West Fraser Timber Co Ltd (NYSE:WFG) Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call February 15, 2023 11:30 AM ET

Company Participants

Raymond Ferris - President, CEO & Corporate Director

Christopher Virostek - SVP, Finance & CFO

Christopher McIver - SVP, Marketing & Corporate Development

Conference Call Participants

Ketan Mamtora - BMO Capital Markets

Hamir Patel - CIBC Capital Markets

Sean Steuart - TD Securities

Paul Quinn - RBC Capital Markets

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the West Fraser Q4 2022 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions].

During this conference call, West Fraser's representatives will be making certain statements about West Fraser's future financial and operational performance, business outlook and capital plans. These statements may constitute forward-looking information or forward-looking statements within the meaning of Canadian and United States securities laws. Such statements involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions which may cause West Fraser's actual or future results and performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied in these statements.

Additional information about these risk factors and assumptions is included both in the accompanying webcast presentation and in our 2022 annual MD&A and annual information form, which can be accessed on West Fraser's website or through SEDAR for Canadian investors and EDGAR for United States investors. I would like to remind everyone that this call is being recorded today, Wednesday, the 15th of February 2023.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Ray Ferris, President and Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead, Mr. Ferris.

Raymond Ferris

Thank you, Michelle. Good morning, and thank you, everyone, for joining our fourth quarter 2022 earnings call. Joining me today are Chris Virostek, our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Chris McIver, our Senior Vice President, Marketing and Corporate Development; and Matt Tobin, our Vice President of Sales and Marketing; and several other members of our executive team.

I'm going to begin with a brief overview of West Fraser's fourth quarter and full year 2022 financial results, and then I'll pass the call over to Chris Virostek for some additional comments.

West Fraser generated $70 million of adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter of 2022 as we experienced weakening demand across several key products, particularly in North America, where rising interest rates or rising mortgage rates impacted near-term housing affordability. This weakness was particularly evident in our Lumber Segment and was partially offset by positive EBITDA contributions from our engineered wood products and our pulp business.