Operator
Operator
Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Louisiana-Pacific Corporation First Quarter 2016 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session and instructions will be given at that time. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the meeting over to Sallie Bailey, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead. Sallie B. Bailey - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: Great. Thank you very much, Karen, and good morning. Thank you for joining our conference call to discuss LP's financial results for the first quarter of 2016. I am Sallie Bailey, LP's Chief Financial Officer; and with me today are Curt Stevens, LP's Chief Executive Officer; as well as Mike Kinney and Becky Barckley, our primary Investor Relations contact. I will begin the discussion with a review of the financial results for the first quarter of 2016, and this will be followed by some comments on the performance of the individual segments and selected balance sheet items. After I finish my comments, Curt will discuss the general market environment in which LP has been operating and provide his perspective on our operating results and give some thoughts on the outlook. As we have done in the past, we've opened up this call to the public and are doing a webcast, and the webcast can be accessed at www.lpcorp.com. Additionally, to help with the discussion, we've provided a presentation with supplemental information that should be reviewed in conjunction with the earnings release. I'll be referencing these slides in my comments this morning. We've filed an 8-K this morning with some supplemental information, as well as our Form 10-Q. I want to remind all the participants about the forward-looking statements comment on slide 2 of the presentation. Please also be aware of the discussion of our use of non-GAAP financial information included on slide 3 of the presentation. The appendix attached to the presentation has some of the necessary reconciliations that have been supplemented by the Form 8-K filing we made this morning. Now rather than reading these two statements, I incorporate them with this reference. The first quarter was a good start to 2016 for LP and has set us up for continued improvement for the remainder of the year. U.S. housing start data does remain choppy, but the market appears to be on a trajectory for 10% to 15% improvement over 2015. Overall, in the past couple of quarters, we've had a number of questions and meetings on this call about the market demand for our SmartSide siding. The Siding segment's result this quarter demonstrate that we are back on track given the 22% improvement in SmartSide volume from the fourth quarter of 2015. And with that, let me go into the detail. Moving to slide 4 of the presentation for a discussion of our first quarter 2016 consolidated results. We are reporting net sales of $505 million for the first quarter of 2016, a 7% increase from the net sales of $472 million reported in the first quarter of 2015. In the first quarter, we recorded net income of $10 million or $0.07 per diluted share, compared to a loss of $35 million or a loss of $0.24 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2015. The adjusted income from continuing operations for the quarter was $10 million or $0.07 per diluted share based upon the normalized tax rate of 35%, as compared to a loss of $19 million or a loss per share of $0.13 reported in the first quarter of 2015. Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations was $52 million in the quarter, compared to $6 million in the first quarter of 2015. Moving on to slide 5 of the presentation and overview of our segments results, starting with OSB. OSB reported net sales for the first quarter of 2016 of $217 million, up 14% from $190 million in the first quarter of 2015. OSB reported operating income of $15 million, compared to a loss of $29 million in the first quarter of 2015. Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations was $30 million, compared to negative adjusted EBITDA of $13 million in the first quarter of 2015. Sales volumes were flat. Pricing for OSB was higher by 14%, which improved operating results by $27 million. For first quarter 2016, OSB operating results were positively impacted by the reductions in raw material costs, higher utilization rate, as well as the positive impact of the Canadian currency. Slide 6 reports the result of the Siding business. This segment includes our SmartSide and CanExel siding products, as well as minor amounts of OSB. Siding recorded net sales for the first quarter of 2016 of $181 million, up 4% from $174 million in the first quarter of 2015. Siding reported operating income of $27 million, compared to operating income of $33 million in the first quarter of 2015. Adjusted EBITDA from continued operations was $34 million, compared to $38 million in the first quarter of 2015. SmartSide volume was up 1% from the prior year and 22% sequentially. Sales prices in SmartSide were down 2% due to changes in product mix with individual pricing remaining relatively flat. For CanExel, sales volumes increased 15% primarily due to increased demand in Europe. Sales prices for CanExel were lower by 11% in U.S. dollars. CanExel Canadian dollar sales prices were up 2%. As a reminder, with the Swan conversion from the OSB mill to a siding mill, the Siding segment started producing and selling OSB again out of our Hayward, Wisconsin mill. For the first quarter of 2016, the Siding segment produced about 53 million square feet of OSB, as compared to no OSB production in the first quarter of 2015. The negative impact of the Swan conversion on the Siding segment's financial results for the quarter was less than $1 million; and we are not anticipating any negative impact of the Swan conversion in the second quarter on earnings. The reduction in operating result for the Siding segment for the first quarter of 2016 compared to the first quarter of 2015 was primarily due to higher cost of sales related to fourth quarter's higher cost of production due to downtime. The higher cost of production in the fourth quarter was capitalized into the inventory, which was then sold in the first quarter. The cost of production in the first quarter was lower than the cost of production in the fourth quarter of 2015. An increase in OSB production and increased sales and marketing cost to support future growth also contributed to the lower operating result in the quarter. These higher costs were partially offset by lower raw material cost. Please turn to slide 7 of the presentation, which shows the results from our Engineered Wood Products segment. This segment includes I-Joist, Laminated Strand Lumber, Laminated Veneer Lumber, OSB produced at our Houlton, Maine facility plus other related products. This segment also includes the sale of I-Joist and LVL products produced by the Abitibi joint venture under our sales arrangement with Murphy Plywood. The Engineered Wood Products segment recorded sales of $72 million in the first quarter of 2016, up from $65 million in the first quarter of 2015. The segment's results were a loss of $2.5 million in the first quarter of 2016 as compared to a loss of $4 million in the first quarter of 2015. For the first quarter of 2016, adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations improved by $1 million as compared to the first quarter of 2015. Volumes of I-Joist were up 19% while volumes of LVL and LSL were up 18% compared to the same quarter last year. Pricing was up 3% in LVL and up 2% in I-Joist. Moving on to slide 8 of the presentation. For the quarter, our South American segment reported sales of $31 million as compared to $36 million on the first quarter 2015. Operating income was $5 million as compared to $2 million in the first quarter 2015 and adjusted EBITDA was higher by $2 million for the first quarter of 2016 as compared to the first quarter of 2015. Volumes were down 12% in Chile and 3% in Brazil compared to the same quarter last year. The sales volume decrease in Chile was due to increased exports impacting local demand and in Brazil due to decreased local sales as Brazil continues to face an economic recession in their local market. On a U.S. dollar basis, pricing was up 1% in Chile and down 11% in Brazil. In local currency, Chile's pricing was up 14% compared to the same quarter in 2015, and Brazil's pricing was 25% higher in local currency. Total selling, general and administrative expense was $42 million in the first quarter of 2016 compared to $39 million in the same quarter of 2015. For the quarter, the increase in selling, general and administrative expense was primarily due to increases in certain management incentives in 2016 and higher costs associated with corporate sales and marketing to support our revenue growth. Interest expense net was flat between the period. Please turn to slide 9 of the presentation. As of March 31, 2016, we had cash, cash equivalents, investments, and restricted cash of $424 million; working capital of $650 million; net cash of $58 million; and in addition to the $424 million of cash on our balance sheet, we had $2 million of availability on our credit facility. Capital expenditures through March 31, 2016 were $26 million. We are projecting capital expenditures for 2016 at $120 million to $130 million. Approximately $100 million has been allocated to the North American project, 50% for growth and the remaining for capital maintenance and cost reduction. The remaining $20 million to $30 million has been allocated to our South American segment, primarily for the building of a third mill in Chile. Now with that, I'll turn the call over to Curt for his comments. Curtis M. Stevens - Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thank you, Sallie, and good morning and thanks for participating on today's call. As I usually do, I'll start with our safety performance. The American Panel Association just announced the results of their Safety and Health Awards program for 2015, and I'm pleased that for the second year in a row, LP was recognized with the safest large company as a company with more than four mills. This is the sixth time that we've been so recognized in the last eight years. Our I-Joist JV, which has two mills of Resolute in Quebec, was named the safest small company with three or fewer mills. There's been 11 facilities included in the Incident Free Honor Society. The American Forest and Paper Association also released their safety data for 2015 for their universe of companies, and LP was identified as having the best total incident rate. I continue to be extremely proud of all of our employees who recognize the value of being safe, have committed to it, and act accordingly. In addition to the obvious savings of workers' compensation cost, LP employees had made their commitment to safety the cornerstone of our company's culture, which we believe gives us a competitive edge in the hiring and retention of our people. Finally, this safety culture extends to the many contractors that we used in implementing our capital projects. We've gone over two years without a single contractor injury associated with these non-routine tasks. We did have our board meeting and our annual meeting of shareholders last Friday. I'm pleased to report that all the nominees for director were handily elected, the others were ratified and our annual say on pay advisory vote passed with over a 98% approval rate. Also, our board did name a new officer. Greg Harrison, a long time LP Manager, has been named Vice President Siding Manufacturing, as recognition of his importance to the success of this business. Greg was instrumental in the successful conversion and startup of the Swan Valley mill. Today, I'll be providing comments on our results and accomplishments discuss key demand drivers and give you my views on the outlook for the rest of this year. For the second consecutive quarter, all business segments recorded a positive adjusted EBITDA that totaled $52 million for the company. EBITDA improved by $46 million over Q1 of 2015 and by $18 million compared to last quarter. OSB Random Lengths reported North Central 7/16's Q1 pricing down $17 versus the last quarter but we're actually reporting flat due to an increase on our value-added mix and improved crate realization. As the result of these significant factors, improved operational productivity and cost control, our EBITDA improved to $30 million versus $25 million in Q4. During the quarter, we also successfully completed the press rebuild of our Hanceville, Alabama mill. In Siding, our SmartSide revenue grew 28% versus Q4, driven by a 22% volume increase. The SmartSide volume matched the highest volume ever that we've achieved in Q1 of last year. The Swan Valley siding mill conversion is ahead of the pro forma production schedule, and we expect this mill to make a positive contribution next quarter. We are very pleased with the rebound on our siding sales as we put a major focus on returning to growth as we've put capacity back in front of this business. As I said last quarter, we have unleashed our sales and marketing team along with our distribution partners, and we are seeing the results. The EWP, we were EBITDA positive for the quarter and performed better than Q1 of last year. However, we did see a drop in EBITDA performance compared to Q4 last year due to an equipment failure in one of our mills that reduced quarter-over-quarter sales and had changed the mix. Sallie said in South America, we had a very good first quarter with adjusted EBITDA of $7 million. Prices improved in Chile and Brazil in local currency versus last quarter. Strong export volumes to China and other South American countries offset weak domestic demand in Brazil. We continue with the engineering design work for our third mill in Chile in anticipation of board approval of this project over the summer. The housing market, as Sallie mentioned, the Q1 news, was a little bit mixed. Overall, Q1 housing starts ran an annual rate of 1.13 million, actually flat to Q4 of last year. The consensus for 2016 starts is now at 1.23 million, a 10% improvement over 2015, which I believe is possible. The consensus forecast for 2017 is 1.37 million, another 12% increase. The good news for us is that in Q1, single family starts averaged a seasonally adjusted rate of 792,000. This is the highest quarterly rate since Q4 of 2007, and this represents an increase of 23% over the same quarter last year. We believe the good weather in February, March aided starts, also notable on improvements in new home demand for entry level buyers. We estimate that the OSB consumption ratio between single and multifamily is about 3 to 1. The improvement in single-family starts was offset by a decline in multifamily starts. Compared to Q4 of last year, multifamily starts declined 10% falling from 379,000 to 341,000 which happened to be flat with last year. Household formation growth continues to drive rising rents and low vacancy rates across the country. Other positive housing data, existing home inventory was down 1.1% year-over-year for January. So, home inventory is very tight on a historical basis. On the financing side, average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rates were at 3.58% for the week ended April 15, which was down from 3.9% to three months earlier. In Canada, for the first quarter, starts were at seasonally adjusted rate of C$200,000, a growth of 2% from Q4. Almost all of this increase was in single-family detached units, which makes up about 35% of Canadian starts. So while there is forecasted growth in housing for the next several years, it is incumbent on us to focus on continuing to increase our growth outside of our traditional market by developing products, product applications and market segments that can address needs in industrial repair model where year-over-year growth has exceeded 10% unlike commercial activities. Year-over-year non-residential construction was up 11.2% through February. So while the consensus for 2016 housing starts has moved down slightly since January, I am encouraged by the increase in single-family starts and the supporting data for sales of building materials by dealers are up double-digits in the first part of the year. So I remain optimistic about the rest of 2016. As I've said before, I continue to be concerned about labor and land availability for builders, uncertainty relative to lending standards for buyers and the impact of the presidential race on our nation and, more specifically, potentially on consumer confidence. But continued strong employment growth will bolster secure household formation. And, fundamentally, housing demand should strengthen throughout this year, providing a positive market environment for our products. In our Siding business, strong order rates continue through April. In OSB, Random Lengths has reported North Central pricing flat or increasing each week since the end of the quarter. So compared to this time last year, pricing is higher by 37%. Strong single-family starts is driving demand for both these businesses, as well as engineered wood. South America expects good OSB and Siding demand in Chile throughout the year. For Brazil, we will continue to focus on export opportunities as these are generally priced in U.S. dollars, and we can benefit from the weak Brazilian real. With that, let me turn it over to Sallie for questions. Sallie B. Bailey - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: Great. Well, thank you, Curt. Karen, we're ready for questions if you could go to the queue.