Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Acadian Timber Corp 2023 annual general meeting. Please note that the meeting is being recorded. I would like to introduce Malcolm Cockwell, chairman of Acadian. Mr. Cockwell, please go ahead.
Thank you, operator. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It is my pleasure to welcome everyone to the Acadian Timber Corp annual general meeting. It is now 11:00 A.M. Eastern Time, time to start the 2023 annual meeting. My name is Malcolm Cockwell. As chairman of the corporation, I will chair this meeting. With me today are the directors of Acadian, Heather Fitzpatrick, Karen Oldfield, Erika Reilly, and Bruce Robertson. Also in attendance are Adam Sheparski, President and Chief Executive Officer and Director of Acadian, and Susan Wood, Chief Financial Officer of Acadian. We are committed to open communication, are pleased to host the meeting through TSX Trust Company's virtual meeting platform, accessible to all of our shareholders, regardless of physical location, to participate and view the meeting.
I officially call the meeting to order and appoint Susan Wood to act as secretary of the meeting and Pat Lee of TSX Trust Company to act as scrutineer of the meeting. Only registered shareholders who held shares in their name as of March 24, 2023, the record date of this meeting, or their validly appointed proxy holders, are entitled to vote and ask questions at this meeting. Before we turn to the business before us, I would like to deal with a few procedural matters. The business of the meeting is described in the management information circular dated March 24, 2023, which accompanied the notice of meeting. I will take the notice of meeting as read. We will conduct the votes on the matters before us by a poll.
On a poll, each registered shareholder or their duly appointed proxy holder who is entitled to vote on the matter and has joined the meeting using their control number, has one vote in respect of each share entitled to be voted on the matter and held by that shareholder. The poll will be open for all resolutions at the same time. Click the Voting button on the left menu of your screen when the poll is announced. This will allow you to choose to vote on each resolution immediately or wait until conclusion of discussion on each resolution prior to casting your vote. There will be an opportunity to ask questions on each resolution in turn. To submit a question, click the Ask a Question button on the left menu of your screen and type your question in the text box.
Once discussion on each item of business has concluded, I will give you a minute to enter your votes if you have not already done so. Once discussion on all items of business has concluded, I will provide a final opportunity to vote and then declare voting closed on all resolutions. I now declare the polls open on all resolutions. Registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders who have joined the meeting using their control number, you may now click on the Voting button in order to cast your votes or vote once discussion on each item has concluded. If you have already submitted your votes in advance and do not wish to change your vote, you do not need to take further action. To expedite matters today, Mr. Sheparski and I will move and second all motions with respect to the business of the meeting.
This is designed to facilitate the progression of the meeting and not intended to discourage comments. A copy of the materials, together with an affidavit of TSX Trust Company confirming such materials were properly mailed to shareholders, will be kept by the secretary with the records of the meeting. The minutes of last year's annual meeting held on May fifth, 2022, are available should any shareholder wish to review them. Based on this report, the secretary has confirmed that there is a quorum present. I therefore declare the meeting properly constituted for the transaction of business for which it has been called. I will now table the corporation's 2022 annual report to shareholders, which includes the 2022 financial statements, together with the auditor's report.
Copies of our annual report were mailed to registered shareholders and are accessible on the corporation's website and profile on SEDAR. We will now proceed to the appointment of auditors. As stated in the notice of meeting, it is the intention of the persons named in the form of proxy to vote in favor of a resolution appointing PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as auditors of the corporation to hold office until the next annual meeting and authorizing the board to fix their remuneration subject to contrary instructions given in the form of proxy.
Mr. Chairman, I will move that PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP be appointed auditors of the corporation until the next annual meeting, and that the directors be authorized to fix their remuneration.
Thank you, Mr. Sheparski. I, Malcolm Cockwell, second the motion. To submit a question, click the Ask a Question button on the left menu of your screen and type your questions in the text box. There being no questions, if you have not already, please cast your votes using the Voting button before we move on to the next item. We will now proceed with the election of six directors, each of whom is to be elected at this meeting to hold office until the next annual meeting. Particulars of the six director nominees are set out in the management information circular, which accompanied the notice of meeting sent to shareholders.
As stated in the notice of meeting, it is the intention of the persons named in the form of proxy to vote in favor of the election of each of the six director nominees, subject to contrary instructions given in the form of proxy. I will now call for nominations for the election of six directors of the corporation.
Mr. Chairman, I nominate the following persons: Malcolm Cockwell, Heather Fitzpatrick, Karen Oldfield, Erika Riley, Bruce Robertson, and Adam Sheparski, and move that they be elected directors of the corporation to hold office until the next annual meeting.
Thank you, Mr. Sheparski. Are there any further nominations? There being no further nominations, I declare the nominations closed.
Mr. Chairman, I will move that those nominees whose names have been read be elected to serve as directors of the corporation until the next annual meeting of shareholders or until their successors are elected or appointed.
Thank you, Mr. Sheparski. I, Malcolm Cockwell, second the motion. To submit a question, click the Ask a Question button on the left menu of your screen and type your question in the text box. There being no questions, if you have not already, please cast your votes using the voting button. This being our final resolution, for those of you who have not voted on either of the resolutions, please do so now as I will shortly close the poll. The polls are now closed, and I will read the results. Management has received proxies representing over 99% of the votes cast in favor of this resolution, appointing PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as auditors of the corporation to hold office until the next annual meeting and authorizing the board to fix their remuneration.
Since the votes withheld for this resolution are minimal, I will take the voting results from the proxy tabulation report and declare the motion carried. Management has received proxies representing over 97% of the votes cast in favor of each of the directors nominated. Since the votes withheld for each nominee are minimal, I will take the voting results from the proxy tabulation report and declare the motion carried. As there are six persons nominated for the same number of positions, I now declare that those nominated have been duly elected directors of the corporation. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes the formal part of today's meeting. Now I will turn the meeting over to Mr. Sheparski.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good morning, everyone. Before I start my comments, I would like to remind listeners that during the course of our presentation and in responding to questions about our financial and operating performance, we may make forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks, and future results may differ materially. For further information on our risk factors, I encourage you to review Acadian's annual report and annual information form, which are posted on our website at acadiantimber.com. Today, I'll start by providing you with a brief overview of our business and then discuss the company's achievements and performance during 2022.
I will also provide an update on our performance so far in 2023 and comments on the outlook for the remainder of the year, including current projects we have underway, after which I would be happy to take any questions. Let's begin with an overview of our business. Acadian is a leading sustainable forest management company in Eastern North America. We own and manage approximately 1.1 million acres of private timberlands located in New Brunswick and Maine, and manage an additional 1.3 million acres of crown land in New Brunswick. All of our operations are certified under the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. Acadian's timberlands have been under active management for over 100 years. We have a very complete and comprehensive infrastructure in place and long-standing relationships with a large and diversified base of customers.
Our strategy is to maximize cash flows from our timberland assets through sustainable forest management and other land use activities, and then flow through the majority of our cash flows to you, our shareholders. Our business includes all aspects of forest management, from planting, growing, and managing trees to harvesting, marketing, and selling logs and biomass byproducts. We are always exploring opportunities to derive additional revenues from our forests while maintaining the same high standards of management. Current other land use activities include carbon credit development, land leases, land sales, and other recreational uses. Turning to a review of Acadian's performance through 2022. Acadian's commitment to health and safety is our top priority, as we believe that emphasizing and achieving a good safety record is a leading indicator of success in the broader business. During 2022, there were seven recordable safety incidents among employees and contractors.
These were mostly minor incidents that resulted in minimal lost time. Incident reduction is a primary focus for 2023. 2022 was an operationally challenging year, not only for Acadian but for the Northeast forestry industry, with contractor availability issues beginning in the first quarter and persisting through the remainder of the year. These issues were combined with warm and wet weather in the fourth quarter. Combined, these challenges significantly impacted the industry and reduced the volumes we were able to deliver to our customers. We continue to see strong demand and pricing across our key products increased throughout the year, remaining strong as we entered 2023. During the 2022 fiscal year, we continued to advance our first carbon credit development project, which I will discuss more later, and we implemented both a Dividend Reinvestment Plan and a Normal Course Issuer Bid.
The NCIB was renewed in February 2023 and enables us to acquire common shares when the market price represents a desirable use of capital to increase shareholder value. Given the limited liquidity of Acadian stock, we expect that we will be somewhat limited in our ability to repurchase shares through the life of the program. Turning to our financial results. During fiscal 2022, Acadian generated sales of $ 90.5 million compared to $ 95.7 million in the prior year. Sales volume, excluding biomass, decreased 13%, primarily as a result of factors previously discussed. Acadian's weighted average selling price, excluding biomass, increased 12% over 2021 due to strong demand across all products, as well as the partial recovery of elevated fuel costs from our customers.
Adjusted EBITDA for the year ended December 31st, 2022 was $ 18.2 million, compared to $ 22.5 million in the prior year, while adjusted EBITDA margin was 20% compared to 23% in the prior year as a result of decreased volumes in 2022. Acadian generated Free Cash Flow per share of $ 0.72 in 2022, compared to $ 1.01 in 2021. Total dividends declared to shareholders during the year ended December 31st, 2022 were $ 19.5 million, or $ 1.16 per share, consistent with 2021. The Payout Ratio of Acadian, which represents the amount of dividends declared as a percentage of the Free Cash Flow generated, was 160% for 2022, or 132% based on cash dividends paid.
Acadian ended the year with a solid net liquidity position of $ 19.5 million, which includes cash and funds available under the revolving credit facilities. Turning to our performance during the first quarter of 2023. As reported yesterday, Acadian generated sales of $ 22.4 million, compared to $ 26.6 million in the comparable period of 2022. Sales volume, excluding biomass, decreased 37%, primarily as a result of limited contractor availability, combined with unfavorable weather conditions, which impacted both harvesting and hauling activities. Weighted average selling price, excluding biomass, increased 15% year-over-year, benefiting from strong prices across all products, driven by strong demand as well as the recovery of elevated fuel costs from our customers.
Operating costs were $ 17.1 million in the quarter, compared to $ 19.8 million during the prior year period as a result of the reduced harvesting activity, partially offset by increased timber services in New Brunswick. Weighted average variable cost, excluding biomass, increased by 14% as a result of higher contractor rates and fuel cost adjustments paid to contractors as compared to the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA totaled $ 5.6 million during the quarter, compared to $ 6.9 million in the prior period. Adjusted EBITDA margin for the quarter was 25%, compared to 26% in the prior year period. Net income for the first quarter was $ 5.6 million, compared to $ 4.2 million in the prior year period.
The increase in net income was largely due to the impact of higher gains on non-cash fair value adjustments in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same period of 2022, higher gains on sale of timberlands, partially offset by lower operating income due to decreased harvesting activity as compared to the prior year period. Acadian generated $ 3.7 million of Free Cash Flow and declared dividends of $ 4.9 million to our shareholders during the first quarter, or $ 0.29 per share. Turning to our outlook for the remainder of 2023. Demand for Acadian sawlogs is mainly driven by regional supply and demand of logs, stable sawlog demand and prices are largely expected to continue as we progress through the year, despite weaknesses in softwood lumber prices and uncertainty in hardwood lumber markets.
Markets for hardwood pulpwood are expected to remain stable in the near term, and the improved softwood pulpwood markets experienced in 2022 are expected to continue. As we enter the 2Q, we have performed a significant amount of work on harvesting and trucking rates, and we are optimistic that continued stable regional demand and pricing for our products will support solid results for the remainder of the year, and that the increased contractor capacity we have secured will allow us to catch up on much of the volume shortfall of the 1Q. During 2022, we continued to advance our first carbon credit development project on the portion of our Maine Timberlands that is subject to a working forest conservation easement. Despite being delayed relative to our original expectations, credits are expected to be registered in the 2Q of 2023.
Following registration, the credits will be immediately available for sale. This project has provided valuable experience to the Acadian management team and has formed the foundation for potential further carbon credit developments. We will continue to analyze carbon markets in both Canada and the U.S. as they develop and ensure we capitalize on opportunities, and at the same time, not negatively impacting the operations of our timberland business. We are grounded by our vision, which is our commitment to long-term sustainable land management for the benefit of our stakeholders. We are committed to operating safely and managing our forests in a manner that is consistent with the principles of sustainable forestry. We are focused on retaining strong relationships with our diversified base of customers and contractors to ensure the long-term success of our business.
We recognize the importance of making positive contributions to the communities in which we live and work. We continue to innovate in order to improve cash flow and provide attractive and sustainable distributions to our shareholders. At Acadian, we have the team, structure, and balance sheet to successfully weather challenging operating or marketing conditions as they arise. We are dedicated to providing long-term value for our shareholders. Before I conclude, on behalf of the management team, I would like to thank our employees and contractors for their hard work, contributions, and commitment to Acadian. This concludes my presentation. I would now welcome any questions. With no questions received, I will now turn the meeting back to you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Sheparski. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank you for your participation and attendance today. This brings us to the end of today's meeting, and as there is no other business, I declare the meeting terminated. Thank you.