Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by, and welcome to Stella-Jones's Q3 2022 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. Instructions will be provided at that time for you to queue up for questions. If anyone has any difficulties hearing the conference, please press star followed by zero for operator assistance at any time. Before turning the meeting over to management, please be advised that this conference call will contain statements that are forward-looking and subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. I would like to remind everyone that this conference call is being recorded on Wednesday, November 9th, 2022. I will now turn the conference over to Éric Vachon, President and CEO. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone. I'm here with Silvana Travaglini, Chief Financial Officer of Stella-Jones, and we thank you for joining us this morning for a discussion on the financial and operating results for Stella-Jones's Q3 ended September 30th, 2022. Earlier this morning, we issued our press release reporting Q3 results. Along with our MD&A, it can be found in the investor relations section of our website at stellajones.com and will be posted on SEDAR today as well. As a reminder, all figures expressed on today's call are in Canadian dollars, unless otherwise stated. I will first provide a business update and overview of our quarter before turning the call over to Silvana to review our results in greater detail. After which, we will open the floor to your questions. Let's get started.
Headlining Q3 is Stella-Jones's delivery of another robust quarter and strong results, demonstrated chiefly by the growth in our infrastructure-related products, but also by the normalization of residential lumber sales. Our sales increased by 24%, driven by all product categories. We generated a significantly improved margin over last year's comparable period and maintained a solid financial position. This stellar performance is owed in large part to our network and team, and I want to thank them for their contribution to these results. In addition to these strong fundamentals, our contractual sales agreement structure continues to provide us with the ability to pass through cost increases and deliver steady margins, which is especially impactful in the current inflationary climate. Demand for our products remains vigorous, particularly in the utility pole product category, which continues to see strong volume growth.
The demand is magnified by utility companies investing heavily in their networks, not only in regular maintenance programs, but with increased infrastructure spend allocated to build new and stronger lines and from the expansion of broadband networks. Our long-standing relationships with leading utilities across the continent, combined with our second-to-none procurement and logistics capabilities, allows us to continuously ensure certainty of supply through timely shipment of high-quality products under a wide array of circumstances. For instance, in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona touching down on Atlantic Canada, hundreds of thousands of homes were left without power. Our team in Truro, Nova Scotia, was at the ready to support power restoration efforts. They were aided by our crews in Quebec and Ontario, who lent assistance by shipping additional poles to meet demand via various logistic partners, including our newly owned in-house transport provider, Timberline Express.
This is a fitting example of the strength, reliability, and rapid response of the Stella-Jones expansive network and how it can be mobilized to restore essential services to communities affected by emergency and natural disaster situations. In sum, ensuring certainty of supply builds trust. As utility companies are increasingly looking for long-term supply commitments with reliable partners, we believe the breadth and strength of our continental network positions Stella-Jones to be a preferred long-term supplier to North American utilities. Moving on to railway ties. The market indicators are pointing towards improving demand, with projections from the Railway Tie Association calling for a 1.1% volume increase in 2023. Though rail traffic has been trending down lately in comparison to last year, we also observe that the ongoing use of the network over time will /generate a need for maintenance and repair.
On the supply chain front, although we are still noting tightness in the procurement of untreated ties, I am pleased to report that year-over-year data shows improvement. Though not at historically high levels, the incoming trend has been positive in recent months. We're still observing increased pricing in untreated ties, which, combined with inflationary pressures, will result in further price increases to our customers over the coming quarters. As a leading purchaser and manufacturer of railway ties across North America, we are grateful to be able to depend upon our team's expertise as well as its ability to leverage well-established relationships with our sawmill partners. This helps us navigate through these challenging procurement conditions.
Industrial products is a third product category in our infrastructure portfolio and is deserving of acknowledgment in its and its steady contribution to our business. Currently, we see good demand for new infrastructure projects, maintenance for rail bridges and crossings, as well as marine pilings. Not only do industrial products deliver additional value to our rail customers, but they also make alternate logs obtained in our procurement process for utility poles to support the construction industry. As such, this category is a fully integrated addition to Stella-Jones' infrastructure offering. With regards to residential lumber, we are pleased with the solid market demand for our products during the Q3, which allowed us here again to deliver strong results. More importantly for residential lumber, we managed our inventory position, procurement, and sales in an efficient and proactive manner.
This enabled us to capitalize on market conditions and make certain purchases when costs were advantageous. We concluded the seasonally strong period in a much better inventory position this year compared to last. So far in the year, the performance of our residential lumber business has exceeded the expectations set forth in our three-year plan as it benefited from above normalized pricing levels in the first half of the year. Subsequent to quarter end, we completed the acquisition of the wood pole manufacturing business of Texas Electric Cooperatives, Inc., or TEC, in Jasper, Texas. This acquisition adds a 43rd facility to our North American network and enhances our product offering in Southern Yellow Pine while expanding our capacity to meet the growing needs of the utility pole industry.
I would like to welcome all TEC employees to the Stella-Jones family and look forward to continuing to build on TEC's long-standing partnerships as we begin supplying the cooperative's utility customers with poles for their infrastructure and maintenance projects. As a business, Stella-Jones understands the impact of its activities on the world and recognizes that integrating environmental, social, and governance best practices into all facets of its operation is crucial in maintaining our planet's health and our long-term success as a company. With this, I am pleased to say that we issued our 2021 ESG report on October 26th, and is now available in the investor relations section of our website. The report highlights the advances we made as an organization on our commitments to continuous improvement across our four ESG pillars, which are our people, environmental commitment, product stewardship, and governance principles.
We are dedicated to continuously improving our sustainability and health and safety practices through learning, training, and data collection. This increased focus on knowledge will allow us to know better and do better as a business. We are pleased with our performance so far in 2022. Looking forward, we are confident in our ability to attain the financial objectives set forth in our three-year plan at the start of the year, including our commitment to continue to return capital to shareholders as evidenced by this morning's announcement of our new 2022-2023 Normal Course Issuer Bid.
We remain confident in our ability to sustain strong free cash flow generation and maintain a solid financial position that will allow us to continue investing in our network with capital expenditure projects to increase capacity for utility poles and enhance operational efficiency through automation, all while seeking strategic acquisitions. In summary, the power of our business model and extensive network is reasserted by our enduring resilience in the face of an inflationary climate and challenging supply chain conditions. This, in addition to our proven ability to meet customer demand, favorably positions Stella-Jones to create value for shareholders. In closing, Stella-Jones is more than ever building on its strong fundamentals, and we look to the future with confidence.
Our robust performance is a testament to our business strategy, and a rigorous execution has positioned us as a leading North American provider of infrastructure-related treated wood products and a strategic supplier of residential lumber to big box stores and retailers desiring a strong value-added partnership. I look forward to providing the status of the progress made in the achievement of the company's financial objectives next March, once we will have completed the first year of our three-year plan. I will now turn the call over to Silvana for a review of our financial results.
Thank you, Éric, and good morning, everyone. During the quarter, Stella-Jones generated sales of CAD 842 million, compared with CAD 679 million for the same period in 2021. Excluding the contribution from the acquisition of Cahaba Pressure and Cahaba Timber and the favorable effect from currency conversion, together totaling CAD 34 million, pressure treated wood sales increased by 20% compared to last year, driven by all product categories. Sales attributable to infrastructure-related businesses, namely utility poles, railway ties, and industrial products, grew by 15%, and residential lumber sales increased by over 30% compared to the lower sales experienced in the same period last year.
Looking at results by product category, sales of utility poles amounted to CAD 331 million in the Q3, up from CAD 256 million last year. Sales rose organically by 19%, driven by higher pricing in response to cost increases. The continued growth in maintenance and project-related demand was largely offset this quarter by lower volumes for fire-resistant wrapped poles compared to the same quarter last year. Railway ties sales reached CAD 199 million this year, versus CAD 179 million in 2021. Excluding the currency conversion effect, sales increased by 8%, mostly due to favorable selling price adjustments to cover higher fiber costs. This growth was partially offset by reduced maintenance demand of certain Class I customers.
Residential lumber sales totaled CAD 226 million, up from CAD 170 million last year. Excluding the currency conversion effect, sales increased CAD 54 million or 32% due to higher sales volume compared to a weak demand quarter last year. Industrial product sales were CAD 40 million, up from CAD 32 million in 2021, largely due to higher volumes related to bridge and crossing projects as well as marine pilings. Finally, logs and lumber sales amounted to CAD 46 million, up slightly from CAD 42 million a year ago, reflecting variations in lumber trading activity. Turning to profitability, gross profit was CAD 139 million in the Q3 of 2022 versus CAD 82 million in the corresponding period last year.
As a percentage of sales, gross profit margin was 16.5% this year compared to 12.1% last year. The increase in gross profit dollars and margin reflects higher results across all pressure-treated wood product categories. The improvement in gross profit margin was more significant in residential lumber, as last year's performance was affected by higher fiber costs, a significant market-driven price decline, and lower demand. Led by the strong growth of our infrastructure-related sales, as well as the higher residential lumber sales compared to the Q3 of 2021, Stella-Jones generated EBITDA of CAD 119 million or a margin of 14.1% this quarter, up CAD 50 million compared to EBITDA of CAD 69 million or a margin of 10.2% last year.
The net income for the quarter was CAD 65 million or CAD 1.07 per share, compared to CAD 34 million, or CAD 0.52 per share last year. Earnings per share was positively impacted by the company's ongoing repurchase of shares through its Normal Course Issuer Bid. Turning to cash flows, operating activities generated CAD 193 million this quarter versus CAD 225 million last year. During the quarter, we used the cash generated from operations to repay the remaining indebtedness related to the seasonal investment in working capital in the Q1, invest CAD 23 million in capital expenditures, acquire transportation assets for CAD 8 million, pay CAD 12 million in dividends, and repurchase shares for CAD 59 million.
As of September thirtieth, the net debt-to-EBITDA ratio was 2.3x , and we had CAD 338 million of liquidity available under our credit facilities. Subsequent to the end of the quarter, we amended our syndicated revolving credit agreement under which the amount available was increased from $325 million- $400 million, demonstrating our lenders' confidence in our ability to execute our plan and grow the business. We are pleased with our strategy to minimize the impact of rising interest rates on our financing costs. As of September 30th, 80% of our debt was at a fixed rate, which provides the company additional cash flow stability. Yesterday, the TSX accepted our notice of intention to proceed with a new NCIB program.
By virtue of this program, Stella-Jones is authorized to repurchase up to five million common shares, representing approximately 10% of the public float. These repurchases will take place over a 12-month period ending November 13th, 2023. Considering the shares repurchased up to this date, Stella-Jones has bought back all five million shares under its 2021/2022 Normal Course Issuer Bid at an average price of CAD 38.26 per share for a total consideration of CAD 191 million.
On November 1st, we concluded the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of the wood utility pole manufacturing business of Texas Electric Cooperatives for a total consideration of $28 million plus inventories of approximately $4 million. TEC's wood pole sales for the year ended December 31st, 2021, totaled $28 million. Finally, the board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share. Payable on December 16th, 2022 to shareholders of record at the close of business on December 1st. This marks the end of our prepared remarks. I will now turn the call back to the operator for Q&A.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Should you have a question, please press the star followed by one on your touchtone phone. If you'd like to withdraw your request, please press the star followed by two. If you're using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. One moment please for your first question. Your first question comes from Walter Spracklin from RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Hey, thanks for taking my question. This is James McGarragle. I'm on for Walter this morning. Congrats on the-
Good morning.
Good quarter. I hope you're keeping well.
Thank you, James.
I just wanted to ask a question on the outlook for utility poles. You know, obviously, there's been some very strong performance year to date. I was listening to your peers conference call last week, and they kind of noted that pole demand's never been stronger, that they expect this to continue into 2023. With the $120 billion that's earmarked, you know, from the infrastructure bill, you know, what kind of upside do we see to your pole guidance into 2024?
James, well, thank you for the question. You know, when you think about our three-year guidance, we had, you know, indicated to the market a high single-digit growth, and obviously, we're gonna be exceeding that this year. It's been a great start to our three-year plan in achieving our goals where we're, you know, more or less in the 20% range at this point in time. Looking into, you know, coming years, I would say that our high single-digit growth would continue to apply on what we'll be achieving this year. As a reminder, our initial guidance did not include any aspects or impacts, if you want, of the infrastructure bill.
Okay. Another question. There's been some issues with certain companies, and again, you had alluded to this in your prepared remarks, accessing untreated ties, you know, which has been a challenge across the industry. I guess, do you see any advantages from your scale and your procurement capabilities to drive above industry growth? I know, your peers guiding to growth, you know, above industry trends in 2023, due to this market dynamic. I was just wondering if your team's expecting something similar into 2023.
Yeah. Our guidance is in the low single digits, so I guess, you know, would be comparable to what you just stated. I have a very high level of confidence in our procurement team and their ability to find the products in the market. We have a network that spans North America, and we deal with, you know, a very large number of sawmills, you know, across the continent. If there are ties for sale, we're looking at them, and we'll have the opportunity to procure them. To answer your question, if we do see the continued inflow that we're seeing right now with ties, we would be able to set up our inventory and be able to take advantage of market opportunities.
Okay. That's it for me. Congrats on a great quarter, and I'll turn the line over.
Thank you, James.
Your next question comes from Hamir Patel from CIBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good morning.
Eric-
Good morning, Hamir.
I think you mentioned a figure of a 1.1% volume increase expected for next year from on the rail side. Are you able to provide any more visibility on what the rails, some of the specific rails we're seeing at the RTA conference about the volumes for next year and maybe any differences between Class I and short lines?
Yes, certainly. The 1.1% was quoting our Railway Tie Association data, which, you know, you would probably know and have access to. At the RTA conference itself, from recollection, four Class I's presented, and there was an indication about a million additional ties in, you know, planned for next year. With regards to the commercial business, we're still seeing some healthy demand and, you know, requests for bids on an ongoing basis. At this point, we're recording into next year, so definitely some nice opportunities there. It will all come back to the availability of untreated ties to be able to address those demands.
Okay, great. Thanks, Éric. Just on the res lumber business, you know, what potential implications do you see from Lowe's selling Lowe's Canada? You know, I know that's not a direct partner for you, but do you see any maybe opportunities as some of that dealer network migrates elsewhere?
You're exactly right that we're not exposed to the relationship with Lowe's Canada. For now, I see it pretty neutral. My understanding is that Sycamore Partners who acquired Lowe's Canada has the intention of operating the business. It is gonna be headquartered here in Quebec out of Boucherville, and my understanding is that they're gonna run the business and keep growing it. For me, it's pretty much neutral. If I look at our customer list in residential lumber, I think we've got the right partners that appreciate the value-added service that we bring them and, you know, the continuous supply of the product mix. You know, I'm still very optimistic about our relationships with our customers and our ability to grow market share in the future.
Fair enough. Thanks, Éric. That's all I have.
Thank you, Hamir.
Your next question comes from Benoit Poirier from Desjardins Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good morning, Silvana and Éric, and congratulations for the strong quarter.
Good morning, Benoit.
Yeah. Just with respect to the strong organic growth achieved for railway ties and utility poles, how much of the organic growth was driven by price increases?
Obviously for two parts of the answer, right? For utility poles, price increases, the trend is about 70% on pricing. For railway ties, it's all on pricing, Benoit. Our volumes are actually slightly below last year.
Okay. Okay, perfect. Related to utility pole, due to the damages caused by the Hurricane Fiona, you mentioned the opportunity to replace poles in Nova Scotia. How much of a boost did it represent in Q3, and any potential impact for Q4?
Stella-Jones was pleased to be able to support those efforts. It was Nova Scotia, it was Terrebonne, it was the Îles-de-la-Madeleine. You know, several regions got impacted by the storm. I can't say there's a very strong positive impact, Benoit, because, you know, when these events happen, the regular maintenance doesn't occur. On top of it, you usually have neighboring utility companies sending their crews over to support the rebuild of the infrastructure, so that even depresses a bit the maintenance in those areas.
There might be a slight advantage, but I think, you know, as far as revenues, and it's not worth necessarily, you know, having a long discussion about. What it does do is demonstrate to our customers and utilities across North America the ability for Stella-Jones to be able to step up in these situations. That's our word. It's our commitment to our customers, and it's what makes Stella-Jones, you know, the great name that it is.
Okay. Just for utility pole, Eric, we've seen a lot of projects for broadband network. We've been talking about Ontario. Any color about the size of those projects and maybe the timing? We started to see some impact, or is it more skewed toward 2023 and beyond?
You know, the great growth we've seen in utility poles this year, you know, it definitely is helped by the demand for broadband projects. We are seeing projects being initiated. We have some sales that are related to that have started this year and will be going on for the next several years, you know, from what I can see. We're also starting to see some infrastructure spend, you know, coming through, or our customers talking about it, which is very positive news. Difficult to quantify, Benoit, because it's often, you know, intermingled with the maintenance piece of it. We do know that there's bigger demand because we need to, you know, add poles in certain regions.
In other cases, the broadband expansion goes through the existing networks, and then there's hardening of the grid with a change-out of certain poles just to make the infrastructure, you know, more stronger because of all the loads that the poles hold. Right now it's difficult for us to quantify. Maybe over time, you know, we'll be able to give more precise guidance. For now, I guess, all I can guide you to is that it is contributing to this 20% growth, organic growth that we're seeing in utility poles.
Okay, that's great color. Any color on what drove the lower volume for fire-resistant wrapped poles during the quarter, Eric?
That's essentially timing, Benoit. Our West Coast customers, you know, are currently doing some maintenance in areas that don't necessarily require them. When you compare to last year, which is the comparison, you know, we had one customer sort of spike up their demand as they were ramping up on the installation of those products. The year-over-year, sort of a bit of a compression, if you want. You know, for the full year, there's no change in that 10% of our total sales, if you want.
Okay. Last one for me, just in terms of free cash flow. Any color, Silvana, on the typical working cap build up we might see in Q4? Last year there was about CAD 38 million working capital changes. Any color on the working cap and maybe an update on the CapEx expectation for 2022, 2023, whether there's any changes. Thanks.
Yes. In terms of the working capital, we're pretty much forecasting in Q4 sort of, you know, a modest investment in inventory. I would say, you know, pretty consistent with what you saw, what you noted in terms of last year, I think it is a good estimate. In terms of the CapEx, you know, we mentioned that, you know, with the growth CapEx that, we would be, you know, closer to CAD 100 million this year.
We might be a little bit shy of that this year. There are some of those investments that might get pushed out into the earlier into next year, in Q1. There might be just sort of, you know, sort of a lag there in terms of the investments this year, but overall in line, as we had mentioned, pretty much front load that additional growth CapEx in the first two years, so end of this year and most of it into next year.
That's great. Thank you for the time.
Thank you, Benoit.
Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, should you have a question, please press the star followed by the one. Your next question comes from Michael Tupholme from TD Securities. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning.
Hello, Michael.
First off, Éric, just a clarification. The multi-year guidance you had given and the growth that you talked about over that multi-year period for poles and ties, did that include assumptions around pricing gains?
It was a combination, Michael, on pricing and volume.
Okay. We look at poles, for example, you know, you mentioned, you know, we can see the results and you mentioned earlier in the call sort of up 20%, and that's obviously in excess of the high single-digit growth you were calling for. Is this just a situation where early on in that multi-year period, the pricing gains are stronger than you were forecasting in that multi-year guidance?
Yeah. That's exactly it.
Okay. As we look forward, how should we think about future pricing gains? I guess sort of two parts to that. One, maybe you could talk about what's happening with the underlying input costs and whether you've continued to see escalation, if you forecast further escalation, which will obviously necessitate additional pricing gains. There's usually sort of a catch up here as well. Even if the input costs have stopped rising, you're gonna continue to see gains for a little while you get that catch up. Can you just talk about kinda where you're at, what's happening with input costs, and how much, you know, how much longer we should expect to see these kinds of pricing gains going forward?
Yeah. As you mentioned, this year was quite exceptional with, you know, inflationary pressures and costs on fiber, and that, you know, drove a big part of the price increases. We continue to see, you know, inflationary pressures, but I think, you know, it's stabilizing to some extent. That high single digit, you know, that we're guiding again over this year's growth, you know, would have that mix of what we're expecting for volume and pricing.
Okay. The expectation would be kinda going forward into next year, we get back in the ballpark of what that original guidance was looking for.
Yeah. That's where our guidance is for now.
Same thing with ties, Eric?
Correct.
Okay. Can you talk a little bit about the margin expectation? I mean, I know you reiterated the multi-year guidance, but you know, obviously you wanna capture these price increases to offset rising costs, but there is some pressure on the percentage margin as that continues to occur. How do you feel about the multi-year guidance of 15% margins, you know, given all of the pricing increases to offset these rising costs?
Well, it's a good question. We remain focused on that 15% target, Michael. There's no reason why we can't achieve it. You know, different product categories have, you know, and different customers have different contract features. There's some opportunities there. Sales that are not under contract, you know, so we have them in ties and poles, which are just contract or request for bids, you know, does give us the opportunity to command better margins. I would say simply because of the railway ties, for example, the tightness of supplies, you know, enables us to ensure that we preserve the margin. We're confident and have not changed our views on that margin percentage.
Okay. Maybe two more here. On the poles front, in the quarter, it sounded like most of the gains were pricing driven, with the fire-resistant decline sort of offsetting whatever volume growth you would have seen, in other parts of the poles business. You did sound pretty constructive on the outlook for demand and volume growth in poles. Like, it seems like a fairly meaningful drag, I guess, from the fire-resistant, but that's purely a timing issue and you think kinda going forward, we should see volume growth contributing to the overall organic growth in poles as well?
Yes. Our assumption in our guidance was like a 50/50. If I recall, I know it was a 50/50. I mean, that mix can swing, obviously. It could be 40/60, but definitely volume is part of the business growth as we're seeing customer demand, you know, for next year being set up. Customers are looking for long-term relationships as well. As I sort of mentioned in my prepared comments, we're seeing a lot of our utility customers looking, you know, with long-term outlooks as they're willing to secure our supply capabilities to be able to execute on their infrastructure projects.
Okay, perfect. Just lastly, the acquisition you announced, any more details around what you'd expect that to contribute, in terms of revenue and maybe capacity at this particular facility?
I think we mentioned in our prepared notes and as well in our documentation. Well, Canadian dollars, it's called CAD 35 million. That's our starting point. There's obviously opportunities for us to go out in that market and seize other opportunities. You know, each time we get a new production facility, you know, we look at the orders in the books, we sort of shift things around, we try to optimize capacity and try to go out in that market. We see more opportunities. That's the challenge for my team, is to go out and, you know, and exceed, I guess, the prior owner's performance. Let's say our starting point is at CAD 35 million, and you know, well, we carved out an MD&A, so you'll be able to see it in the coming quarters how well we're doing off of that benchmark.
Okay. That's helpful. Okay, thanks Éric.
My pleasure. Thank you, Michael.
Your next question comes from Maxim Sytchev from National Bank Financial. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning, Éric, Silvana.
Good morning, Maxim.
I had a quick question in terms of, I know that, you know, you're spending time right now thinking strategically in terms of, you know, potential additional, you know, services to be added, conversations with clients. I'm just wondering if you had any progress and if anything you could sort of share publicly. Thanks.
Our discussions with the board, you know, are presently focused on expanding our products and services for our rail and utility customers. You know, we're privileged to have this world-class list of customers that acknowledge, in this particular case, Stella-Jones ability to be able to service and provide products. You know, ongoing discussions with them demonstrate that there would be some interest for us to be able to support them further. It's an ongoing discussion with the board. Now it's, you know, really for us to identify what are those opportunities that fit well with our business model, our distribution networks, and what efficiencies or synergies with our new business or new business that Stella-Jones could bring to a new business.
Okay. I guess, is there a timeframe or it's more, you know, trying to find, you know, the right opportunity more than just trying to accelerate the growth?
There's no set timeframe. You know, we're very cautious and thoughtful about what targets we wanna approach. Don't lose sight of the fact that we've got a very strong organic growth in our core businesses right now, and we should not lose focus on it. You know, the growth that we're forecasting, for example, in utility poles, but I would argue also for railway, you know, in the coming years is demanding, you know, obviously more logistics, more CapEx investments that we've announced. The team is, like, fully focused on it. I don't want us chasing shiny things right now if, you know, we have a good business to operate and ensure that we maintain our leadership position. T hat being said, you know, still very interested in expanding our offerings to our customers because I think there's a strong opportunity there.
Right. Yeah, no, makes a lot of sense. I'm just wondering, you know, as a lot of companies talk about supply chain, you know, sort of labor issues. Was wondering if there's an update on that situation, if we're sort of over the hump on that side. It certainly feels like it.
On the labor front, it still remains a day-to-day challenge to find new employees with proper qualifications and understanding of concepts of health and safety, you know, and you know, how to operate in an industrial environment. There's also the retention aspect as you know, employers in the geographies where we're located are feeling the same stress. There's a bit of you know, competition here on base wages for employees. We're always mindful of that. We're faring relatively well, I would say, but you know, we're also compensating with overtime, for example. That's on the employee front.
On the product front, I mean, we discussed the railway ties a few minutes ago, so you know, that's more a function of market dynamics and you know. It is trending in a positive way. You know, so there's no such stress, I guess, on utility poles other than the fact that we're growing our business year over year over year. Every year our procurement team is challenged to get so many more millions of cubic feet to be able to sell into the network. You know, that has been the case for the last you know, five, six years as we've been growing volumes. To say there's breakage in the supply chain, I would disagree with that.
Okay. Okay, that's great. Now my last question, just in terms of the residential lumber, maybe do you mind providing a bit of color kind of on, you know, contractors versus DIYers, sort of their approach, and maybe just a quick comment in terms of your comfort around your inventory position in that business. Thanks.
Our volumes through the Q3 were very good, actually. You know, it is demand from the contractors and the do-it-yourselfers or the homeowners. From my understanding, contractors are still busy and are quoting into the first part of next year. There is ongoing demand. You know, that demand is prompted obviously by R&R, sort of restoration and renovation. A lot of homeowners wanting to enhance the outdoor experience or try to expand, you know, their the patio season up to three seasons instead of just the summer season. We're still seeing, you know, in talking to our customers, a lot of interest from our from the homeowner standpoint. I think that is a good indication.
You know, there's also a potential tailwind or sustained demand from housing starts that we saw in the last 18, 24 months. You know, the brand-new houses usually come with smaller, you know, barbecue decks, and after a few years, the homeowners will turn to the outside and think about the fencing and the decking. I think the dynamic is still healthy there. As far as our inventory position, you know, we're sitting very well today. We weathered another cycle in the first half of this year on market lumber prices very well.
Our average costs are exactly where they need to be, and they have, you know, most of the year the team's done an exceptional job managing it. We're now building for the season next year. Market prices are, you know, relatively attractive compared to previous years. You know, we're following our customers' guidance there as far as how to build next year's season. I'm relatively optimistic of another good season for 2023.
Okay. Excellent. Thanks for taking my questions.
My pleasure, Maxim.
Mr. Vachon, there are no further questions at this time. Please proceed.
Well, thank you very much, operator, for your assistance today, and thanks everyone for joining us this morning. We look forward to speaking with you again at our year-end call in March. Have a great day.
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference for today. We thank you for joining and ask that you please disconnect your lines. Thank you.