Doman Building Materials Group Ltd

TSX:DBM

Earnings Call Transcript 2024-Q1

[Operator]

Greetings. Welcome to Doman Building Materials Group Ltd.'s First Quarter 2024 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded. I'll now turn the conference over to Ali Mahdavi. Please go ahead, Ali.

[Ali Mahdavi, executive]

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for Doman Building Materials First Quarter 2024 Financial Results Conference Call. Joining me this morning are Amar Doman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and James Code, Chief Financial Officer of the company. If you have not seen the news release which was issued yesterday, it is available on the company's website at domanbm.com as well as on SEDAR+ along with our MD&A and financial statements. I would also like to remind you that a replay of this call will be accessible until midnight on May 24. Following the presentation of the quarter -- following the presentation of the first quarter 2024 financial results, we will conduct the Q&A session for analysts only. Instructions will be provided at that time for you to join the queue for questions. .

Before we begin, we are required to provide the following statements regarding forward-looking information, which is made on behalf of Doman Building Materials Group Ltd. and all of its representatives on this call. Remarks and answers to your questions today may contain forward-looking information about future events or the company's future performance. This information is subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events to results to differ materially.

Any information regarding forward-looking statements is made as of the date of this call, and the company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements. Please read the forward-looking statements and risk factors in the MD&A, as these outline the material factors, which could cause or would cause actual results to differ. The company will not provide guidance regarding future earnings during today's call, and management does not anticipate providing guidance in future quarterly or interim communications with investors.

I'll now turn the call over to Amar.

[Amardeip Doman, executive]

Thanks, Ali, and thanks, everybody, for joining us on today's call. Since we spoke last during our fourth quarter and year-end 2023 results conference call, we remain focused and excited with the business across all divisions and on both sides of the border. Despite the impact of a slowing construction materials market, our business units continue to show resilience in volumes while delivering very strong gross margin performance. .

Our financial and operational performance in the first quarter continues to be a testament to our ability to work in challenging conditions and our team's track record on managing the business through these types of cycles. Throughout the quarter, we remain focused as always on gross margin and optimizing our balance sheet. The strength in our first quarter results came from the combination of the impact of our strategic acquisitions, steady volumes in key markets and ongoing disciplined inventory management.

Further, our ongoing cost management, focus on operational efficiencies and successful integration efforts, enabled the company to realize strong gross margin and EBITDA margin performance. 2024 is off to a decent start. We are encouraged with the overall level of our activity in our end markets, and we delivered strong performance across all of our key financial metrics, including revenues coming in at just over $600 million, gross margin at 16.7%, just over $100 million, adjusted EBITDA at $45.6 million, net earnings of $14.4 million. And lastly, another quarterly dividend of $0.14 per share was declared.

These results basically are on the back of our continued strength of our business platform in Canada and the U.S. I'm extremely pleased with our financial performance, which has resulted in the continued, successful unfolding of our overall growth strategy. As always, we remain confident, focused and disciplined on closely managing our costs, in servicing the needs of our customers with the highest level of quality and service as we have done in the past.

During the quarter, we also completed the acquisition of Southeast Forest Products, including two large lumber treating plants in Richmond, Indiana and near Birmingham, Alabama. We are very excited with this acquisition. The plants complement our central U.S. operations and strengthen our footprint by introducing coverage in eight new states, including the strong Southeastern U.S. markets and select Eastern states. This strategic acquisition exemplifies our strategy of adding scale and volume to our U.S. operations and pressure-treated lumber and specialty wood products. The acquisition is in line with our growth strategy and consistent with our view of value for what we are purchasing and value creation for our shareholders.

Our integration efforts are on track and coming together successfully and pretty much we can say we fully integrated the company within 60 days. The lumber markets have been very soft in Q2, as we know. And as always, we do remain confident in our ability to work through good and challenging markets diligently while serving our customer needs with the highest level of service. We believe the market is starting to bottom out here on lumber, and we'll talk about that in the Q&A, I'm sure. We remain excited about growth profile and the overall prospects of the business.

And with that, I would now like to ask Jay Code, our CFO, to take over and provide a review of the company's first quarter 2024 financial results in greater detail, and then we're going to open the question -- sorry, we're going to open the call for questions.

Jay, over to you. .

[James Code, executive]

Thank you, Amar, and good day, everyone. Sales for the 3-month period ended March 31, 2024, were $602.5 million versus $609.1 million, last year, representing a year-over-year decrease of $6.6 million or 1%. The impact of a slowing construction materials market was partially offset by contributions from our March 1, 2024 acquisition of Southeast Forest Products. Doman sales composition in the quarter included 76% construction materials compared with 75% last year, with the remaining balance of sales driven by specialty and allied products of 20% and other sources of 4%. .

Our gross margin was $100.4 million versus $98.2 million last year, an increase of $2.2 million and gross margin percentage was 16.7% in the quarter, an improvement from the 16.1% achieved last year, largely driven by disciplined and strategic inventory purchasing and our continuing focus on sales of value-added products.

Expenses in the quarter were $72.3 million compared to $70.5 million last year, an increase of $1.8 million or 2.6%. Expenses equated to 12% of sales in the quarter compared to 11.6% last year. Distribution, selling and administration expenses were subject to broad inflationary pressures over the previous 12 months, and we continue to manage this category very tightly in this environment. As a percentage of sales, DS&A expenses were 9.1% in the quarter compared to 8.8% last year.

Finance costs for our first quarter were $10.8 million compared to $10.6 million last year, an increase of 2.7%, largely related to higher year-over-year interest rates on our variable rate loan facilities. Q1 2024 adjusted EBITDA was $45.6 million compared to $44.8 million last year. Adjusted EBITDA excludes acquisition-related costs of $817,000 in the current quarter.

This quarter's slight increase in adjusted EBITDA was driven by stronger gross margins and disciplined expense control despite broad inflationary pressures. Adjusted net earnings before these nonrecurring acquisition costs were $15 million this quarter, slightly above last year's comparative net earnings.

Turning now to the statement of cash flows. Operating activities before noncash working capital changes generated $37.8 million in cash, largely in line with the $38.1 million generated last year. Seasonal increases in noncash working capital items consumed $167.6 million in cash compared to $114.4 million in the prior year. Increased strategic spring buildup of inventory this year contributed to the increased use of cash.

Overall, financing activities generated a total of $153.5 million in cash compared to $77.4 million in Q1 '23. We borrowed $171.6 million on our revolving loan facility compared to $96.2 million last year, largely reflecting the previously discussed seasonal working capital changes. We note that the purchase price consideration for the Southeast acquisition was funded by the company's cash on hand. Doman was not in breach of any of its lending covenants during the quarter and subsequent to quarter end on April 30, we reported that our revolving loan facility was renewed and extended through April 2028.

This marks the seventh, consecutive renewal of the $500 million ABL facility, spanning over a 25-year relationship with lead lender Wells Fargo. Shortly after the renewal of the revolver, Rating Agency Moody's issued a ratings upgrade for Doman, increasing our corporate family rating by one notch to Ba3 from B1, and increasing the rating on our 2026 senior unsecured notes by 2 notches to B1 from B3. Moody's reported that the upgrades reflect Doman's strong operational performance despite a trough pricing environment for wood products as well as continued progress in reducing debt.

The company also returned $12.2 million to shareholders through dividends paid during the quarter, consistent with 2023 and payment of lease liabilities, including interest, consumed $6.6 million of cash, largely in line with last year. We note that the company's lease obligations generally require monthly installments, and these payments are 100% current. Investing activities consumed a total of $63.8 million of cash this quarter, including payment for the Southeast acquisition as well as ongoing purchases of new property, plant and equipment. This concludes the formal commentary, and we would now be happy to respond to any questions that you may have.

Thank you. Operator?

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] And our first question is from the line of Yuri Zoreda with Canaccord Genuity.

[Yurisleidy Zoreda, analyst]

So last quarter, it seemed like you were seeing strong demand activity across the board with construction materials pricing declines being the main headwind. Q1 against an easier pricing comp, however, was slightly lower year-on-year. So I was just wondering, if you could provide more color on where that weakness is coming from.

[Amardeip Doman, executive]

Yes, certainly can. And it's -- we're off 1% in sales, so I'm not really crying too much about that in this environment. So really, when you look at across the regions, there are certain pockets. It's variable across different markets. Canada was a little bit weaker, longer winter, et cetera, but now we're seeing those volumes pick up nicely here in Q2 and recover as they always do, depending on how long the winter goes.

And then certain states, it was just sporadic. Some were up, some were down, and we're starting to get the northern states, Illinois, Missouri, those states where they open up a little bit later start to kick in. Texas has kicked in and Arkansas and some of the new states we're in as well, we're starting to see good volumes there. So not too concerned about the start of the year. With lower lumber prices, hopefully bottomed maybe last week, we're kind of feeling that a little bit and starting to see curtailments take effect.

I think you might see a little bit more buying activity happen while pricing is favorable to the buy side.

[Yurisleidy Zoreda, analyst]

Okay. That's helpful. So as a quick follow-up, so based on your answer, you're seeing those volumes, perhaps, start to pick up. How are the pricing dynamics looking? And would you say your expectations for the year remain largely unchanged in the sense of being flat?

[Amardeip Doman, executive]

Yes. The one thing we can't control, of course, is the base price. We move along up with that or down with that as things go along. But as you can see, 5 straight quarters through. There is some pretty different gyrations of the market, one way or the other. We're steady hitters through these kind of markets. So I think you'll continue to see that. And yes, we haven't really changed our outlooks as far as internal goes. We believe that lumber markets bottomed. Do we see it running up? No, we just don't. There's a lot of production. It seems to be in a nice back-and-fill area.

The producers, some of them are feeling these lower prices right now and hence, the curtailments, which we need to, I think, shore up the price on the base. But we don't see a big rally coming. It's just a personal opinion from our office. We think we're coming off the bottom here now, but prices are going to be lower for longer. And I think there's a bit of an interest rate cloud on housing, which is kind of holding back new builders doing big projects and things like that, but the repair and renovation market for us seems to be still carrying on decently and everyone is watching their inventories on the customer side. So we don't expect people to be loading up on lumber in this environment. They're selling to and buying to, and that's just the way it works.

[Yurisleidy Zoreda, analyst]

Okay. That's helpful color. I'll turn it over.

[Operator]

Our next question is from the line of Hamir Patel with CIBC Capital Markets.

[Hamir Patel, analyst]

Amar, how did your organic sales fare in Q1, if you strip out the Southeast [ still ] and any comments you have on how the sort of organic business is faring here in Q2 compared to a year ago.

[Amardeip Doman, executive]

Yes, just slightly off in the first quarter. And first quarter is obviously our weakest quarter with weather and everything like that. It's a tough yard stick to use. But off maybe very low single digits in some markets on volume. But really, again, it's -- if you're 1% to 3% here and there in different markets to us, we're not -- we don't really stay awake worried about that, and we started to see the momentum come back in Q2.

We don't see the market being super strong on lumber. We don't see it being super strong on takeaway. Just a steady year is kind of how we're seeing this in the fifth month of the year now, organically and through acquisition.

[Hamir Patel, analyst]

Great. That's helpful. And we saw Home Depot make a large acquisition in the distribution space, and it looks like they're paying quite a high multiple. Do you see any impact from that transaction on your own business?

[Amardeip Doman, executive]

Zero. Those are categories we're not in at all. It's more of a roofing and other products that we really don't participate in. And so it was a nonevent for us. .

[Operator]

The next question is from the line of Zachary Evershed with National Bank Financial.

[Zachary Evershed, analyst]

So as we saw pricing on [indiscernible] lumber take a dip in Q2, how are you thinking about the sustainability of your 16% plus gross margins going forward?

[Amardeip Doman, executive]

Yes. In down markets, it's always a little bit more of a challenge because you can't quite always be on the mark. Having said that, we've seen the market decline and go back up and decline in the last 5 quarters, and you've seen our margins kind of hold in here. I wouldn't see them moving up past that, Zach. I wouldn't be afraid or excited, let's say. I think we're going to be in those ZIP codes somewhere near that in this type of an environment.

And on Southern yellow pine, it got pretty tough. There was two handles on lumber, which we haven't seen since 2013. So that kind of surprised the whole market, how cheap certain grades and [ tally ] got. Spruce was a bit better, Dough Fir started to peel off. So yes, we can't say that margins are going to go up from here. I just -- we don't see any kind of collapse happening, but be a little softer, I think, just a little bit Zach, as we unfold into Q2 and Q3.

[Zachary Evershed, analyst]

That makes sense. And so given that backdrop, what are your working capital expectations in 2024 versus 2023?

[James Code, executive]

Zach, it's Jay here. So we haven't altered those working capital expectations somewhat at all actually from our internal projections, other than to allow for a little bit more working capital from the Southeast acquisition. So these prices are kind of within the range of what we planned for maybe a little bit on the low side right now as it bottoms out.

But you should see the usual seasonal working capital fluctuations with peak working capital around that first -- last week of the April, first week of May, and then it starts to come off through November. And that range from peak to trough is generally going to be in the $100 million to $120 million range.

[Zachary Evershed, analyst]

That's good color. So I think you addressed this fairly directly in terms of the pricing trends that you're seeing, you think that were maybe bottoming out here, and volumes have been fairly uninspired thus far, given the cloud from interest rates. Do you have hope for a pickup in the back half, maybe as we see backlogs come through?

[Amardeip Doman, executive]

Yes. I think what will drive that, Zach. We need some more information as far as, I would say, curtailment announcements and the realities of those, not just extended mill holidays or the odd weekend long weekend and shutting the mills down. If we see some serious production come off, you'll see a [ torque up ] because the volumes haven't collapsed. It's just that everybody is in kind of a rhythm of back and fill, no one wants to over inventory. So if you start pulling a lot of material off from the sawmill side, you will see a torque up. I can't say we're counting on it.

We're counting on kind of maybe up 10% to 15% here as a peak, towards the maybe mid part of the year if the curtailments come in. Otherwise, we're going to kind of bump along where we are. I think I said last quarter, we're going to be range bound. I think we're going to be range bound with a $50 bill. That's just kind of how it feels internally, and that's kind of what we're looking for. Are we getting some good deals from mills that need to move material. Yes, we are. So we try to take advantage and help our sawmill partners when they've got some stuff to move and maybe a little bit underneath [ print ], so that can help us.

So we're trying to do those things and take some chances when needed to buy under. We're being conservative as well. But until we see our curtailment announcements and some serious ones, I think we're just going to be range bound and no trajectory to the sky here on lumber. So kind of steady and boring as she goes, Zach.

[Zachary Evershed, analyst]

Good enough for me. Then just one last one. We're hearing commentary from other distributors that early-stage construction products are moving quicker than late stages as construction times are kind of blowing out in new residential. Are you guys seeing that bifurcation in your own catalog?

[Amardeip Doman, executive]

Well, a lot of our material in Canada, of course, is driven towards a new home start with our distribution activities with plywood studs, OSB, those types of items, insulation. And then, of course, the majority of what we're doing with the pressure-treated categories are backyard. So a lot of that can be repair and remodel, which is disconnected from that timing cycle that you're mentioning. It's just people doing R&R.

And when lumber is low like this and the retailers move their sets down, decks go back into the 20,000. It starts to really make it hard to price against composite where composite is still 5x the cost of wood, that gap widens and it makes lumber more attractive.

So there is a benefit in lower lumber prices, if you will, because of that demand picking up because it's cheaper and people can do projects. And in this inflationary world, they don't -- a lot of people don't have a lot of extra dollars floating around. And so when things are cheaper, I think it just helps the consumer, quite frankly.

[Operator]

Our final question is from the line of Matthew McKellar with RBC Capital Markets.

[Matthew McKellar, analyst]

Most of what I had been asked and answered, but maybe a question on your private timberlands. Any early thoughts on Canada's improved forest management and private land protocol that was recently introduced. And with that, would you expect to evaluate the opportunities to develop forest [ garden ] projects?

[Amardeip Doman, executive]

Yes. Jake can chime in here as well. We've had several interested parties approach us and we've been studying our timberlands to see what is the best use for that asset that we're proud to have. And I can say that we're just kind of in early innings of that exploration. And maybe Jay can finish it.

[James Code, executive]

I'd echo what Amar described there. Certainly, the interest in carbon credits that comes our way is very active right now. And we're not really seriously considering that at this point. But as that market develops, we can -- we certainly will continue to monitor the carbon markets and be prepared to look at that more seriously.

[Amardeip Doman, executive]

What I can tell you is on the standing timber that we provide to sawmill partners in the area is, the demand for that has been very strong due to the British Columbia public cutback of the AAC, the annual allowable cuts almost in half from where they were a couple of years ago.

So our pricing on our timber, it's been slow getting out of it because of the weather. But when we're delivering our pricing on timber, we have a lot of customers pulling for on logs. So it's nice to see those yields and margins on the timber. We just need some clear weather, which is approaching now and getting it out of the bush. But that side of it will go well.

[James Code, executive]

Yes. And I would add that we discussed curtailments. We're certainly seeing no curtailments in the region of our private manage for us. So the demand is still strong for our timber.

[Operator]

At this time, we've reached the end of our question-and-answer session, and I'll hand the floor back to Ali Mahdavi for closing remarks.

[Ali Mahdavi, executive]

Thank you. On behalf of the Doman Building Materials team, thank you again for joining us today. We look forward to speaking with you all during our second quarter financial results conference call. That concludes today's call. I will turn it over to the operator.

[Operator]

Thank you. Today's conference has concluded. You may now disconnect your lines at this time, and have a wonderful day.