Rayonier Advanced Materials Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
May 8, 2024

There are 8 speakers on the call.

Operator

This month, we also announced a significant transaction selling the rights to our softwood lumber duty refund for $39,000,000 The sale not only bolsters our financial flexibility, but also aligns with our strategic goal to reduce our debt by $70,000,000 in 2024. Considering these updates and our strong performance in the Q1, I am pleased to year adjusted free cash flow guidance to $80,000,000 to $100,000,000 With that, I'd like to pass the meeting over to Marcus to walk us through the financials for the quarter. Marcus?

Speaker 1

Thank you, Dalal. Beginning with our HPC segment on Slide 5, quarterly sales declined by $67,000,000 or 18 percent to $307,000,000 Overall HPC pricing declined 2%, driven by a 2% increase in CS sales price, which was more than offset by an 11% decrease in commodity pricing. Total sales volumes decreased 17% as a result of a 16% decline in CS sales volumes and an 18% decrease in commodity sales. Increased sales volumes in CS were supported by the closure of a competitor's plant in late 2023 and a rise in ether sales. This was more than offset by destocking in certain acetate products and the impact of a one time favorable change in customer contract terms from the previous year.

Speaker 1

The decrease in commodity sales volumes was primarily a result of higher production in favor of CS as the company built inventory ahead of Jesup's 2nd quarter planned maintenance outage. Other sales for the quarter were $23,000,000 which included $12,000,000 of green energy sales. EBITDA for the segment rose by $6,000,000 to $50,000,000 primarily due to higher CS sales prices and decreased key input and logistic costs along with the benefits of improved productivity. These improvements were partially offset by declines in CS sales volumes, lower commodity prices and volumes and the absence of $7,000,000 in energy related cost benefits from the previous year that are expected to recur later in the year. Turning to Slide 6.

Speaker 1

Sales in the paperboard segment declined $6,000,000 largely attributed to a 12% drop in sales prices resulting from changes in product mix and market driven demand declines. EBITDA for the segment declined $1,000,000 to 12,000,000 dollars mainly due to lower sales prices, though this impact was somewhat mitigated by decreased costs for purchased pulp. Turning to the Hyattail Pulp segment on Slide 7. Sales declined by $8,000,000 in comparison to the prior year, mainly due to a 27% drop in external sales prices, partially offset by a 16% increase in sales volumes. The price reductions were a consequence of market supply dynamics, mainly in China.

Speaker 1

Segment EBITDA reached a breakeven point in contrast to 8,000,000 dollars generated in the prior year. Transitioning to Slide 8. Consolidated operating income for the quarter amounted to $17,000,000 Sales price improvements in CS were more than offset by pricing declines across all other products. In addition, sales volume and mix impacts were offset by cost improvements. SG and A and other cost benefits related to favorable foreign exchange rates were partially offset by discounting and financing fees incurred to support enhancements in working capital.

Speaker 1

Now let's turn to Slide 9. Total debt ended the quarter at 798,000,000 a reduction of $54,000,000 from the same period in 2023. Net secured debt reflected in our financial covenant ratio associated with the term loan ended the quarter at $721,000,000 Net secured leverage closed the quarter at 4.4 times within the original covenant test. Liquidity closed the quarter at 199,000,000 dollars reflecting $55,000,000 of cash, dollars 131,000,000 available under our ABL facility and $13,000,000 for our French factoring facility. As anticipated, working capital levels increased, driven by the inventory build ahead of Jesup's annual planned maintenance outage.

Speaker 1

CapEx for the quarter totaled $33,000,000 with $5,000,000 directed towards strategic capital to support the startup of the Tartess Bioethanol Project. Additionally, as Delisle previously noted, we announced the sale of our softwood lumber duty refund rights for $39,000,000 Overall liquidity remains strong and we are well positioned to achieve our targeted $70,000,000 debt reduction this year. In preparation for the upcoming refi of our 2026 senior notes, we have retained Houlihan Lokey to provide advisory services throughout the process. With that, I'd like to turn the call back over to Delisle.

Operator

All right. Thank you, Marcus. Let's now turn our attention to Slide 10, where I'll provide an update on our key initiatives for 2024. Our primary goal this year is to refinance the 2026 senior notes before they go current in January 2025, with a particular focus on reducing debt. We are on track to meet our target of reducing gross debt by $70,000,000 in 2024, supported by business generated free cash flow, a tax refund and proceeds from the recent sale of the softwood lumber duties refund rights.

Operator

In addition, we are progressing with the sales process of our paperboard and high yield pulp assets. Interest remains high among the prospective buyers following the announcement of the suspension of operations at the Temiscaming high purity cellulose plant, which has introduced some delays due to the change in the underlying assumptions of how the site will be managed. While the suspension in asset sales decisions affecting the Temiscaming site have been approached and carried out independently, we believe that suspension will bring clarity to the asset sales diligent process by validating that these assets can be effectively run separately. It's important to reemphasize that this is not a fire sale. We have a value threshold based on the high EBITDA margins and the low custodial capital intensity of the paperboard business.

Operator

While the proceeds from the sale would obviously reduce our debt load, we are carefully balancing the estimated annual $50,000,000 plus in free cash flow that we receive from these businesses against any potential debt repayment. We plan to complete the transition provided the terms are acceptable before our notes go current in January 2025. We are taking significant steps to optimize our assets and address the ongoing challenges associated with our high purity cellulose commodity exposure, which has been impacting our profit margins and earnings stability. As part of this strategic pivot, we announced the indefinite suspension of operations at our Temiscaming HPC plant. This decision reflects our commitment to mitigating the financial drag from non fluff commodities, which projected a 2024 EBITDA loss of $48,000,000 following a $60,000,000 loss in 2023.

Operator

I will provide more details on this announcement in the slide that follows. 1 of the most promising initiatives in is the continued expansion of our biomaterials business. Our Tardis bioethanol plant, a first step of this strategy celebrated its 1st shipment in April. We anticipate this facility will generate $3,000,000 to $4,000,000 in EBITDA this year with projections of $8,000,000 to $10,000,000 annually from 2025 as we achieve targeted production levels. Looking forward, our biomaterials project pipeline includes the proposed AGE project at our Jessup facility, which will produce green energy for sale and a new prebiotics additives plant at the same site.

Operator

We continue to advance the proposed bioethanol plant in Fernandina Beach as we've commenced detailed engineering and submitted the project's air permit with the regulatory authorities. Our proposed projects in the works include crude tall oil operations in both France and the U. S. We aim to finance all these projects with Green Capital. Let's turn to Slide 11, where I'll discuss the recent decision to indefinitely suspend operations at our Temiscaming HPC plant.

Operator

In April, we made the difficult decision to halt operations at this facility, a move driven by ongoing market weakness in the non fluff commodity markets, the uncertain availability of affordable wood fiber and high capital and fixed costs, which when combined altogether created significant operating losses. The financial implications for 2024 include one time cost around $30,000,000 for severance, benefits extension, out placement services and mothballing the plan. While we are still evaluating non cash impairment charges, we anticipate the overall impact on this year's operating results and adjusted EBITDA to be marginally positive. Furthermore, we expect an improvement in 2024 free cash flow by approximately $15,000,000 to $20,000,000 driven by the monetization of working capital and reduced CapEx that should more than offset the associated one time suspension cost. Once mothballed, we believe that this facility will represent the industry's best available idle capacity to satisfy future specialty cellulose demand growth since it will require minimal capital investment to restart, can reenter supply into the market within a year, exist within an operating industrial site with utilities and other site services and is qualified by many customers to supply CS products.

Operator

Consequently, we plan to at least annually assess the possibility of restarting the Temiscaming HPC plant. During the suspension period and after the CS product qualification process concludes, we estimate that we will realize an annualized improvement in adjusted EBITDA of $15,000,000 to $20,000,000 a year, primarily to reduce losses resulting from the HPC commodity sales. We also anticipate an increase of approximately $30,000,000 in free cash flow, seventy percent from this EBITDA improvement and the avoidance of custodial capital expenditures. The customer qualification process is actively ongoing with all targeted customers currently testing the CS products from our other plants. This qualification work is expected to take 18 to 24 months.

Operator

We are building bridge inventory until July to sustain customer demand through this qualification period. The CS business that we expect to retain will be produced from our A and B lines at Jessup and our sulfide plants at Fernandina Beach and Tardis. We remain committed to our fluff business and the majority of our C Line addressable continue to focus on fluff production. Let's turn to Slide 12. We expect Enterprise EBITDA to be between $180,000,000 to $200,000,000 for the year.

Operator

Cash interest expense is projected at approximately $85,000,000 this year, which includes the $15,000,000 payment that was made in early January for last year's Q4 due to the timing of the interest payment around the holidays. As a reminder, the current normalized annual interest expense is estimated at $70,000,000 Maintenance CapEx is estimated now at $80,000,000 reflecting a $5,000,000 reduction due to the suspension of the Temiscaming HPC plant. Additionally, we project a $45,000,000 benefit from working capital, which includes a $30,000,000 increase resulting from the Temiscaming HPC plant suspension. Monetization of the lumber duties, which will be partially offset by impacts related to the Temiscaming HPC plant suspension, deferred energy payments and other accrued liabilities. In summary, we are raising our adjusted free cash flow guidance to a range between $80,000,000 to $100,000,000 for the year.

Operator

These funds will be allocated toward debt reduction and strategic capital investments. On Slide 13, I dive deeper into the expected 2024 performance of each of our businesses. We project EBITDA for our HPC segment to be in the range of $180,000,000 to $190,000,000 We anticipate cellulosepecialty prices to increase the low single digit percentage as compared to 2023 as we continue to prioritize value over volume for our specialty products. Sales volumes for cellulose specialties are expected to be comparable to last year with increases in market share gains resulting from our competitors' plant closure and a modest rise in ether sales volumes, though ether sales will remain below historical levels. These increases will be partially offset by lower acetate volumes due to modest destocking and a one time favorable impact from a change in customer contract terms in the prior year.

Operator

We expect a decline in commodity sales volumes in 2024 due to the planned suspension of operations at our HPC plant in Temiscaming during the second half of the year. Overall costs are anticipated to be lower, driven by improved cost management and production efficiencies alongside the impact from the suspension of operations at the Temiscaming HPC plant. Our growth strategy remains focused on strategic investments in our biomaterials business, capitalizing on the increased demand for sustainable products. The Tardis bioethanol plant, which was successfully completed its first shipment in April, is operational and projected to contribute $3,000,000 to $4,000,000 in EBITDA in 2024 with expectations to reach $8,000,000 to $10,000,000 at full production by 2025. Regarding paperboard, we expect to achieve EBITDA in the range of $50,000,000 to $60,000,000 in 2024.

Operator

Prices are projected to stay consistent with those seen in the Q1 and we expect sales volumes to increase due to rising customer demand. Raw material prices are expected to increase due to increased purchased pulp prices. We expect our high yield pulp business to achieve EBITDA in the range of $5,000,000 to $10,000,000 in 2024. We expect a slight increase in high yield pulp prices in Q2 with further rises anticipated in the second half of the year. Additional sales volumes are projected to increase as we move into the second half of twenty twenty four.

Operator

The total custodial CapEx for the paperboard and high yield pulp businesses is expected to be $5,000,000 For 2024, we expect corporate costs of $55,000,000 to $60,000,000 up slightly versus 2023 as we are the final year of our multiyear ERP implementation. As the ERP project includes, we anticipate cost reductions starting in 2025. It's important to note that these costs may vary due to factors like currency fluctuations, environmental charges and other non cash expenses. On Slide 14, we illustrate the trajectory of our EBITDA margin growth and net leverage decline. In 2024, we anticipate our margins to be in the 11% to 12% range.

Operator

Forecast for net secured leverage at the end of the year stands at 3x covenant EBITDA. Our commitment remains resolute in achieving our target net debt leverage ratio of 2.5x by 2027. With that operator, please open the call to questions.

Speaker 2

Thank you. We'll now be conducting a question and answer Our first question is from Daniel Harriman with Sidoti and Company. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 3

Thank you. Good morning, guys. Happy to see a little uptick in the ethers volume. Could you just provide a little bit more color on what you're seeing in that market, in particular, the European construction market and then the destocking that I think you alluded to last quarter and you talked about today in acetate, do you expect that to be mostly finished or should that be ongoing throughout 2024?

Operator

Hey, good morning, Daniel. This is Delisle. To answer your question on ethers, we're still trying to figure it out, to be honest. We don't know whether this is a restocking by our customers or by our customers' customers in the expectation that the construction markets will start improving in Europe as the ECB is expected to lower interest rates there in the second half of this year or whether it's really truly an underlying increase in demand. I think we'll have a better look on that and a better say of that when we get to the end of Q2.

Operator

So we'll just have to wait there. And then with respect to the acetate market, again, what we said is that the destocking is really concentrated with a couple of our large customers, principally in China and Asia. And we expected that destocking will continue through the first half and then we'll start normalizing in the second half of this year.

Speaker 4

Okay, great. Thank you all

Speaker 3

so much. Best of luck in the coming quarter.

Operator

Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thank you. Our next question is from Matthew McKeown with RBC Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 5

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. First, can you maybe provide a little bit of color on how the requalification process for those CS volumes historically produced at Temiscaming have been going? Would that 18 to 24 month timeframe you talked about before the time you first started talking about concentrating commodity volumes at Temiscaming as of last year or from today? And then do you expect you can requalify all of those CS volumes at other facilities?

Speaker 5

Or do you expect to lose a little bit of business along the way?

Operator

Hey, good morning, Matt. With respect to your question on the requalification process itself, it's going well. All of our targeted customers, CS customers that we were supplying at Temiscaming are taking product from our various plants. And I could just say that the process is proceeding as planned. With respect to the period of time, I would say that the 18 months to 24 months is from the beginning of the process.

Operator

So we probably have got a little less than that in terms of remaining time going forward to conclude those processes. And then the question about, are we including all of our customers in the process? All of our customers were certainly invited to be part of the qualification process. Some of them given that they had they were qualified with some of our competitors chose not to. And so consequently, we think that some of our customers that we're currently supplying out of Temiscaming will likely go to our competitors.

Operator

But we do believe that we will retain what we think are most important in higher margin business.

Speaker 5

Great. Thanks for that color. And then just sticking with the Temiscaming and HPC indefinite curtailments, could you talk about how that will affect your wood chip and residual fiber supply agreement with Green First, your investment in Anamira and then the operation of the cogeneration facility at the site.

Operator

Okay. All right. With respect to our chip supply agreement with GreenFirst, we fully intend to continue to honor that agreement. Again, this is a suspension of operations and not a closure. So there may be time sometime in the future that we'll need to have a ship supply.

Operator

But obviously with the suspension, we're not going to consume chips anymore. So the focus would be working with GreenFirst to resell the chips into the market. Just as a reminder, with respect to that agreement, it is based on the transfer price between the parties is based on market pricing. So we expect that any impact to us with respect to profits or losses will largely be mitigated. With respect to the Anomero business, again, they take a small volume.

Operator

We'll be able to supply that from our other plants to keep that operation moving and growing. And then the last issue with respect to the our boiler 10, I think is what you're talking about our liquor boiler that is part of the suspension. So we're planning to shut those operations or close those operations down for the period.

Speaker 5

Okay, great. Thanks for that detail. And last one for me, as part of that Southwood lumber duty refund sale, you called on an opportunity for the company to receive additional future sale proceeds contingent upon the timing in terms of the ultimate trade dispute outcome. You provide any color here on under what circumstances you would receive additional proceeds in the

Operator

future? Really can't, Matthew. Those are we're under NDA on those type of details. So we can't really share that with you.

Speaker 5

Okay, understood. Thanks. I'll pass it back.

Speaker 2

Thank you. Our next question is from Dmitry Silversteyn with Water Power Research. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 4

Good morning, gentlemen. Thank you for taking my question. I just want to circle back to a couple of things. First of all, the $7,000,000 in energy benefit that you will realize later in the year, Can you provide a little bit more detail of what that is? And is it likely to fall in the first half of the year or the second half of the year?

Operator

Okay. Dmitry, what we're talking about is the CO2 credits that we receive in France with our Tardis facility. Historically, we've usually been able to realize those and recognize those as part of EBITDA either in the first or second quarters of the year. Right now, we're thinking that it's likely to occur in the Q3 of this year, largely due to government authorities pushing out the payment potential on that. The so again, it will be there roughly about the same amount as we've seen in the past, just a little delay.

Speaker 4

Got it. Thank you, Mickey. And then just a follow-up on your comment about the market conditions in China that are impacting your high yield pulp business. Can you provide a little bit more detail on what's going on there in China and how long these market conditions are expected to last?

Operator

Well, the conditions continue as we discussed last quarter. There's still an excess supply of high yield pulp or mechanical pulp in China due to new capacity that came on. And I would expect that that's probably going to continue through most of the year. There's a lot of excess supply in that market. The impact it's having with respect to global pricing on high yield pulp is though limited to China.

Operator

We're not really seeing a lot of that bleed out to other regions in the world. So pricing in the Indian subcontinent area as well as Europe continues to be strong and we expect we'll continue to improve as we go through the year. And in response to what we're seeing in China, we are obviously then repositioning our sales and our supply into those markets that are more attractive. And then we believe that as a result of those stronger dynamics, we'll be able to improve our average pricing as the year progresses.

Speaker 4

Okay. So I mean, if I look at your slide for the volume and price and how you'll pop, it does look like it's come off the bottom a little bit, but obviously not to the level that we saw in 2022. Is the expectation that the sort of the normal pricing is somewhere more in line, let's say, with the first half of twenty twenty three? I mean, how should we think about kind of sustainable pricing for this business?

Operator

Yes, that's and again, that's a good question of what would be a normalized price. Normally, over a cycle, our high yield pulp business generates positive EBITDA and positive cash flow. Obviously, we're coming off the trough and starting to see improvements. And as we get into later part of this year, we'll start to enjoy positive EBITDA and positive cash flow. I really can't right now tell you where the normalized pricing would be.

Operator

It's likely going to be higher than we are today. We'll get all the way back to the Q1 of 2023. I think right now it's probably it would be a guess on my part. I really don't want to speculate on that.

Speaker 1

And Dmitry, remember there's a lag effect in our high yield business giving our order file in our logistics supply chain.

Speaker 4

Got you. So, yes, I understand that. Okay. Thank you.

Operator

All right. Thank you, Dmitry.

Speaker 2

Thank you. Our next question is from Sandy Burns with Stifel. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 6

Hi, good morning and good start to the year. Maybe just to clarify one item about the EBITDA guidance. The $30,000,000 one time cash charges for the Temiscaming closure suspension, is that added back to get to the $180,000,000 to $200,000,000 or are you including those as valid expenses for 2024?

Operator

No, we're adding that back to get to the adjusted EBITDA guidance.

Speaker 6

Okay. So that is an add back. And those are all cash costs, just to confirm?

Operator

They're not all cash costs, but a good majority of it is. And just the other point to make is that the $30,000,000 it will be spread out over the course of multiple years. It's not all going to happen in 2024. Okay, good.

Speaker 6

Okay. And maybe just to follow-up on the prior question about the duty sale and appreciate you don't want to get into too much detail. But maybe just to clarify, was that a sale of all of the duty refunds you were expecting or was it just a portion of those?

Operator

It was the sale of all of our duty refund rights. So not just the amount that was in receivables. So the full 111,000,000

Speaker 5

dollars All

Speaker 6

right, great. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Our next question is from Roger Spitz with Bank of America. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 7

What is the EBITDA impact of the Q2 2024 Jessup turnaround, if any?

Operator

That's a good question, Roger, and you got me stumped on that one. I would say in the neighborhood of $10,000,000 something like that. But again, that's going to be a guess just thinking about historical impacts, but that's given the size of the plant, given the obviously the impact it has, it's going to be material.

Speaker 7

Are you doing all lines or just one particular line?

Operator

Yes, we brought the whole plant down for about 3 weeks.

Speaker 7

Okay.

Speaker 1

And Roger, it's important to note we're through that shutdown, right? Yes.

Operator

The important point is that the plant is back up and running now.

Speaker 1

Got it. And we

Operator

brought it back up a little earlier than planned. It was a very successful outage.

Speaker 7

Perfect. So regarding Temiscaming, you're going to idle your HPC plant, obviously, continuing to run the paperboard and high yield pulp plant. And the slide talks about what you save in EBITDA. But my question is this, if we look at the paperboard and how you'll pulp, you both have EBITDA associated with it. But presumably, there will be some additional EBITDA pressure or costs from running those plants, but not having the benefit of the HPC plant to absorb the other fixed costs of running the whole complex.

Speaker 7

So how should we think about like LTM EBITDA of those two segments if HPC wasn't running, is there like do they have to absorb another X $1,000,000 of fixed costs from not running HPC?

Operator

You're getting into the some details relative with respect to some of the negotiations and discussions we're having with potential suitors of the paperboard business. So I don't really want to get into the details on that. But I will say that any of the stranded costs that right now that we've forecasted for the businesses in that $15,000,000 to $20,000,000 of benefit that we've got in the EBITDA for the business going forward. So we've got it included in the estimates we've given you.

Speaker 7

Got it. So where are you Yes.

Operator

And the last point, let me make one more point, Roger.

Speaker 7

Sure.

Operator

Again, this is not a closure. This is a suspension. So any of these retained costs or these stranded costs or however you want to describe them, the plan is that HPC will retain those costs ongoing and won't affect the paperboard business or the high yield pulp business. Again, because the rate there is a likelihood that we would actually restart these operations sometime in the future. So these ongoing fixed costs that we would have at the site, we would need to retain to support that potential.

Speaker 7

Well, I guess at least the following two questions. One is where are you in the process? Have you you said last time you received indications of interest, which suggests that you did you got 1st round bids in that are so where are you? Have you asked for a 2nd round bid? Have you run management presentations ahead of the 2nd round?

Speaker 7

So have you sent out contracts for potential buyers to mark up?

Operator

We have had management presentations. We've had site visits with interested parties. We are have provided draft or draft APA agreements. But with the as a result of the suspension, obviously, the underlying fundamentals and assumptions relative to how the site will operate have now changed. And so because of that, the diligence process is going to be extended as so that our suitors will have a chance to understand what it would mean to the paperboard and high yield pulp business relative to the suspension that we've discussed.

Operator

The So anyway, the delay we believe is actually relatively minor. It isn't a it doesn't at all talk about or even suggest that there's a lack of enthusiasm for the assets. In fact, I would suggest that as a result of the suspension that enthusiasm has actually increased from the parties that are interested. And I would actually suggest also that we've actually seen increased interest from other parties. So will continue to run the process as we see necessary to get the best value for those assets.

Operator

As I said earlier, this is not a fire sale. We want to make sure we get fair value for these assets. And we'll run the process as we deem necessary to extract that value.

Speaker 7

Got it. If I can take one more further on this subject, you're shutting you're idling the plan on July 2. So Q3 will be relatively or substantially clean. Do you think that you really need to go back out and show them the Q3 numbers and with 1 quarter of clean quarter shown, that's when you can restart? Or do you think you'll have to show them 2 full quarters of clean numbers without HPC operating to give potential buyers full confidence to make as high a bid hopefully as they can?

Operator

It depends on the suitor, right? So it's up to them. But our goal is to conclude the deal if the terms are attractive before we have to by the end of the year as part of the refi process.

Speaker 7

Got it. And then are there other people in queue or can I ask 2 more?

Operator

And go ahead and ask a couple of more questions.

Speaker 7

Sure. Maybe you said this and I missed it. The 2024 HPC EBITDA, did that change from the $180,000,000 to $190,000,000 and the paperboard from $50,000,000 to $60,000,000 I just maybe missed it and you said it on the prepared remarks.

Operator

No, they didn't change. Same as we gave last time.

Speaker 7

Got it. And then lastly, regarding the GreenFirst wood chip supply agreement, is that based on take or pay volumes, requirements, contracts or is it just general volume minmax under the supply agreement?

Operator

We're required to take a certain amount of volume every year from GreenFirst And that so we will need to take the volume even though we're not operating the facility, but the pricing is based on market market pricing at the time. And as a consequence, as I said, we will look to resell working with GreenFirst. And as a result of that, our expectation is that we will not see either profit or loss from that resell.

Speaker 7

Glad to hear it. Thanks for the extra time. Appreciate it.

Speaker 2

Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I'd like to hand the floor back over to Delisle Bloomquist for any closing comments.

Operator

All right. Again, as always, thank you for joining us today. I appreciate all your interest and support for the company. I am very proud of the hard work and dedication that we've shown that has been shown by our team and I'm very confident in our ability to continue to enhance the profitability while we work to reduce our debt and our leverage. I look forward to providing updates on all of our ongoing projects and initiatives and value your continued support as we strive for long term success and growth.

Operator

As always, we're committed to maintaining transparency and open communication. So feel free to contact us if you have any further questions or you need any further information. Thank you again for your participation.

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Key Takeaways

  • Sold the rights to $39 million of softwood lumber duty refunds, significantly bolstering financial flexibility and aiding the $70 million 2024 debt reduction target.
  • HPC segment sales fell 18% year-over-year to $307 million, but EBITDA rose by $6 million to $50 million thanks to higher specialty cellulose pricing and cost cuts.
  • Raised 2024 adjusted free cash flow guidance to $80 million–$100 million, with these funds earmarked for debt reduction and strategic capital investments.
  • Announced indefinite suspension of the Temiscaming HPC plant, incurring ~$30 million in one-time costs but expected to deliver $15 million–$20 million in annual EBITDA and free cash flow benefits.
  • Paperboard and high-yield pulp segments saw weaker pricing and margins, with paperboard EBITDA down $1 million to $12 million and the pulp segment sliding to breakeven.
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Earnings Conference Call
Rayonier Advanced Materials Q1 2024
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