Mercer International Inc. (NASDAQ:MERC) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Unidentified Analyst: Okay, that’s some interesting color. In the past we’ve had some credit facilities tied to individual locations. If we’re going to be doing type of profit number that you put out there for 2024 in that ballpark, I mean does that facility were in its own credit structure associated with it.

David Ure: Yes, I think your question, will it be big enough to support its own facility, the diverse. Yeah, we’ll have to wait and see at the moment. We’ll take that as it comes, it possibly could, yeah, it possibly could. We’ll see how it develops, and as Juan Carlos had mentioned, we’re pretty bullish about it, and we’ll probably if it goes away; we think it’s going to go. We’re going to invest more in that business, and it may need some financing and that might be appropriate to do. But at the moment, we’re covering that with our existing finance structure and cash.

Juan Carlos Bueno: And just one thing to make sure that I €“ I don’t know if I misspoke, but when we look at the value of this and the expectations for it for next year, 2024 that I mentioned closer to 100, I refer revenue more, not profitability.

Unidentified Analyst: Oh, okay, thank you for clarifying that. And then last question on free sale. Can you give us an update in terms of where we stand on capital expenditures there. I believe at one point there was a fair amount of pointer capacity, sort of capacity going in, and I think there was some thought of you know additional, either sorting or plaining capacity, I can’t remember exactly which one. But can you just give us an update in terms of how we’re looking at CapEx at that facility at this point in time?

Juan Carlos Bueno: Well, the majority of the CapEx that was intended for free sale after acquisition a few years back has now been concluded. So that has €“ we’ve made very good progress on it. So there’s very little that is left, yet to be to be executed there. Now, the focus is now turning on the CapEx that we want to put into Torgau as we see a tremendous amount of potential in that facility. That is back to your original question about CLT. You mentioned that or made some comment associated with pallets, and just to be clear, our Spokane facility in Washington is not doing any of that. It is just focused on CLT, Glulam and finger joint. Now the acquisition of Torgau, that’s where the palette and the pellet business comes in, and that’s obviously something that we intend to maintain.

But what we want to grow in that facility is the lumber output, and that’s a facility that has four saw mills, saw lines and only two of them are being used in a proper way. So we know that there’s a tremendous amount of potential to be extracted. That’s why we want to divest €“ or excuse me, direct our investment more towards Torgau as we unlock the potential that that facility really has.

Unidentified Analyst: Okay, thank you.

Operator: As there are no further questions, I will now hand the call back to Juan Carlos for closing remarks.

Juan Carlos Bueno: Okay, thank you Sarah and thank you all for joining our call. Dave and I are available to talk more at any time. So don’t hesitate to call any one of us. Otherwise, we look forward to speaking to you again on our next earnings call in May. Bye for now.

Operator: Thank you for joining today’s call. You may now disconnect your lines.

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