Canfor loses $23.1M in Q4 but spikes for 2021

Canfor Corp. missed expectations as it swung to a net loss in the fourth quarter but saw its full-year profit more than double to a record $1.34 billion as lumber prices reached record highs in the first half of the year.

The Vancouver-based forest products company says its loss attributable to shareholders was $23.1 million or 19 cents per share in the quarter as a result of a $294-million impairment charge related to its western Canadian lumber and pulp and paper operations. That compared with a profit of $335.6 million or $2.68 per share a year earlier.

Still, adjusted profits were cut in half to $154.6 million or $1.24 per share, down from $321.7 million or $2.57 per share in the final quarter of 2020.

Revenues for the three months ended Dec. 31 dropped 2.9 per cent to $1.57 billion from $1.62 billion.

Canfor was expected to post $1.45 per share in adjusted profits on $1.67 billion of revenues, according to financial data firm Refinitiv.

For the full-year, it earned $1.34 billion on $7.68 billion of revenues, up from $544.4 million on $5.45 billion of revenues in 2020.

"Although our business was faced with global supply chain disruptions, the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and extreme weather conditions in B.C., we were able to generate record-high results for 2021," stated CEO Don Kayne.