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West Fraser reports results for first quarter of 2023

West Fraser Timber reported the first quarter results of 2023.

Highlights  from the quarter

• Sales of $1.627 billion and earnings of $42 million, or $0.52 per diluted share
• Adjusted EBITDA of $58 million, representing four percent of sales
• Lumber segment Adjusted EBITDA of $0 million
• North America Engineered Wood Products (NA EWP) segment Adjusted EBITDA of $31 million, including $15 million of inventory write-downs
• Pulp and paper segment Adjusted EBITDA1 of $7 million
• Europe Engineered Wood Products (Europe EWP) segment Adjusted EBITDA1 of $20 million

“In the first quarter of 2023, we faced challenging demand markets due in part to seasonal effects as well as higher mortgage rates that continued to moderate new home construction activity in the U.S. Our Lumber and North America EWP businesses were most impacted by these factors. As in the prior quarter, the product and geographic diversification of our European Engineered wood panels and pulp and paper segments provided positive EBITDA contributions that helped to offset some of the weakness in North American residential construction markets,” said Ray Ferris, West Fraser’s president and CEO.

“The West Fraser team is diligently managing through the market cycle and will continue to operate with financial discipline as we leverage our strong balance sheet to reinvest in our operations and return capital to shareholders. Importantly, our financial flexibility allows us to continue our core strategy of being a low-cost producer of wood building products while also positioning us to capitalize on opportunities as the demand environment becomes more favourable over the medium and longer term.”