Good day and welcome to the Doman Building Materials Group first quarter 2022 financial results conference call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ali Mahdavi. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you, Diana. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us this morning for Doman Building Materials first quarter 2022 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 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 eighteenth. Following management's commentary and presentation, we will conduct a question and answer 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 or 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.
Thanks, Ali, and good morning, everybody, and thanks for joining us on today's call. Let me begin by highlighting some of our key financial metrics, followed by some color on our operations during the first quarter. Then I'm going to hand the call over to James Code, who can review the numbers in more detail. Let me start by briefly discussing our first quarter results, what we are seeing in the market, and how supply and demand looks as we push through into the second quarter. The strength in our first quarter results came from the combination of the impact of our strategic acquisitions, continued robust pricing, albeit volatile, in volumes in all of our markets, which resulted in record revenue performance in the quarter.
Further, our ongoing cost management focus on operational efficiencies and successful integration efforts and synergy realization enabled the company to drop much of the revenue line gains to the gross margin, EBITDA, and net income line. Simply put, we optimize the use of all the levers available to us in our business model to maximize margins out of a busy market which grows strong revenue growth on the back of strong pricing and broad market demand in Canada and in the U.S. During the first quarter, momentum and top line growth resulted in a 64% year-over-year increase in revenues. Our OSB business continued to deliver strong performance during the period due to increased demand and volumes coming from consumers continuing to spend time and efforts on home renovation and repair projects, along with strong housing start activity on both sides of the border, which continues today.
I am both pleased with and very proud of our employees on both sides of the border for their hard work and attention in serving our customers during times where many companies are faced with challenges surrounding global supply chains, logistics, and overall product movement. Despite these challenges, we recorded revenues amounting to CAD 851 million. Gross margin remains strong and on target at 15.6%, I should say, or CAD 133 million. EBITDA amounted to CAD 78 million and net earnings came in at CAD 42 million. Lastly, we paid a quarterly dividend of CAD 0.14 per share in the quarter and have now been paying dividends for over 12 years straight. The top line results are demonstrative of continued activity and strength of our business platform in Canada and the U.S.
I'm extremely pleased with our financial performance and the integration efforts around our recent acquisitions, which has resulted in the continued successful unfolding of our overall growth strategy. Although the economy is performing well, we are seeing general economic headwinds manifesting in inflation, increased interest rates, along with price volatility in certain product categories. We remain focused on adapting and performing during these uncertain times. Looking back at the quarter and looking ahead, we saw some evidence of these headwinds which we are cognizant of and their potential impact on performance. Despite the current market environment we are operating in, as always, we remain confident, focused, and disciplined on closely managing our costs and servicing the needs of our customers with the utmost level of quality and service as we have done in the past.
We remain excited and optimistic as we continue to take full advantage of this robust market dynamic that we are living through. With that, I would like to ask Jay Code, our CFO, to take over and provide a review of the company's first quarter 2022 financial results in greater detail, and then we'll open up the call for questions from analysts. Jay?
Thank you, Amar. Good morning, everyone. Sales for the quarter ended March 31, 2022 were CAD 851.3 million versus CAD 519.9 million in the comparative period in 2021, representing an increase of CAD 331.4 million or 64%. The increase is largely driven by contributions from our June of 2021 acquisitions.
The company's sales by product group in the quarter were made up of 81% construction materials, compared to 72% in the same quarter last year, with the remaining balance resulting from specialty and allied products of 16% and other sources of 3%. Gross margin increased to CAD 132.6 million in the current quarter versus CAD 90.4 million in 2021, an increase of CAD 42.2 million. Our gross margin percentage was 15.6% during the quarter, a decrease from the 17.4% gross margin realized in 2021. The company's margins benefited from the results delivered by our acquisitions. However, the late Q1 declines in construction materials pricing drove overall lower margin percentages for the quarter relative to 2021.
Expenses for the current quarter were CAD 70.7 million versus CAD 40.7 million last year, an increase of CAD 30 million or 74% due to the factors to be discussed. These expenses amounted to 8.3% of sales this quarter versus 7.8% last year. Distribution, selling, and administration expenses increased by CAD 24.1 million or 79% to CAD 54.5 million this quarter versus CAD 30.4 million in the same period in 2021, largely due to the additional operating expenses of our 2021 acquisitions. DS&A expenses were 6.4% of sales in the quarter compared to 5.8% in Q1 2021. Depreciation and amortization expenses increased by CAD 5.9 million or 57% from CAD 10.3 million to CAD 16.2 million.
Finance costs for the first quarter of 2022 were CAD 8.4 million versus CAD 3.6 million in 2021, an increase of CAD 4.8 million, largely as a result of additional finance costs related to our 2026 unsecured notes issued in May of 2021. First quarter EBITDA was CAD 78.1 million compared to CAD 60 million in 2021. The increase of CAD 18.1 million was mainly driven by the 2021 acquisitions, partially offset by the construction materials pricing declines we saw late in the quarter. Doman's net earnings in the first quarter were CAD 42 million versus CAD 34.2 million in the same period of 2021, an increase of CAD 7.9 million. Turning now to the statement of cash flows.
The significant factors affecting the company's operating cash flows in the first quarter of 2022 were largely related to improved net earnings, offset partially by normal seasonal increases in net non-cash working capital. Operating activities before these working capital changes generated CAD 62.1 million in cash, compared to CAD 42.4 million in 2021. In the first quarter of 2022, we made a net investment in non-cash working capital totaling CAD 187.1 million, compared to a net investment of CAD 197.6 million in the prior year. Moving now to the financing section. The company generated CAD 107.9 million of cash from financing activities compared to CAD 152.5 million in the same period in 2021.
In Q1 2022, the company borrowed an additional CAD 127.2 million on its revolving loan facility, compared to additional borrowings of CAD 168.7 million in 2021. The year-over-year decrease in net advances from the revolving loan facility were a result of the previously discussed improvements in cash generated from operating activities, resulting in this quarter's reduced revolver utilization. Shares issued during the quarter generated CAD 632 thousand of cash, compared to CAD 393 thousand in 2021. While scheduled repayments related to our non-revolving term loan consumed CAD 667 thousand consistent with 2021. We also note the company's remaining outstanding promissory notes were fully repaid during the first quarter of 2022. The company was not in breach of any of its lending covenants during the quarter.
Dividends paid to shareholders during the first quarter totaled CAD 12.1 million compared to CAD 9.4 million in the prior year's first quarter. The company updated its dividend policy during the fourth quarter of 2021, resulting in a quarterly dividend increase from CAD 0.12 to CAD 0.14 per share, beginning with the dividend paid on January 14, 2022. Payment of lease liabilities, including interest, consumed CAD 6.1 million compared to CAD 5.8 million in 2021.
The company's lease obligations generally require monthly installments, and these payments are all current. Investing activities consumed CAD 2.2 million compared to CAD 1.3 million in the same period of 2021, representing purchases of property, plant, and equipment net of proceeds from dispositions. This concludes our formal commentary, and we would now be happy to respond to any questions that you may have. Thank you. Operator?
Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to ask a question, please signal by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. If you're using a speakerphone, please make sure your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. Once again, press star one to ask a question. We will take our first question from Paul Quinn from RBC. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks very much. Good morning, guys. Just want to understand a little bit more detail around the current market conditions, how difficult it is securing product, whether that's lumber, OSB, other building materials. Then, what are your customers saying, you know, current demand here, especially in this rising interest rate environment?
Yeah. To answer the first part, you know, some of the transportation snafus have become unlocked. BC is still a little bit tough getting some material out of the mills for some of our operations, but we're not, you know, in dire straits by any means. We've had a slower spring. As we know, the weather hasn't been great across Canada and the U.S, kind of north. That's kind of offset that. That's not really causing us any trouble. We think that's slowly catching up, hopefully by late summer, you know, things will be back into order there. On customer demand, you know, slower spring in Canada, again, weather related, but we're not seeing demand drop off in the U.S whatsoever.
Things are strong down there and, you know, I think, you know, interest rates, you know, over time will probably cool things off a little bit, but so far so good. Really, the momentum and activity down in all regions for us now is a very good momentum.
Okay. Specifically on the pressure treating side or the R&R market, you know, others have reported a slowdown in big box volumes. Just wondering whether you're seeing the same thing or it's more consistent for you guys.
Yeah, it's been more consistent. We're not seeing a fall off. It just depends. It seems like some weeks and, you know, we're seeing these big numbers, and then they're cooling off, and then they're big again. So hard to read it. It's still, you know, May. It's still early in the year for this really to get going now, and May, June, July, August will tell us the story, but you know, no fall off. You know, last year when the lumber market came off, you know, that demand stopped when lumber was sky high. We've seen lumber correct a little bit, as we know, kind of the back half of March into April and then stabilize, which you know, makes lumber more affordable on DIY side. So it's nice to see that.
Our orders have not, you know, plummeted like they did last summer when the market collapsed. There's a lot of takeaway going on.
Okay. Just lastly, you know, how's the Hixson integration coming along? Is that fully integrated and what's your appetite for additional acquisitions?
Yeah. The team at Hixson is doing a fantastic job in integrating, implementing the technology. We just about have all of our operations up. There's five to go, that'll be done by the end of the second quarter. Then we'll all be up on our new system, which is a, you know, familiar system to us that we use in the Western US, a modern system. We're very excited about some of the data that's coming out of that already. Hixson's running very, very well. When we look at other acquisition opportunities, obviously still digesting Hixson, but, you know, we do see, you know, a few things out there that we're in discussions with. We'll just stay patient on these.
We're, you know, wondering how the outlook is as we go forward and look at acquisitions and valuations. We'll stick to our value buying and, you know, if a couple come up this year, great. If they don't, great. We're going to pay the right value for our shareholders for those assets.
All right. That's all I had. Best of luck, guys. Thank you.
Thanks, Paul.
We will now take the next question from Hamir Patel from CIBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good morning. Mark, I wanted to follow up on Paul's question about R&R. I'm just curious if, you know, from your channel partners, are you hearing of any sort of major differences between demand from, you know, call it maybe DIY customers versus the pro segment?
No, and we track volumes for box stores and dealer stores and, you know, it's very, very steady. In fact, as the weather picks up, it's getting busier. I think this, you know, notion of it just falling off because people are going back to restaurants and flying is not true. It's active. Certainly if housing slows down the next couple of years on the start end with rates going up, which, you know, may not happen because of immigration and everything else and the demand, but if that happens, we'll certainly see, you know, regular patterns of R&R activity where people will stay around the house.
I think I've mentioned this in the past, that when you've got these big housing booms like we have now, you know, the decks and fences, which we're, you know, major in, they come later on and, you know, we'll see a lot of that activity just continue through the decks, the fences, you know, the outdoor landscaping. This all comes later. We like what we see and, we've got longevity here for our product lines.
Okay, great. Thanks, Mark. That's helpful. I just want to ask about this construction worker strike now in Ontario and what potential impact that might have on your business in Q2.
Yeah. You know, a lot of our customers are, you know, further out in rural, so we're not really dealing with the downtown guys that, you know, are building towers and things like that. I'm not going to say it would completely not affect us, but it's not really our world where those guys are striking.
Fair enough. That's all I had. I'll turn it over. Thanks.
Thanks, Jim.
We will now take the next question from Ian Gillies from Stifel. Please go ahead.
Morning, everyone.
Morning, Ian.
One of the things in the release you noted was the splits between construction materials and allied products. I mean, it was certainly more weighted towards construction materials in the quarter. Should we think about that being a reasonably normal split moving ahead, given what you know today, and can you maybe talk a bit about how that impacts the overall margin profile of the business, and it's going to stay in and around those levels?
Yeah. I think the easy answer here is Q1 2021 didn't have Hixson in it, right? We added Hixson and, you know, that gigantic volume in the U.S., and that pushes up the construction materials in percentage. Remember, Hixson is 100% call it. We'll call it 90% treated, so that has those higher margins associated with it. You know, don't misread that as we're selling more studs or something. It's definitely the treated wood and the Hixson acquisition that has drove up that number.
Okay. That's helpful. Revenue was obviously really good in Q1 with the resulting working capital draw. Based on kind of the way you guys are looking at the rest of the year, do you think you get a pretty decent sized working capital release that offsets that, at least in the near term quarters?
Yeah, Ian, it's Jay here. We do expect the usual seasonal release of working capital. We're just as we speak reaching our normal seasonal peaks here in early May, so we will see significant release of working capital through to, you know, right through the fall, November timeframe. Between now and November. Yes.
Amar, in the release, one of the things you noted was that Q1 housing starts in Canada, the data was showing that they were down quite a bit year-over-year. I know Q1 doesn't tell a great story for Canada for the full year, but is there any other additional detail you can comment around on what may be transpiring in Canada? Was it just supply chain issues that caused that decline, or are you seeing anything else of note that you're keeping a close eye on?
Yeah. I think supply chain's an issue as far as getting some houses finished before guys want to start more of them. There's no question. Even, you know, where rates are today, they're still ridiculously low, so it's not, you know, I think pushing people out of affordability. We would like to see housing prices come down a little bit, obviously everybody would, from where they're at, but we don't see that as a gigantic splash of cold water on our business units. It's just it's been a slow cold. I don't need to tell the people that are in Atlantic Canada, Quebec, and Ontario how bad the winter's been and how long it's been. It just hasn't gone away, and it's been a slow start on our seasonal products.
Certainly we'll see that demand pick up as soon as the weather warms up and see our order files start to, you know, heat again. We're not sitting here nervous that there's this hurricane of bad news coming. You know, we think, you know, I think the obvious point is there's going to be a little bit of slowdown in Canadian starts, but I think some of it is due to some guys just can't get stuff finished and so it's difficult for some of the contractors right now. There's no question.
Perfect. Last one from me. I mean, hey, you've had Hixson in the fold now for not quite a year, but I guess we're getting close. Have you seen an increase in inbound calls from maybe smaller tuck-in acquisitions that could go along with Hixson from within the region that are looking interesting, or has nothing really changed from that front?
No, it certainly has changed on that front. You know, certainly being on the map with the scale and, of course, adding in our Western U.S. operations, Hawaii and across Canada. People take a look at us now and certainly we are, you know, a different business than we were even a year ago, two years ago, five years ago, and continue to grow. Those inbounds are coming in and we're meeting a lot of different folks in different regions who want to grow alongside some of our national customers that are asking us, "Hey, if you guys were over in this region, we'd give you a look," that kind of thing.
We're really looking at this stuff deeply with the Hixson team and our CanWel team in the west of where we need to plant some more flags, and that's ongoing, and we're a much different company than than we were, as I mentioned.
Yeah. That's great. Thanks very much. I'll turn the call back over.
Thank you.
We will now take the next question from Zachary Evershed with National Bank Financial. Please go ahead.
Morning, everyone. Congrats on the quarter. In your prepared remarks, you said you've seen some evidence of headwinds. Can you drill down into that for us?
The headwinds, certainly being, you know, rising interest rates for us, Zachary, would be at the top of the list, and, you know, somewhat, the supply chain issues that Amar's discussed would also impact us.
In terms of that, directly impacting your order books and your customers, are you seeing that manifest yet?
No. No, we're not. You know, I think the tale of the tape, you know, in a couple of years we'll see how these rates are affecting things, but we haven't seen, or our customers haven't told us, "Hey, look, inventory less because we're going to be selling less." There's no—there isn't any chatter about that at all. Our job obviously is to look out further, but certainly, we're not preparing for any sort of, you know, fall off a cliff type, you know, I guess activity here. Certainly at the same time, we're being careful with our inventory, Zach. I mean, as we mentioned in some meetings recently that, you know, use of working capital is down.
We are running a bit less, turning faster, just because, you know, lumber markets are extremely volatile, so that's something where we're having a difficult time forecasting more than worried about housing starts or interest rates. It's more of the lumber market and that volatility that continues to be there. I think everybody's scratching their heads on a daily basis trying to figure out where this thing goes. We've given up on that.
That's fair. Now on that point, how far out are you both on your treating capacity?
Yeah, you know, I would say we're at a little bit less in Canada due to the slower start of, you know, spring, if you will. Even here in Vancouver, today is eight degrees and it just hasn't sparked as strongly. But in the U.S., you know, our numbers and volumes are extremely solid, and we're right on pace to have, I would say, a very normal order book files as traditional. It's really hard to compare to 2021 because you remember, Zach, last year everything was out of control with the pandemic. The demand was ridiculous and then it fell off in May. This year we're seeing a much steadier pace and it's nice to see.
It's, again, hard and maybe not even reasonable looking at peer comparables last year because it went from 100 miles an hour to zero and then started to pick up again kind of late summer in the fall. Very different year. We like this steady hitting, getting on base type activity. You know, we like what we see. Obviously, our first quarter was super strong and we like the trends into Q2.
That's great, color. Thanks. That was it for me. I'll turn it over.
It appears there are no further questions at this time, so I would like to turn the conference back to our speakers for any additional or closing remarks.
Thank you, operator. On behalf of the Doman Building Materials , I'd like to thank you all for joining us this morning. Should you have any questions, feel free to contact me directly. That concludes today's call, and we look forward to speaking to you during our second quarter 2022 conference call. Operator, over to you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.