Mercer International Inc. (NASDAQ:MERC) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Matthew McKellar: Okay, thanks for that. Maybe switching over to manufactured products in the mass timber. Are you able to talk about whether your EBITDA positive at this point? And then, how should we think about a reasonable target for 2024 revenues in that business just given what you’re seeing in terms of kind of inbound inquiries and backlog in that business at present?

Juan Carlos Bueno: Yeah, the business as we mentioned in the call has been progressing pretty well since we acquired Structurlam. The interest and the level of inquiries multiplied significantly, putting a lot of pressure on our teams to be able to deliver on all the design work that is required for this business prior to being able to close any deals. As such, we’re seeing a very significant growth, not only we already saw it in Q3 versus Q2, but also when you back to your question when we look at next year, we most likely would be at least twice in terms of revenue as we have, as we will close in Q4. So we’re thinking that for next year, we should be around $120 million plus in terms of sales. And that’s, again, twice of what we will finish by the end of this year. And we’re very, very close to being breakeven now. So we’re, again, very confident that, it will be a positive contributor overall, very soon to our company.

Matthew McKellar: Great. That’s helpful. Thanks for that. Last one to close. I’d like to ask about just the dividend here and the level of commitment when it comes to maintaining it. Do you think you’re getting credit for the dividend and do you view it as something you’d like to maintain just given the broader company focus on optimizing liquidity and the cost of debt?

Richard Short: Juan Carlos, do you want me to take that one?

Juan Carlos Bueno: Yeah, feel free, Rich.

Richard Short: Yes, so Matt, I think it’s probably fair to say the board is very committed to the dividend through the cycle. Every quarter they look at our leverage, our balance sheet metrics, I mean, our capital allocation plans, and so this was a big discussion for sure. But, we’re projecting modestly improving financial results as we go through the rest of this year and into 2024. So they’re very committed to the dividend and we just didn’t think now the time to be changing it.

Matthew McKellar: Okay. Tanks very much. That’s all for me. I’ll turn it back.

Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Sam McGovern with UBS. You may proceed.

Sam McGovern: Hey, guys, good morning. Following the recent bond deal, you guys have lots of liquidity. How do you think about what a normalized level would be? And can you also discuss possible uses for the excess liquidity once earnings return to a more normalized level?

Richard Short: Okay. So I would say we’ve probably averaged about $500 million of liquidity over the last probably 2 years. We’ve always liked to have dry powder, as we used to say, just because we have been able to use that liquidity to invest in things like Torgau and our mass timber businesses. So we like to have that available, especially given the volatility in our industry. So I would probably say that’s our target. But as we sort of come out of this down cycle, as Juan Carlos mentioned earlier, Torgau is a big area of focus for us for some value-add investments there. Our mass timber business as well, there’s some things we want to do there to lower our costs at our Spokane mill and a little bit more efficiency at the Conway plant as well. So, I think those will be the main areas of focus as we move forward.

Sam McGovern: Great. Thanks so much. I’ll pass it on.

Operator: Thank you. And I’d now like to turn the call back over to Juan Carlos Bueno for any closing remarks.

Juan Carlos Bueno: Thank you very much, operator, and thank you all for joining our call. Rich and I, are available to talk more at any time, so don’t hesitate to call either one of us. Otherwise, we look forward to speaking to you again on our next earnings call in February. Bye for now.

Operator: Thank you. This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

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