Conifex Timber Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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May 9, 2024

There are 2 speakers on the call.

Operator

I would now like to turn the meeting over to Mr. Ken Shields, the CEO and Chairman of the company. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Well, thank you, Michael, and welcome everyone to this call covering our Q1 2024 results. Andrew Matrallon, our President and Chief Operating Officer and Trevor, our Chief Financial Officer, had travel commitments and a work schedule over the past few days that necessitated that I would be the lead off speaker at this call. But I can assure you there, Ram, to respond to questions and comments that you have. Let's quickly deal with a housekeeping item. We will be making forward looking statements and references to non IFRS measures and therefore call your attention to the warning statements set out on Pages 12 of our MD and A, which we expect will be released very shortly along with our financial statements.

Speaker 1

Turning to our Q1 results, in the Q1, you will note from the press release that we reported negative EBITDA of 0 point $1,000,000 and a net loss of $4,500,000 or $0.11 per Conifex share. As of March 31, our book value per share was $2.75 which of course is roughly 4 times our recent stock trading price. After depositing $1,370,000 in lumber export duties, our potentially refundable duties now exceeds US35 million dollars which is equivalent to around CAD47 million before any provisions for potential holdbacks or income taxes, this translates into a value of $1.18 per Conifex share, which is about exactly double our recent share trading price. Our Q1 results were consistent with the guidance we provided you on the previous call when we indicated that we expected to record a lower EBITDA loss in Q1 than the $3,500,000 we reported for Q4 of 2023. Our Q1 results were impacted by 3 unusual items.

Speaker 1

First, we recognized $3,000,000 in insurance proceeds. This benefit was partially offset by increased professional services expenses we incurred mainly related to shift cancellations at our Sawmill Complex due to extremely cold weather in January. Later in the quarter, the unusually mild weather we had later adversely impacted log deliveries and Q2 sawmill production will be held back a few days by log supply shortages. In total, however, we're very pleased with our Q1 achievements at the complex in terms of safety, environmental compliance and harvest sustainability. Turning to fiber supply considerations.

Speaker 1

On our call with you exactly 1 year ago, we announced the May 2023 release by BC's Chief Forrester of a new harvest level determination for the McKinsey Timber Supply Area or PSA. Prior to that year, our EBITDA was held back by a decision that Chief Forrester made back in 2014 mandating tenure holders in the Mackenzie TSA source 55% of their sawlog supply from dead and dying beetle filled sands. We are pleased to report that the requirement to focus on salvage stands was removed on May 4th last year and following a transition period, our current harvest is now primarily sourced from green commercially viable stands. The Chief For Officer set the new annual allowable cut or AAC at 2,390,000 cubic meters. We operate the only sawmill complex in Mackenzie and our annual fiber requirements amount to about 800,000 cubic meters.

Speaker 1

It follows that the new AAC is roughly 3 times our present requirement and these figures confirm that we do not face fiber supply constraints that are impacting other sawmilling operations in DC. In fact, the Mackenzie Timber Supply area has a degree of salt log self sufficiency that is unparalleled at any other TSA in the interior region of BC. The Ministry of Forests very recently advised us to expect some new enhancements in the next 2 or 3 months about additional steps it intends to take to further strengthen the economic sustainability of sawlog supply in the Mackenzie TSA. Summing up to this point, the Chief Forrester's 2023 decision and upcoming ministry announcements have enabled our Mackenzie site to migrate to a lower and more enviable ranking on the North American lumber industry cost curve. Going forward, the EBITDA per 1,000 board feet of lumber produced that Conifex expects to report will be in better alignment with the EBITDA reported by the other major public lumber companies.

Speaker 1

Turning now to our debt situation. Most of you would be aware that our lumber and power generation businesses are separate financed. Our number one priority for Q2 of 2024 is to successfully conclude the process that's been launched to refinance our lumber business. We plan to repay in full the credit facilities we presently have in place with Wells Fargo. We've engaged Raymond James Limited to advise and assist us to achieve this outcome.

Speaker 1

We are encouraged by the response we have had to date to entertain the market and are working on a priority basis to include agreements associated with the replacement funding. On previous calls with you, we've mentioned how the $100,000,000 we invested in power generation at Mackenzie materially enhances and stabilizes cash flow generation and furthers our objective to own and operate the most economically viable and environmentally sustainable software processing site in the interior region of BC. Over the past few years, we've been exploring opportunities to leverage the expertise we have in the power business to find other ways to boost our sustainable cash flow. In furtherance of this objective, we posted a data center facility on a trial basis for the past couple of years. The results from the trial have been encouraging.

Speaker 1

And last year, for example, the facility operated at full capacity with minimal downtime. But the strong EBITDA that we generated over the past 12 months relative to the investment we made in the facility confirmed the financial attractiveness of the new business being counter developed. Our plans to scale this new business were halted in December of 2022 when the provincial cabinet instructed BC Hydro to suspend its obligation to provide electric delivery connection services for a period of 18 months. Work was therefore halted at 2 sites BC Hydro had identified for us in Northern BC as potential locations with power available to support high performance computing data centers that we wish to own and operate. Consequently, in April of 2023, we filed a petition with the Supreme Court of DC seeking to set aside the action the provincial cabinet took.

Speaker 1

The Supreme Court judge agreed with us the Provincial Cabinet did not have the power to impose a permanent moratorium on interconnection services, but agreed with the province that a temporary moratorium could be applied. We disagree with the judge's decision and are therefore appealing it. In conclusion, the improving demand for our products, our differentiated fiber supply and the attractive opportunities we have to broaden our power business provide us the foundation we require to develop a profitable growing business. With these promising attributes, speaking to you as both the CEO and as the largest individual shareholder in Conifex, my conviction in our ability to overcome the unprecedented degree of undervaluation of our stock price has never been greater. Thank you for your interest in PineFX.

Speaker 1

Andrew, Trevor and I look forward to responding to any questions analysts and shareholders may have. So we'll turn the meeting back over to Michael.

Operator

Thank you, sir. There are no questions at the moment, sir.

Speaker 1

Okay. Well, that's possibly understandable because of the slight interruption we had in releasing certain of our shareholder materials, Michael. So we'll call it a day and thank you very much for servicing our call.

Operator

Certainly, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, your conference has now ended. All callers are asked to disconnect their lines at this time. And thank you for joining today's call.

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Earnings Conference Call
Conifex Timber Q1 2024
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