Thank you, operator. I'll provide some opening comments. First off, welcome to our Q4 2020 Investor Analyst Call. Firstly, I'd like to say that I hope you and your family are safe, healthy, and doing well during this pandemic. With me today, you have Bart Bender, our Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, along with Rick Pozzebon, our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Our agenda today will start off with myself providing a recap of our strategic priorities and key themes. I'll then pass the call on to Rick, who will cover off financial matters, and then Bart, who will cover off the markets. So turning to our strategic focus, we continue to focus on achieving greater returns on capital through our unrelenting focus on operational excellence. We continued on our CapEx improvement plans in every region.
We've made considerable progress on our multiyear CapEx program since 2017, and we're really starting to hit our stride across multiple projects. We continue to work hard on our capital allocation discipline to ensure best returns for our shareholders. Our improvement efforts were again balanced across the company as we made progress in all regions. Our operating teams improved their production volumes quarter over quarter, as COVID and capital improvement projects were again addressed and completed. Of note, we recorded one of our highest production volume quarters in Interfor's history, but we did so with two less mills in our portfolio compared to the last time that we reached these levels. Our conversion costs and overhead costs both continued to trend positively during the quarter and due to our ongoing operating cost controls and increased production levels.
Our capital spending program continues to advance forward as we continue to modernize all of our operations, improving not only our operating costs, but also our value extraction from our logs. Last quarter, we spent CAD 36 million to improve our plants across all regions, up from CAD 23 million last quarter. Of note, we're seeing a reduction in our maintenance CapEx as we complete our modernization programs. Working Capital and its impact on cash flows continue to be a key focus for us. We implemented a new disciplined approach earlier this year by better matching market demand to both our lumber and log inventories and also our operating schedules. This ensures we don't build excess volume into the supply chain and are as lean and mean as possible. Turning to our financial results, our Q4 adjusted EBITDA was very strong once again, coming in at CAD 249 million.
Our lumber margins were very strong, and we continue to focus on efficiency and cost across the company. Lastly, we have significant financial flexibility to consider a number of capital deployment options, which Rick will cover. That concludes my opening remarks, and I'll now hand the call over to Rick.
Thank you, Ian, and good morning, everyone. Before getting started, I'll refer to the cautionary language regarding forward-looking information on the first page of our Q4 MD&A. As Ian mentioned, Interfor generated record adjusted EBITDA of CAD 249 million in Q4, representing a margin of 38% on sales of CAD 662 million. Lumber shipping volume and lumber price were both significant factors in the quarter. We shipped 682 million board feet of lumber in Q4, up 11% over the prior quarter, as we operated essentially at capacity despite challenges presented by the COVID pandemic. We realized an average price of $842 per thousand board feet in Q4, which is 49% higher year over year and down only 8% from our all-time high achieved in the prior quarter.
Q4 lumber pricing was unseasonably strong as growing demand for new homes and favorable weather for construction was combined with relatively low lumber inventories and limited slack in production capacity across the industry. EBITDA margin per thousand board feet continues to benefit from our ongoing strategic capital investment, which have led to higher grade return, cost reductions, and productivity improvements. When benchmarked against other publicly traded lumber producers, our adjusted EBITDA margin per thousand board feet is now consistently among the leading group. Included in the CAD 249 million of adjusted EBITDA is CAD 38 million of income to reverse a portion of softwood lumber duties expensed during 2017 and 2018 at preliminary rates. The Department of Commerce finalized combined rates for these years at below 9% versus cash deposits made at 20%.
This CAD 38 million amount, along with associated interest, is recorded as a deposit on our balance sheet at year-end. In terms of cash flow, we generated CAD 205 million from operations before working capital in the fourth quarter, amounting to CAD 3.07 per share. A reduction in working capital added another CAD 25 million of cash flow in the quarter. In terms of CapEx, CAD 36 million was invested in Q4, for a total of CAD 110 million in 2020. Approximately CAD 22 million of the Q4 investment related to discretionary projects focused in the U.S. South. We also used CAD 24 million to buy back over 1.3 million shares in the quarter at an average price of CAD 18.40 per share.
Our cash income tax obligations in 2020 were largely mitigated by the use of available tax loss carryforwards. However, our outlook on cash taxes has shifted meaningfully based on the robust Q4 earnings. We are heading into 2021 without any tax loss carryforwards remaining in our U.S. operations and expect to utilize all remaining Canadian tax loss carryforwards within the first half of this year. Our cash tax obligations will continue to be partly mitigated by accelerated depreciation of ongoing capital investments. Our balance sheet strengthened further in Q4 and continues to provide significant flexibility. We ended the quarter in a net cash position of $75 million, with available liquidity of $788 million. Our liquidity is comprised of $457 million of cash on hand and our undrawn revolving term loan.
We don't have any significant debt maturities until 2024, and our softwood lumber duties on-deposit with the U.S. government totaled $134 million at quarter end, which are mostly off balance sheet. Next, I'll speak to our current thinking on capital allocation, which continues to evolve based on the ongoing deleveraging of our balance sheet. The fundamental objective in managing capital for our shareholders over the long term continues to be the generation of returns above and above our cost of capital, while maintaining a conservative balance sheet appropriate for the lumber industry. Our first priority in achieving this objective is to invest in and optimize the returns from our current portfolio of sawmills. Our outlook for CapEx in 2021 remains consistent with prior guidance of $150 million. Our CapEx plans for 2022 are still in development, but will likely be in the range of $150-$180 million.
Our second priority is to grow our sawmill platform through acquisitions and generate incremental value from our operational expertise, scale, and portfolio diversification. We continue to believe attractive acquisition opportunities will present themselves, and our intention is to be patient and disciplined in the execution of our growth strategy. To the extent we aren't able to identify internal and external investment opportunities with appropriate returns, our third priority is to return cash to shareholders. The preferred approach for this is share buybacks under our normal course issuer bid. We will remain active in buying back shares when certain conservative and internal parameters are met. We'll also consider other alternatives to the extent that surplus capital remains after considering the aforementioned priorities.
To wrap up, our Q4 earnings and free cash flow generation were both very robust, and our current balance sheet gives us the ability to continue optimizing our sawmill portfolio and execute on our growth strategy for shareholders. That concludes my remarks. I'll now hand the call over to Bart.
Thanks, Rick. Turning to the markets, it's hard to find a negative economic indicator these days in our business. Interest rates, subsequently affordability, home builder confidence, desire for space, demographics, homes for sale, all support a favorable climate for new home construction. Repair and remodel is supported by an aging housing stock, great household balance sheets, and newly created desire to work from home lifestyles. All end needs are favorable for our business, and to get them all at the same time is unusual. Speaking to the market, lumber demand remained very consistent through Q4. The repair and remodel end-use sector showed its typical seasonal slowing, whereas the new home construction end-use sector continued to demand more lumber. Interestingly, lumber prices were on the move throughout the quarter. Initially, prices were under pressure as we headed into a seasonally slower time of year at very elevated prices.
This drove many purchasers to the sidelines as they looked to balance significant supply chain risks with overall needs. The market needed to adjust to levels that could be seen as investment grade. With in-market inventories at historical lows, lumber demand resisting its seasonal slowing, the ability for our customers to hold off from purchasing was short-lived. The net result was that we saw us leaving 2020 with strength. As we move into Q1 2021, it is clear that demand for lumber remains strong. U.S. housing starts and repair and remodel forecasts are strong. In particular, repair and remodel is preparing for an active spring. We expect volatility to remain high as the supply chain manages through low inventories and high pricing risk. In terms of our overseas business, our business to Japan is improving.
Last year saw a fairly significant decline in lumber demand, resulting from primarily a reduction in housing starts. Inventories have now balanced, and pricing in Japan has stabilized. In the rest of Asia, our business has declined somewhat, owing primarily to a disconnect in pricing relative to North America. We expect this to improve as we move further into the year. Overall, we are encouraged with how the year has started and optimistic that 2021 will prove to be a solid year for the lumber business. I'll stop there. Back to you, Ian.
Okay, thanks, Bart. Thanks, Rick. Operator, we're ready to take calls from our analyst group now.
Okay. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, you will need to press star one on your telephone keypad. Your first question comes from the line of Sean Steuart with TD Securities.
Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Ian, I'd like to discuss the growth opportunity set a little bit more. You, you touched on sawmills, which is obviously your, your bread and butter. Is the opportunity set large enough there? And I'm, I'm wondering how you guys are thinking about potential lateral moves into engineered wood, potentially some other vertically integrated building product type businesses. Is that on the radar for you at all?
Yeah, yeah, I think there's two questions in there, Sean. We do think that there is opportunity that will present itself when the time's right, in the lumber business in the regions that we operate. So we're, you know, very close to that and paying attention to that. You know, we have a pretty, you know, robust goal and growth plan that we're working to achieve. And what we realized is that to achieve those goals and plans, that we may need to, what we call, lead with lumber as our growth platform.
Which means, you know, that lumber is our preferable way, but if that means, you know, picking up, you know, an associated business with a lumber mill, whether it's, you know, pellets or plywood or engineered wood products, that we shouldn't just confine ourselves to simply lumber. I mean, our preference is that we would lead with that, but we would also look at opportunities that would be associated with acquisitions of lumber mills.
Thanks for joining in. The second question's for Rick. You mentioned other alternatives to return capital to shareholders if surplus capital builds on the balance sheet. Should we think of that as special dividends? Any context you can give us there?
Hey, good morning, Sean. Yeah, for sure, special dividends is certainly one option. We're still evaluating what that might look like in terms of surplus cash on our balance sheet and what the options are. I will say our approach will be aligned with us being a growth-oriented company in a commodity industry.
Okay. Thanks very much. I'll turn it over.
Thanks, Sean.
Your next question comes from the line of Hamir Patel with CIBC.
Hey, good morning. Ian, could you give us an update on the Hammond Mill, land sale process?
Yeah, it's, t here's interest, Hamir, and it's currently for sale. I mean, it's a valuable, we think, a valuable piece of property, outskirts of Vancouver with river and, you know, road and rail all associated with that site. So, there is interest in it, and we're working with our agent to advance on that. We're hoping that, you know, a deal is done in the next 12 months or so, but it's still in process.
Thanks, that's helpful. And Ian, just curious, you know, your thoughts on how COVID might be weighing on industry production. Are you seeing any differences in the South versus the U.S. and Pacific Northwest and Canada?
Yeah. Well, internally, there is a difference for sure. Our South team and our Pacific Northwest team have, you know, had some additional challenges compared to our British Columbia team. But we're seeing some tapering of that, particularly in the South. But there was a quarter-over-quarter jump in disruptions when it came to positive cases or employees that needed to, you know, self-quarantine for exposure. So, having said that, we didn't miss a beat. The teams were able to operate around those and achieve their production volumes, which, as I mentioned in my opening comments, were a record.
What we have heard, Hamir, is that, and it's just, you know, more of, you know, industry talk, that, you know, some operations are struggling a little bit more. And, you know, examples of where, you know, a filing room would get an exposure, and then, you know, all the saw filers have to go off, and then you can't run your mill because you can't, you know, change your saws or maintain your saws. So, but nothing massive that we're picking up. Just, you know, a mill here, a mill there. But, yeah, I guess I'd leave it at that. I don't have anything concrete for you.
I can just tell you that we did see a big increase, particularly in the South, quarter over quarter, but it appears to be leveling a little bit now.
Great. That's actually very helpful. Thanks, Ian. That's all I had. I'll turn it over.
Thanks, Ha mir.
Your next question comes from Paul Quinn with RBC Capital Markets.
Yeah, thanks. Morning, guys. Just, maybe, a few questions here. Just, you know, one of your competitors in the States, Potlatch, you know, was trying to estimate their, their lumber production loss due to COVID, and they, and they put it around 4%, and they thought that was pretty, pretty realistic for the whole industry. Is that something that you've kind of experienced?
No, we, we have not experienced that, Paul. Our guys have, you know, found creative ways, whether it's adding hours or, you know, some extra shifting or, you know, that type of thing to get around that. You know, even some of our management team, in some cases, have had to really lean in on this and, you know, occasionally have to run equipment, as they deal with, you know, they come in one day, and all of a sudden, 12 employees are off through exposure or something like that. So, hats off to our frontline, you know, workers, both hourly and staff, have, you know, have managed that really well. So we have not seen or experienced that same decline.
Okay. And then, and maybe on the growth side, you know, you guys took a look, deep dive into greenfield, publicly. Is that still a consideration? And if not, why isn't it a consideration here?
Yeah. So Paul, the Greenfield, you know, binder is on our desk, and, you know, we have a, you know, an engineered layout, and we know which equipment to put in. So the design and, everything is kind of shelf ready, if you will. But the challenge that we find is, or that's really sort of handicapped in the greenfield for us, is the whole people side of it. And, you know, sourcing, you know, 100-150 frontline employees, often without experience, does create some concern for us around, you know, startups, and the like of those, to get those going.
So at this point, you know, we're just starting to, you know, come to, you know, the last, I guess, 24 months or so of our CapEx that we launched back in 2017. You'll remember when you were down in the south, we were talking about that a few years ago. And now we're turning our attention to the next round of internal, and we think we got some pretty exciting projects that we can advance on and get the engineering started earlier and the equipment orders in earlier. So we are kind of moving from that one phase that we outlined a couple of years ago.
We're getting to the end of that, and we're, you know, a couple of years now out looking at what we're doing with the rest of the mills to improve them even more. So, I guess that's where our focus is. But on the Greenfield, if we could figure out the people side, and have some more confidence around that, you know, I think that would be a bit of a change in mindset for us. So, we're paying attention to it, but our preference would be to go through acquisition versus a Greenfield.
Okay. Just, you made a comment on, you know, because of the capital you spent, you've seen some reduced maintenance. What's your total company maintenance, and what kind of reduction is immaterial?
I think, Rick, correct me if I'm wrong, Paul, I think on the trend basis, we're getting down to around CAD 16 million or so in our maintenance, which is on a trend basis, yeah, fairly, you know, fairly reduced, I guess, from history. And, you know, that's a direct correlation to, you know, the investments that we've been putting in. And, you know, the mills are more modern, less fix ups than we have to do, and the equipment is newer, so costs are lower. It's somewhere around in there, but you could probably, you know, talk to Rick or Mike afterwards, we can give you that information.
Okay. And then maybe just last question, I guess, it's directed at Bart. Bart, you mentioned that inventories are low. How are you measuring those? And then secondary, you said that you expect Asia to improve, you know, through 2021. And, and because of this price disconnect, is that a reference to North American prices lowering or Asian prices coming up to meet those North American prices?
Okay. No, two good questions. On the inventory side, I mean, there's always the RISI, FEA-type publications that do comment on that. Those are generally lagging, and you can tell just by communication with our customers. I mean, it's a constant question that we're asking in terms of their inventory positions. And plus, you can get a pretty good feel out of the marketplace on where we're at and how critical availability and shipment times are. And it's very clear to us that the market, you know, is operating on reduced inventories, and so there's a real premium on availability. There's less discussion about price, and quite frankly, they just want to make sure they get the supply.
So I think that supports our, ours and other people's interpretation of the inventories. When it comes to Asia, we're talking about the Asian prices improving, not North American prices declining to meet the Asian market. I think if you look at the inventory positions in the overseas markets, in China in particular, they're declining to a stage where I think it's gonna become critical to resupply. And resupply, regardless of where you're gonna get that product from, is at elevated prices. So we expect that that market will show that improvement over time.
Excellent. That's all I had. That's all I got.
Thanks, Paul.
Your next question comes from the line of Mark Wilde with Bank of Montreal.
Morning, guys.
Hey, Mark.
You know, I wanna just start out by, you know, saying how impressed I've been over the last year about how you guys have handled yourself. You were a very early mover in terms of pulling back on production, last spring when the pandemic first hit. And then I think your discipline around capital allocation's actually been quite commendable this year. So with that out of the way, I got a couple questions, I think mainly for Bart. And, you know, Bart, there was some talk recently that a lot of this Southern Yellow Pine strength was really being driven by kind of treaters trying to get ahead of the season, maybe with a little bit of a nudge from some of the big box retailers. Can you comment on that?
Well, repair and remodel certainly is strong, and I think that there is an anticipation of a strong spring. I can tell you that last year, that segment was somewhat reactive when it comes to supply, and so I think there is a level of proactivity that's coming into it this year. But I would say that that's more normal. The reactive piece would have been abnormal. So I don't see anything there that's unusual. You know, going outside of the treaters, every customer segment that we have is busy. In particular, the truss manufacturers. They have strong order files that are out several quarters. And, you know, they're running at capacity.
So, I think this market is showing us, not any one particular segment, as being strong. It's showing everyone, as being strong. And obviously, we're seeing that in the pricing.
And would you say, Bart, that you could—can you spot any places where you think these prices at these levels is actually creating some demand destruction?
Well, it's certainly something that we're keeping our minds open to. I think when you get into elevated prices like this, you know, it results in higher distribution risk. And I think that's playing into the volatility that we're seeing in the marketplace, not necessarily driven by demand fundamentals, but more just the mental side of the market and the fact that, you know, the prices that we have, if there's ever an adjustment, it can hurt our distributor-type customers. So that's definitely playing into this market. But from a demand side, you know, I can tell you the conversations that I'm having, they don't talk a lot about price. They talk a lot about availability and supply.
And our customers are looking for us to continue to service them. They wanna continue to be supplied the volumes that they have been historically. You know, and yeah, that's makes us feel pretty good about where we're at so far in 2021.
Yeah, I guess, you know, Bart, I was thinking mainly about, like, let's say, you know, in the do-it-yourself market, you know, folks that might build their own deck, you know, and they go out and they look at the price of lumber, and it, you know, it's a lot higher than it was 18 months ago, so maybe they decide, "Gee, I'll put this off for another year." Just that kind of behavior.
Yeah. I mean, that's certainly a factor, but I think in the US, you've got an aging household stock. I mean, we're at an average of, you know, over 42 years now. And I think that household balance sheets are pretty spectacular right now, and there's some disposable income that, you know, isn't going into cruises and holidays and is staying at home right now. So I think a lot of that money, a nd actually, the other one is just the equity that's being built in people's homes and access to that for home improvement. So yeah, lumber costs a little bit more, but there certainly seems to be a number of people that are pretty focused on improving their homes.
Okay, that's fair. Over on the supply side, can you just recap for us what you see in terms of incremental supply, particularly in the Southern U.S.? I mean, I know we've got these Klausner mills up for the dams and under what I think is a pretty well-run Austrian, you know, privately held company. We've been seeing at least a couple of sawmill announcements over in Mississippi. We've seen some, you know, some announcements, you know, to debottlenecking . If you could just recap for us what you see out there.
Yeah, for sure. Maybe I'll take a shot at it, and then if I miss anything, Bart or Rick, you guys can jump in. But we are seeing what you outlined, Mark, is pretty much what we're seeing also. You know, I mean, the big, you know, levers, I guess, would be the, you know, new mill capacities coming online. And, you know, the announcements are coming out. They're typically private companies. You know, we've looked in those areas. We still think that there's challenges on the timeline, particularly around the people. When we're talking or I'm talking with, you know, the major vendors to these greenfields, you know, they're getting booked up and timelines then are, you know, increasing.
So I think there's, you know, announcements coming out with, you know, pretty aggressive budgets and, you know, headline costs to do it and timelines. I, I just, you know, I'm not sure whether that's the headline or the actual that's really gonna happen. I, I do think it's gonna take longer, and I, these announcements and, and what is coming out, and I think they're gonna be more expensive than what's being, you know, headlined. I, I think often the headline is what the equipment and installation costs are versus, you know, the total cost, you know, what the land purchase was, what the infrastructure was, the concrete, you know, the sprinkler systems for fire suppression. I sometimes think, you know, in my, in my, reading of those, whether those are all captured in those, in those numbers.
Okay, that's fair. And then also on the supply side, any thoughts on the impact of incremental imports or what you might expect in terms of incremental imports, whether from Europe or maybe from South America?
So, you know, they increased the imports this year, or sorry, 2020, about 500 million feet. I think the forecast is for something similar in 2021. You know, in my discussions with my counterparts over there, their own traditional markets are quite active. I mean, this push on demand for lumber is not just in the U.S. market. It's happening in a number of markets. And so they, they've got lots of tension on their supply as well, and how much they direct to the North American market will be offset by, you know, them supplying the more traditional markets. So we don't see a massive response.
We see a fairly consistent growth that we have recently, and we think the North American market is more than ready to absorb, you know, that incremental volume.
Okay. The last question from me is just M&A. I mean, we have seen a number of M&A moves over the last, like, 3-6 months. In the distribution area, we've seen some in the manufacturing area, notably at West Fraser, at Norbord combination, but not really many sawmills trading. Any thoughts on that, particularly with people's balance sheets in such good shape?
Yeah. Yeah, no doubt, Mark. I mean, we have a hit list, you know, that we keep and we stay in contact with. But, you're right. I mean, the conversation that was occurring at the beginning of this year and at the beginning of COVID is dramatically different today. You know, I think a lot of mills that may have come to market are now the owners are you know, taking the benefit of the P&L generation that they're experiencing today.
And that's, you know, no, no, you know, that's good for them, but at some point, as we all know, things do change, and with Rick's deployment strategy on capital, I think we'll be in good shape to, you know, strike at the right moment.
Okay, sounds good. I'll turn it over, guys. Good luck this year.
Thanks, Mark.
As a reminder, if you'd like to ask a question, you will need to press star one on your telephone. That is star one on your telephone if you wish to ask a question. You have another question from the line of Paul Quinn from RBC Capital Markets.
Hey, thanks. Thanks for letting me sneak one in. This should be an easy one. Just, you know, given your disciplined approach to growth and, you know, where you're trading at, which is basically less than replacement value, and that's not even taking in the $2.50 that you've got essentially in duty depository now, do you worry at night that you're gonna get taken out before you're able to, you know, plan the growth out that you've got in your mind?
You know, Paul, I mean, we pay attention to all the metrics that you outlined, but our focus is clearly on a pretty aggressive internal and external growth plan. We've laid out a five-year strategy, you know, a few months ago, and have really awesome support and alignment on that strategy. So, I think, you know, where the industry's at now and everybody's balance sheets and the cash generation, I think that's a question for almost any company that you need to be aware of. But our focus is entirely on growing the company and, you know, building up our company. So, I would say, you know, we're not spending much time on that at all.
It's more, you know, what we're doing every day to get better.
So basically, nobody's knocking on your doors at this point?
No, and if there was, I wouldn't be able to tell you anyways. But we're focused on what we can control, and we're just hitting it as hard as we can.
Okay. Thanks, guys. Cheers.
Sure.
There are no further questions at this time.
Okay. Well, just concluding remarks. Thanks, everyone, for dialing in and participating in our update call this morning and your interest in our company. As usual, if you have any follow-up questions, just reach out to myself or Rick or Bart, and we'll be sure to get back to you. Thanks again, everyone, and be safe. Bye-bye.
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.