VANCOUVER, BC, May 3, 2022 - Canfor Pulp Products Inc. ("The Company" or "CPPI") (TSX: CFX) today reported its first quarter of 2022 results:
Overview
- Q1 2022 reported operating loss of $26 million; net loss of $20 million, or $0.31 per share
- Notable uptick in global US-dollar pulp list prices in Q1; ongoing global supply chain challenges resulting in majority of price gains being realized in Q2 and Q3
- Lower furnace rebuild of recovery boiler number one ("RB1") completed mid-April; focused on optimizing production performance going-forward
- Together with Canfor Corporation, announced the implementation of a comprehensive plan to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050
- Available liquidity of $111 million at March 31, 2022
The Company reported an operating loss of $26.0 million for the first quarter of 2022, compared to an operating loss of $137.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2021. After adjusting for a $1.1 million recovery in its inventory write-down provision in the current period, the Company's operating loss was $27.1 million for the first quarter of 2022, a $14.0 million improvement compared to a similarly adjusted operating loss for the fourth quarter of 2021 of $41.1 million.
On April 11, 2022, Kevin Edgson joined CPPI as President and Chief Executive Officer. Commenting on the Company's first quarter's results, Kevin said, "This was another difficult quarter for Canfor Pulp, as the ongoing global supply chain crisis continued to impact not only our operations and shipments, but our ability to realize on a sharp increase in NBSK pulp list prices. Despite these challenges and operational upsets, we continued to preserve our strong cash position. I am working closely with CPPI's leadership team to begin the process of undertaking a comprehensive business review and will be developing a plan to improve operational reliability and optimize fibre supply. In the coming months, with the Northwood pulp mill recovering well after its RB1 capital-upgrade, we are focused on getting our production performance back on track."
The Company's operating results in the current period principally reflected supply-driven increases in Northern Bleached Softwood Kraft ("NBSK") pulp US-dollar prices that were significantly moderated by the ongoing impacts of global supply chain challenges and transportation disruptions in British Columbia ("BC") on the Company's operations and shipments. As a result, the Company's NBSK pulp and Bleached Chemi-Thermo Mechanical Pulp ("BCTMP") unit sales realizations were broadly in line with the previous quarter. In addition, current quarter results included the impact of capital-related downtime at the Company's Northwood NBSK pulp mill ("Northwood") related to the rebuild of the lower furnace of RB1. The lower furnace replacement was completed mid-April, with a total capital cost of approximately $30.0 million and total reduction in NBSK pulp production of 90,000 tonnes (10,000 tonnes in the fourth quarter of 2021, 70,000 tonnes in the current quarter and a further 10,000 tonnes in April 2022).
Source: Canfor
Legal Notice: Paper Advance is not responsible for the accuracy or availability of content on external websites.
