Canfor Corp. swings to $44.1M loss in Q4; revenue slips $53M to $576M

VANCOUVER - Canfor Corp. (TSX:CFP) swung to a big loss in the fourth quarter as the forest products company reported sharply lower revenues and higher costs and other charges.

Canfor said Wednesday that its net loss attributable to shareholders in the three months ended Dec. 31 was $44.1 million or 31 cents per share.

That compared with shareholder net income of $32.9 million 23 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Sale revenue for the period ended Dec. 31 was $576.2 million, down from $629.1 million in the same year-earlier period.

For the full year, shareholder net loss was $56.6 million or 40 cents per share, compared with net income of $81.4 million 57 cents per share in 2010.

Canfor said it had an operating loss of $64 in the quarter as a result of restructuring costs of $22.5 million related to the announced closures of the company's Rustad sawmill and Tackama plywood plant in the B.C. Interior and asset impairment charges of $9.2 million relating to certain lumber and panels assets.

"Excluding these items, and the impact of inventory valuation adjustments, Canfor's operating loss was $21.4 million . . . reflecting lower prices and higher log costs in the lumber segment, as well as lower prices in the pulp and paper segment," the company said in a release.

Canfor Corp. is primarily involved in the lumber business, with production facilities in B.C., Alberta, Quebec and the United States.

It also has a 50.2 per cent interest in the pulp and paper business owned by Canfor Pulp Limited Partnership; a 50 per cent interest in the oriented strand board business of Peace Valley OSB and owns a bleached chemi-thermo mechanical pulp mill.