Western Forest Products Inc.

morning ladies and gentlemen welcome to western forest products third quarter 2025 results conference call as a reminder all participants are in listen only mode and the conference is being recorded following prepared remarks there will be an opportunity for analysts to ask questions to join the question queue press star 1 on your telephone keypad should anyone need assistance during the conference call They may reach an operator by pressing star zero. During this conference call, Western's representatives may make forward-looking statements within the meeting of applicable securities laws. These statements can be identified by words like anticipate, plan, estimate, will, and other references to future periods. Although these forward-looking statements reflect management's reasonable beliefs, expectations, and assumptions, they are subject to inherent uncertainties and actual results may differ materially. There are many factors that could cause actual outcomes to be different, including those factors described under risks and uncertainties in the company's annual MD&A, which can be accessed on CDAR and is supplemented by the company's quarterly MD&A. Forward-looking statements are based only on information currently available to Western and speak only as of the date on which they are made. Except as required by law, Western undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements. Accordingly, listeners should exercise caution in relying upon forward-looking statements. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Mr. Stephen Hofer, President and CEO of Western Forest Products. Mr. Hofer, please go ahead.

Thank you, Gary, and good morning, everyone. I'd like to welcome you to Western Force Products' 2025 Third Quarter Conference Call. Joining me on the call today is Glenn Nontel, our Chief Financial Officer. We issued our 2025 Third Quarter results yesterday. I will provide you with some introductory comments and then ask Glenn to take you through our financial results. I will follow Glenn's review with our outlook section before we open the call to your questions. Despite challenging markets and increases in lumber duties, we continue to focus on our operational controllables and maintaining a strong balance sheet. In the third quarter, this included reducing working capital and reducing our debt by $15.7 million compared to the second quarter. In our timberlands group, we continue to focus on cost and inventory management, with log inventory turnover improving 11% since 2023. However, ongoing permitting challenges in BC and a strike at our Lacroix-Sameau Limited Partnership continue to challenge harvest levels. In our manufacturing group, our mills achieved above-target uptime levels of 87% in the third quarter, an 11% improvement in lumber inventory turnover year over year. We were also proactive in staging lumber inventory into the U.S. ahead of duty increases, leading to approximately $3.3 million in duty savings. In our sales and marketing group, we continue to grow strategic customers, and advance opportunities to grow our domestic and international customer base as we actively navigate the effective tariffs and increased duties. In the first nine months, U.S. lumber shipments accounted for 21% of total shipments from our Canadian operations, compared to 25% in the year-ago period. We achieved ahead-of-target on-time shipping performance of 92% in the quarter. We continue to advance progress on two continuous kilns at our value-added division, with construction commencing and commissioning of the first kiln expected in early 2026. These investments will increase the production of value-added kiln dried lumber products, lower our drying costs, and help support the diversification of our global customer base. With significant increases in softwood lumber duties and softness in the North American lumber demand, we expect challenging market conditions to persist in the near term. However, through the successful repositioning of our balance sheet in 2025, we are prepared to navigate near-term uncertainty. I'll now turn it over to Glenn to review our key financial results. Thanks, Stephen.

Third quarter adjusted EBITDA was negative $65.9 million as compared to negative $10.7 million in the same period last year. Our results for the quarter included a non-cash export duty expense of $59.5 million related to the finalization of duty rates from the sixth administrative review. As compared to the prior year, results in the third quarter were negatively impacted by softer macroeconomic conditions and U.S. trade tensions, and an ongoing strike at our La Coisse & Mouque Limited Partnership. This resulted in lower lumber shipments, a weaker specialty lumber sales mix, and reduced log harvesting and lower external log shipments. This was partially offset by higher average realized lumber prices in most markets, and improvements in realized log prices due to a stronger sales mix. We closed the third quarter with approximately 53 million board feet of lumber inventory and 602,000 cubic meters of log inventory. Turning to CapEx, we have reduced our planned 2025 capital expenditure spending to between $30 to $35 million. We will continue to rigorously evaluate our planned CapEx spending and adjust proactively. From a balance sheet perspective, we ended the third quarter with an improved balance sheet. reducing debt by $15.7 million compared to the second quarter and ending with a net debt to capitalization ratio of 2%. Our available liquidity also improved to $234 million, supported through working capital reductions and a new $30 million U.S. letter of credit facility. With respect to softwood lumber duties and U.S. trade, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced its final determination for countervailing and anti-dumping duty rates related to the 6th Administrative Review. The combined effective rate increased to 35.16% compared to the prior combined rate of 14.4%. In addition, on September 29th, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a 10% tariff on imported lumber products through Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. The incremental 10% tariff became effective on October 14th. We continue to prioritize diversifying our shipments into other jurisdictions to minimize our U.S. exposure. Turning to fourth quarter seasonality, typically in fourth quarters, lumber consumption declines in North America as construction slows with the onset of winter. In our Timberlands, harvest volumes decline as we lose daylight operating hours. In addition, winter weather can negatively impact operations and further limit production. The combination of weather-related curtailments and reduced operating hours can put upward pressure on harvest costs. Stephen, that concludes my remarks.

Thanks, Glenn. Turning to our market outlook, North American markets are expected to remain weaker in the near term. U.S. channel inventory levels remain elevated, and the incremental U.S. tariff of 10% has further complicated an already weak demand environment. However, with the anticipation of further central bank interest rate cuts and the 30-year mortgage rate approaching three-year lows, This may support improved housing affordability and modestly stimulate U.S. housing demand in 2026. Markets may start to improve towards the end of the fourth quarter of 2025 or into early 2026 as supply decreases and as distributors start to build inventories ahead of the spring building season. However, in the near term, distributors, pro-dealers, and home centers will continue to buy on an as-needed basis. In Japan and China, housing demand continues to trend downwards, but market lumber inventories remain low, resulting in near-term stable pricing. Overall, we have a fourth quarter order file of approximately 87 million board feet and on track to meet our Q4 operating plans. From an operational perspective, given seasonal market conditions combined with high U.S. duties and tariffs, we plan to reduce lumber production by approximately 35 million board feet in the fourth quarter. We will continue to align our operating schedules to market demand and available log supply. Looking ahead, we remain focused on maintaining a strong balance sheet while also executing on our strategic priorities. With that, Gary, we can open up the call to questions.

Thank you. We'll now take questions from the telephone lines. If you have a question, please press star 1. You may cancel your question at any time by pressing star 2. Please press star 1 at this time if you have a question. We will pause for a moment as callers join the queue.

The first question is from Kasia Kosatek with .

Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning. It's Kasia on the line. First question is around the strike at the LACPA LP. Can you provide an update on that and also your outlook for log availability, not necessarily on the back of the strike action, but also just more broadly across the platform?

Good morning, and thanks for the question. I'll share a couple of comments on the strike. So, obviously, as everyone knows, that continues to play out. We completed a six-year agreement with the USW, which was ratified in January of this year. And while Western encouraged contractors, including Lacroix Samouk, to do a Me Too to our agreement, not all did. Lacroix Samouk has a right under labor laws to negotiate their own agreement. and they decided to exercise that right. And while Western is a majority shareholder, the governance structure is constructed to ensure that the views of the other partners are not unilaterally overruled by Western. So we can't comment on the specific issues in detail, but can say they are related to the unionization process when new First Nation-owned contractors are engaged. And so we're hoping for a resolution of this in the near future and look forward to having that business unit come back online. With respect to your question on overall log inventories, at this point in time, we ended the quarter end of Q2 at 602,000 cubic meters. Our inventories are lower than they would be historically. We do continue to have some permitting delays on certain tenures. and continue to work very closely with government and the respective First Nations to help alleviate those. But overall, as we look at our operating plan in Q4 and into Q1, we do see adequate inventories to execute on our operating plan.

Okay, thank you for that context. Appreciate it. You touched on working capital reductions already. I just wanted to ask, is there any additional opportunities to reduce working capital further?

Yeah. Hi, Kasia. It's Glenn. Maybe making a more broad comment. I think we've done a lot this year to reposition our balance sheet to navigate through the near-term uncertainty, including monetizing some significant non-core assets earlier this year. In the third quarter, we also closed an incremental U.S. $30 million letter of credit facility, which helped further bolster our liquidity to approximately $234 million at the end of the quarter. I'd say we've taken steps to manage and reduce our working capital, improving turnover metrics related to our working capital. I'd say we probably have come are approaching what we can, you know, achieve on further reducing working capital leverage, just given, you know, Stephen's comments where we are around log inventory. So, you know, all that said, we continue to access other available liquidity alternatives to some of the government programs that have been announced federally, as well as advancing other strategic priorities, including, you know, limited partnership opportunities that we've demonstrated success on previously in TFL 44 and 64 as potential sources of additional liquidity. So overall, I'd say we remain focused on maintaining a strong balance sheet and, you know, adequate liquidity as we navigate through the uncertain environment here in the near term.

Thanks, Glenn. Final question for you or Stephen. Stepping back and looking at the competitive landscape for your decking product into the U.S., what is the profile of that right now, just given the higher value nature of your product versus your competitors?

Well, that's, as you can expect – the naughty cedar decking profile has come under significant price pressure. So we've tried to push as much of the incremental tariffs through to the end user. While we have been able to see some modest gains, we have not been able to achieve the entire amount. And I guess the piece that I would say is that No product line is immune from the current downturn in both the R&R market as well as in new home construction. And that includes cedar decking and all the substitutes that are on the shelf alongside cedar. The good news is that there is an element of consumers who are very discerning and continue to want to have you know, the highest quality decking available and that is where Cedar fits in. So we have seen some replenishment take place in the last 10 to 14 days as distributors start to reposition for the spring. And that does provide some comfort that there is an opportunity for Cedar to continue to have a place in the U.S. decking market. But we shouldn't kid ourselves that there are ceilings on where a consumer is prepared to pay for decking, whether it be Cedar or any alternative. Our teams are working very aggressively alongside all of our key distributors in the U.S. We have a group in the U.S. this week actively discussing strategic partnerships for next year and what that demand curve looks like. But, yeah, you're correct on saying that there were some price pressures on Cedar.

I appreciate that extra context, Stephen. Those are all the questions I had. I'll turn it over.

Great. Thank you.

This concludes the question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Hofer for any closing remarks.

Well, thanks, everyone, for joining our call today. We certainly appreciate your continued interest in our company and look forward to our next call in February. Have a great day.

Thank you. The conference has now ended. Please disconnect your lines at this time, and we thank you for your participation.