Canfor Pulp Products Inc. (CFX) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Please note that the meeting is being recorded. I would like to introduce the Honorable John Baird, Director and Chairman of the Board and Chair of today's meeting. Mr. Baird, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Valerie. Good morning. It's now 11:00 a.m., and I'd like to call this meeting to order. I will be acting as Chairman for this important meeting. It is a great pleasure for me to extend a warm welcome to all of you today at the AGM of Canfor Pulp Products Inc. Please ensure you remain connected to the Internet during the course of this meeting. If you need technical assistance, please see the section entitled Voting Process and Technical Assistance in the Management Information Circular respecting this meeting. This meeting has been convened as an AGM of shareholders and has been called for the principal purposes of receiving the consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2023, together with the auditor's report and the report of the directors to the shareholders, fixing the number of directors of the company at 8, electing the directors for the coming year and appointing the auditors for the coming year. At this point, I would like to introduce Kevin Edgson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Canfor Pulp; and David Calabrigo, the Corporate Secretary of Canfor Pulp. There will be an opportunity for any questions you may have to be addressed after the formal portion of the meeting has concluded and after you have heard from Kevin and me. I've asked Mr. Calabrigo to act as secretary of the meeting, and I'd like to introduce you to the other directors of Canfor Pulp: Craig Armstrong, Dieter Jentsch, Don Kayne, Norman Mayr, Conrad Pinette, William Stinson, and Sandra Stuart. They have all worked diligently and effectively with the management team at Canfor Pulp, and we appreciate their wise counsel and contributions. With the consent of the meeting, I hereby appoint TSX Trust Company to act as scrutineer of the meeting. I'd now like to call on Mr. Calabrigo to deal with the Notice of the Meeting.

Mr. Chairman, a notice calling the meeting was mailed to all shareholders of Canfor Pulp entitled to receive such notice. TSX Trust Company has provided us certificate as to the mailing, and a copy of the certificate will be kept with the records of the meeting.

Could I ask you, Mr. Secretary, to please summarize the preliminary scrutineer's report?

We are pleased to report that there are 42 shareholders holding 51,003,557 shares, represented in attendance online or by proxy at this virtual meeting, representing 78.19% of the total issued and outstanding shares of the company.

As Chairman, I adopt the preliminary scrutineer's report and declare the attendance at this meeting to be as they have set forth. I direct that when delivered, the final scrutineer's report be kept with the records of this meeting. In accordance with the preliminary scrutineer's report, I declare a quorum present and the meeting to be duly constituted for the transaction of business. Based on the preliminary scrutineer's report, a sufficient number of proxies have been deposited, with TSX Trust Company voting in favor of all resolutions in the circular in order to pass each item of business in this meeting. I propose that we deal first with all of the formal business requirements of the meeting. After the formal portion of the meeting has concluded, Kevin Edgson, the company's President and Chief Executive Officer, will say a few words and there will be a final opportunity for questions from registered shareholders and proxy holders, which can be submitted online. As the meeting is being held virtually, I would like to remind you that voting on all matters described in the Management Information Circular for the meeting will be conducted by electronic ballot. We'll allow sufficient time for voting. The polls for all matters being voted on will be open following these introductory remarks and closed at the end of the formal portion of the meeting. Only registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders who have properly logged in to the meeting will be able to vote at the meeting. I also remind you that if you are a registered shareholder and you have already voted by proxy, you do not need to vote again unless you want to change your vote. If you plan to vote at the meeting, you may choose to vote on each resolution immediately or wait to cast your vote until after the motion for an item is proposed. Once all items of business before the virtual meeting have been put forward, I will give registered shareholders and proxy holders an opportunity to discuss the items of business, make comments and ask questions and to provide an opportunity to enter their votes on the open poll, if they haven't already done so, and then declare voting closed on all resolutions. In order to expedite the proceedings today, I will be proposing and seconding all motions and/or any motions not included in the circular. The motions will be determined based on the preliminary scrutineer's report in reliance on the discretionary authority granted in the proxies deposited for this meeting or on a poll at my discretion. I now declare the polls open for all resolutions included in the Management Information Circular for the meeting. The first item of business to place before the meeting is the consolidated financial statements for Canfor Pulp for the year ended December 31, 2023, together with the auditor report and the report of the directors to the shareholders. These statements and reports are contained in Canfor Pulp's annual report and are available on SEDAR+ or from Canfor Pulp upon request. I will regard the statements and reports as received by the meeting. The next item of business is to fix the number of directors. I propose that the number of directors be fixed at 8. I direct that a poll will be conducted on the motion and that the scrutineer report the results. If you haven't already cast your vote online or by proxy, please cast your vote now. The next item of business is the election of directors of Canfor Pulp. I propose the following individuals be nominated to act as directors of the company to hold office until the next AGM: Craig Armstrong, John Baird, Dieter Jentsch, Don Kayne, Norman Mayr, Conrad Pinette, William Stinson, and Sandra Stuart. These persons are management's nominees for election, as was stated in the information circular mailed to the shareholders of Canfor Pulp. Having no further nominations, I declare the nominations closed. I direct that a poll be conducted on the motion and have the scrutineer report the results. If you haven't already cast your vote online or by proxy, please cast your vote now. The next item of business is the appointment of auditors, and it is the Board's recommendation that KPMG LLP, chartered accountants, be appointed auditors of Canfor Pulp. I propose that KPMG LLP, chartered accountants, be appointed auditors of the company. I direct that a poll be conducted on the motion and that the scrutineer report the results. If you haven't already cast your vote online or by proxy, please cast your vote now. That concludes the matters to be voted on. For those registered shareholders and proxy holders who have not yet raised matters for discussion, make comments, ask their questions or voted on all of the resolutions for which the polls remain open, please do so now as I will shortly close all such polls. [Voting]

There being no further discussion at this time, the polls on all such resolutions are now closed. I direct the scrutineer to provide a report on the results of the polls. Based on the scrutineer's initial meeting report, I declare that the number of directors of the company had been set at 8. As only the required number of persons have been nominated to be elected as directors of the company, I declare that those persons nominated have been duly elected by acclamation as the directors of the company to hold office until the next AGM and that KPMG LLP, chartered accountants, have been appointed as the auditors of the company. After the meeting, upon receipt of the scrutineer's final meeting report on the polls conducted during this meeting, I direct the reporting secretary of the meeting to attach the scrutineer's final meeting report to the minutes of the meeting. All of the business for which this meeting was called have been completed. Following termination of the formal part of the meeting, Kevin Edgson will say a few words, and registered shareholders and proxy holders who wish to ask questions or make comments will be subsequently invited to do so. I propose that the formal portion of this meeting be terminated. Based on the preliminary scrutineer's report, I declare the motion carried and the formal part of the meeting is now terminated. Without further ado, I am pleased to invite Kevin Edgson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Canfor Pulp, to address the meeting. After Kevin's remarks, there will be a question period for any registered shareholder or duly appointed proxy holder to ask questions using the messaging icon on the top of the virtual interface.

Thank you, John. Good morning, everyone. Welcome, and thank you for joining me today for Canfor Pulp's Annual General Meeting. We appreciate your support and interest in attending today's live audio webcast. I would like to acknowledge that today's meeting is being hosted from the Vancouver head office on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples, including the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. We also acknowledge the Quesnel First Nation in the B.C. Interior on whose traditional territory Canfor Pulp operates. We have a sincere commitment to truth and reconciliation and to the nurturing relationships of mutual benefit with indigenous peoples. 2023 was, without a doubt, a challenging year for Canfor Pulp. While we had been hopeful that market conditions will improve heading into 2023, the year did not unfold as expected and markets remained weaker for longer. While the dip wasn't unnaturally low relative to past down cycles, it was down almost twice as long as we've seen previously, and that weighed heavily. In 2023, we experienced supply chain disruptions, such as the strike at the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert as well as rail disruptions and rising input costs. However, it's been the persistent and stark decline in access to an economically viable fiber supply that has severely constrained operators across B.C.'s forest industry. Like other Central and Northern B.C. interior pulp producers, Canfor pulp's supply of sawmill residual chips has fallen to levels of critical shortage, primarily driven by extensive, permanent and indefinite sawmill curtailments in our operating region. We are seeing the worst fiber deficits in our operating history. Continuing fiber cost pressures and a declining outlook for economic residual fiber in B.C. prompted an asset restructuring and an organizational redesign program to adjust to these challenges and to strengthen Canfor Pulp's long-term competitiveness, profitability and operational performance. With the mandate to make Canfor Pulp smaller but stronger, early in the year, we made the difficult but prudent decision to permanently close the pulp line at our Prince George NBSK pulp and paper mill. In connection with this closure, our Intercontinental NBSK pulp mill was successfully converted to provide slush pulp to our specialty paper facility formerly supplied by the Prince George pulp line. The combined impact of these operating structure changes has been the reduction of approximately 280,000 tonnes of market kraft pulp production annually. Over the last year, we have seen performance at our operations improve modestly with an increase in the reliability of our operations. This is allowing us to optimize our facilities, and we expect to see additional performance improvements followed by planned recapitalization to be undertaken as available cash allows. Looking at our 2023 financial results. The company reported an adjusted operating loss of $129.9 million with an adjusted net loss of $1.47 per share compared to an adjusted operating loss of $58.6 million for the prior year and adjusted net loss of $0.66 per share. These results largely reflected substantially lower average NBSK pulp unit sales realization tied directly to weak global pulp market conditions through most of the year, offset somewhat by a $0.03 or 4% weaker Canadian dollar. Operationally, results were impacted by reduced pulp production and shipments associated with the aforementioned operational challenges that took effect early in the year. Improved pulp productivity at both Northwood and Intercon year-over-year, however, helped mitigate, to a degree, the impact of the pulp line closure of Prince George combined with improved unit manufacturing costs and higher energy revenues in 2023. The paper business continued to deliver a solid operational performance in 2023 as the conversion of Intercon to provide slush pulp to the PG specialty paper facility was seamless with minimal impact on paper production or shipments. Reflecting 2023's market conditions, operating rates as well as the company's management of working capital, the ratio of current assets to current liabilities at the end of 2023 was 0.9:1 compared to 1.9:1 at the end of 2022. The company finished the year with total net debt of $85.9 million; available liquidity of approximately $147 million, which included $80 million restricted for the use on the reinvestment of Northwood's recovery boiler #1; and a net debt to capitalization ratio of 20.3%. While global pulp market conditions were positive heading into 2023, market fundamentals experienced a sharp decline late in the first quarter of 2023 and remained challenging through most of the year as purchasing activity waned and global pulp producer inventories climbed to well above the balanced range. As a result, prices to China, the world's largest consumer of softwood pulp, dropped from a high of USD 913 per tonne in February to a low of USD 648 per tonne in June. Late in the year, however, as global producer inventories returned to more normalized levels and demand from China improved, global pulp pricing saw some modest upward momentum, with China pulp prices finishing the year at USD 730 per tonne. In North America, pulp prices experienced similar trends to Asia. In the bleached kraft paper segment, markets remained solid through the first half of 2023 before softening through most of the second half as a result of inflationary pressures and rising global paper inventories. As I noted at the outset, 2023 was a hard year for the company. Pulp production was 603,000 tonnes in 2023, down 16% from the prior year. For 2023, overall, while we had a productivity uplift at both Northwood and Intercon year-over-year, while production continued to be impacted by efficiency and reliability challenges. As mentioned, sustained fiber shortages weighed most heavily on the reduced pulp production. Intercon started the year curtailed, and beginning in April, the operating output change associated with the closure of PG pulp line contributed approximately 210,000 tonnes and reduced market pulp production over the year. Additionally, while Northwood's scheduled maintenance was successfully completed in September, its restart was delayed into the fourth quarter by numerous operational challenges unrelated to the scheduled maintenance downtime. In the paper segment, production was broadly in line with prior year at 130,000 tonnes for 2023. Turning now to the first quarter of 2024. Canfor Pulp reported an operating loss of $15.7 million for Q1 compared to an operating loss of $15.1 million for Q4 of 2023. After adjusting for certain onetime items, operating results reflected a $10.3 million improvement compared to last quarter. We saw a modest uptick in NBSK pulp unit sales realizations despite relatively subdued global pulp demand and flat producer inventory levels. We also experienced a 7% increase in pulp production quarter-over-quarter, reflecting solid operational performance and reduced unplanned downtime. Looking forward, global softwood kraft pulp market conditions are anticipated to strengthen and NBSK prices to China are showing upward momentum, largely in response to global pulp supply disruptions stemming from the labor dispute in Finland, global pulp producer downtime and transportation constraints disrupting trade routes and transit times. Similarly, in North America, recent pulp supply concerns and various mill closures are contributing to upward pricing momentum. However, given the ongoing uncertainty with regards to accessing economically viable fiber in B.C., we expect a continued challenging fiber supply environment for our pulp mills, both for sawmill residual chips and whole log chips, in the near term and through the balance of 2024. We will continue to evaluate its operating conditions and adjust its operating rates to align with economically viable fiber supply, which we expect will impact the company's production shipments and cost structure. I want to touch briefly on the subject of sustainability, as you may have seen that, jointly with Canfor Corp., we released our 2023 sustainability report just last week. A deep commitment to sustainability has long been embedded in Canfor Pulp. It's what and how we approach everything we do. As a company that uses the renewable resource to produce sustainable climate-friendly products, Canfor Pulp is part of the climate change solution and the circular economy. Our backbone is the strength and versatility of our products, and these characteristics extend to our people who develop them every day safely and sustainably. It is these qualities that have enabled us to navigate an incredibly challenging time in our business and in our industry. Together, we are working towards becoming a truly sustainable organization. To be clear, that is more than environmentally sustainable, that is sustainable in all ways. Turning now to the long-term. Amid a difficult operating environment in British Columbia, the fundamentals and outlook for our sector are solid. Globally, pulp and paper markets have entered a revival era. New and emerging value-added bio products, growing niche markets that command premium prices, the expanded tissue and hygiene product markets, growth in high-performance packaging board spurred by e-commerce, and a shift from single-use plastics and glass to sustainable fiber-based packaging, are all positive prospects for the pulp and paper industry. And thanks to the strength and technical attributes of our pulp, which is one of the highest quality available anywhere in the world, there remains an opportunity to be stronger but smaller going forward. I'd like to end by extending my admiration and gratitude for the resilience and dedication of our people as they have worked closely through our challenges and to their commitment to safety. The last year has not been easy for our employees as they've navigated the downturn and restructuring process. With the mandate to make Canfor Pulp smaller but stronger, we've emphasized the transformation of our culture and the development of a shared vision where everyone feels valued, engaged and is contributing to the best possible operational performance. On behalf of our executive team, I want to thank our Board of Directors and our shareholders, including our majority shareholder, Canfor Corp., for their ongoing support and confidence. I also want to thank our customers for trusting us with their business and having confidence in us to deliver on our commitments. John, I'll turn it back over to you.

Thanks, Kevin, for your remarks. This is an appropriate point at the meeting to deal with any final discussion or questions from shareholders. Is there any discussion or final questions? Seeing there are none, as there are no further questions or discussions, the meeting has now concluded. Thank you so much for attending today's meeting. You may now disconnect.