interest in Lizzie Bay Logging, forming a partnership with local British Columbia First Nation in a forest harvesting company. This approximately $5 million investment will secure dependable long-term supply of utility pole fiber specifically for Western Red Cedar and Douglas fir. It targets large transmission poles, a critical resource that is increasingly in short supply. We view this collaboration as an important advancement in our commitment to building mutually beneficial partnerships with indigenous communities in Canada. I will now turn to a performance overview of our main product categories, starting with utility products. After navigating a period of softer demand for utility poles that began in Q3 2024, The pace of purchase for certain customers accelerated in Q3, and that momentum carried into the fourth quarter. The volume growth was driven by our contract business, a direct result of our well-executed multi-year strategy. We have strategically expanded our whole business and focused on partnering with customers who value long-term supply security. We are now seeing the impact of those new contracts in our sales figures, as well as a pickup in activity from some of our longstanding customers. Our contract business, which represents over 75% of our utility pole sales, has helped mitigate the impact of softer and more competitive spot market. While spot pricing and volume pressures persist, the improvement in volume in the latter part of the year allowed us to deliver full-year sales growth in the low single-digit range consistent with our outlook. This positive volume trajectory has created a tailwind that carries us into 2026 with confidence. For our railway-type business, 2025 was a year of transition. We navigated the impact of the Class 1 railroads shift to in-house treatment, several project deferrals, and a more aggressive competitive landscape. As a result, the volume gains anticipated for the fourth quarter did not materialize, and we ended the year with organic sales down 10% below the mid-single-digit decline guidance. I'm, however, encouraged by the team's discipline. Despite these top-line headwinds, we focused on what we can control, improving margins, and maintaining stable profitability. Looking ahead, we expect a more modest growth environment for archiving. Our Class 1 customers are currently navigating complex landscape of potential industry consolidation and macroeconomic headwinds, sentiments they have echoed in their recent commentary. While we expect this may result in relatively flat railway tie sales in the near to midterm, it does not change our long-term outlook. We remain focused on positioning the business to capture long-term growth and we see a pipeline of opportunities ahead in both Class 1 and commercial markets. 2026 also coincides with the cycle of Class 1 contract renewals. We view these renewals as a strategic opportunity to further align our offering with our customers' evolving requirements. By leveraging our commitment to quality, availability, and service, we are positioning ourselves as a partner of choice for Class 1 railroads. At the same time, we will pursue growth of our commercial business. With the uncertainty in 2025 around government funding resolved, we expect more commercial project activity in 2026, and you are ready to meet this demand. Our three-year outlook remains unchanged, and this is supported by a track record of resilience. Even with the pullback in 2025 sales, Railway ties delivered a low single-digit sales growth over a multi-year horizon, underscoring the recurring nature of this maintenance-driven business. Our residential lumber business demonstrated remarkable results this year, delivering a stable performance despite an industry back-off of significant pricing pressures and muted demand. This is a clear validation of our value-added business model and the strength of our strategic alliance with our primary customer. While volumes were impacted by the market slowdown, we delivered the same sales performance as in 2024 due to higher pricing. This allowed us to recover the higher cost of inventory procured in early 2025. As we move forward, we have full confidence in our ability to deliver on our long-term targets keeping this business steady within the 600 to $650 million revenue range. In summary, we recognize that growth is rarely linear, but long-term fundamentals of our business remain intact. We are well positioned to benefit from the solid tailwind in our utility products business, which represents over 50% of our sales. This paired with our strategic positioning in railway ties and the unique value proposition of residential lumber, reinforces our confidence to deliver on our 2026 to 2028 financial objectives. With that, I will now ask Silvana to provide a more detailed overview of our fourth quarter and year-end financial results.