Domtar Corporation reports preliminary fourth quarter and fiscal year 2015 financial results

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(NYSE: UFS) (TSX: UFS)

Strong shipments and a solid operational performance drive fourth quarter earnings improvement         
(All financial information is in U.S. dollars, and all earnings per share results are diluted, unless otherwise noted).

• Fourth quarter 2015 net earnings of $0.91 per share; earnings before items¹ of $1.11 per share
• Paper shipments increased 2.3% when compared to the third quarter 2015
• Personal Care EBITDA¹ 23% higher when compared to the fourth quarter 2014

FORT MILL, SC, Feb. 5, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - Domtar Corporation (NYSE: UFS) (TSX: UFS) today reported net earnings of $57 million ($0.91 per share) for the fourth quarter of 2015 compared to net earnings of $11 million ($0.17 per share) for the third quarter of 2015 and net earnings of $71 million ($1.10 per share) for the fourth quarter of 2014. Sales for the fourth quarter of 2015 were $1.3 billion.

Excluding items listed below, the Company had earnings before items¹ of $70 million ($1.11 per share) for the fourth quarter of 2015 compared to earnings before items¹ of $54 million ($0.86 per share) for the third quarter of 2015 and earnings before items¹ of $91 million ($1.41 per share) for the fourth quarter of 2014.

Fourth quarter 2015 items:

• Closure and restructuring costs of $1 million ($1 million after tax); and
• Impairment of property, plant & equipment of $20 million ($12 million after tax).

Third quarter 2015 items:

• Closure and restructuring costs of $1 million ($1 million after tax);
• Impairment of property, plant & equipment of $20 million ($12 million after tax); and
• Debt refinancing costs of $42 million ($30 million after tax).

Fourth quarter 2014 items:

• Closure and restructuring costs of $25 million ($18 million after tax); and
• Impairment of property, plant & equipment of $4 million ($2 million after tax).

FISCAL YEAR 2015 HIGHLIGHTS

For fiscal year 2015, net earnings amounted to $142 million ($2.24 per share) compared to net earnings of $431 million ($6.64 per share) for fiscal year 2014. The Company had earnings before items¹ of $211 million ($3.33 per share) for fiscal 2015 compared to earnings before items¹ of $234 million ($3.61 per share) for fiscal 2014. Sales amounted to $5.3 billion for fiscal year 2015.

Commenting on the full-year results, John D. Williams, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "I am pleased with our full-year performance. Our businesses generated strong free cash flow, and we further advanced on our Personal Care growth plan with a number of important customer wins. Our solid performance enabled us to return cash to shareholders, manage our balance sheet to preserve financial flexibility and better position Domtar for sustainable, long-term growth.  Our business transformation is still underway, but our financial results are starting to show the benefits of investments we are making in our facilities, in our people, and in our future."

QUARTERLY REVIEW

"We had our best EBITDA performance of 2015 despite the impact of lower prices. Our pulp and paper shipments were strong, and our operations ran exceptionally well with productivity gains across the mill system," said John D. Williams, President and Chief Executive Officer. "Our average production costs continue to trend lower as we focus on taking measures to run our assets more efficiently and improve our manufacturing processes."

Mr. Williams added, "In Personal Care, momentum continues to build. We had our best sales quarter to date on a same-currency basis, and we delivered strong year-over-year EBITDA growth. We have made solid progress on capturing the benefits of cost savings from our new manufacturing platform while executing on our growth commitments with top-line benefits expected in 2016."

Operating income before items¹ was $115 million in the fourth quarter of 2015 compared to an operating income before items¹ of $82 million in the third quarter of 2015. Depreciation and amortization totaled $89 million in the fourth quarter of 2015.

The increase in operating income before items¹ in the fourth quarter of 2015 was the result of lower costs for planned maintenance, higher volume, higher productivity, lower raw material costs, a favorable exchange rate and lower freight and other costs. These factors were partially offset by lower average selling prices and higher selling, general and administrative expense.

When compared to the third quarter of 2015, manufactured paper shipments were up 2.3% and pulp shipments increased 15.9%. The shipments-to-production ratio for paper was 95% in the fourth quarter of 2015, compared to 98% in the third quarter of 2015. Paper inventories increased by 41,000 tons and pulp inventories decreased by 21,000 metric tons in December when compared to September levels.

LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL

Cash flow provided from operating activities amounted to $137 million and capital expenditures were $87 million, resulting in free cash flow¹ of $50 million for the fourth quarter of 2015. Domtar's net debt-to-total capitalization ratio¹ stood at 30% at December 31, 2015 and at September 30, 2015.

OUTLOOK

In 2016, we expect our paper shipments to be in-line with market demand while pulp shipments should be higher due to the conversion of a paper machine to a fluff pulp line. We anticipate some volatility in softwood and fluff pulp markets due to the strengthening of the U.S. dollar and announced new capacity additions. Our 2016 results are expected to be negatively impacted by approximately $23 million, related to the fluff pulp conversion outage at our Ashdown mill. In Personal Care, new customer wins are expected to generate above-market revenue growth. Costs for raw materials are expected to marginally increase.

EARNINGS CONFERENCE CALL

The Company will hold a conference call today at 11:00 a.m. (ET) to discuss its fourth quarter and fiscal 2015 financial results. Financial analysts are invited to participate in the call by dialing 1 (800) 499-4035 (toll free - North America) or 1 (416) 204-9269 (International) at least 10 minutes before start time, while media and other interested individuals are invited to listen to the live webcast on the Domtar Corporation website at www.domtar.com.

The Company will release its first quarter 2016 earnings results on April 28, 2016, before markets open, followed by a conference call at 10:00 a.m. (ET) to discuss results. The date is tentative and will be confirmed approximately three weeks prior to the official earnings release date.

^{1 Non-GAAP financial measure. Refer to the Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures in the appendix.}

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About Domtar 
Domtar is a leading provider of a wide variety of fiber-based products including communication, specialty and packaging papers, market pulp and absorbent hygiene products. With approximately 9,850 employees serving more than 50 countries around the world, Domtar is driven by a commitment to turn sustainable wood fiber into useful products that people rely on every day. Domtar's annual sales are approximately $5.3 billion and its common stock is traded on the New York and Toronto Stock Exchanges. Domtar's principal executive office is in Fort Mill, South Carolina. To learn more, visit www.domtar.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this release about our plans, expectations and future performance, including the statements by Mr. Williams and those contained under "Outlook," are "forward-looking statements." Actual results may differ materially from those suggested by these statements for a number of reasons, including changes in customer demand and pricing, changes in manufacturing costs, future acquisitions and divestitures, including facility closings, and the other reasons identified under "Risk Factors" in our Form 10-K for 2014 as filed with the SEC and as updated by subsequently filed Form 10-Q's. Except to the extent required by law, we expressly disclaim any obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements to reflect new events or circumstances or otherwise.

¹ As a result of changes in the Company's organization structure, we have changed the way we allocate certain Corporate general and administrative costs to the segments. Further, certain Corporate costs not related to segment activities, as well as the mark-to-market impact on stock-based compensation awards, will be presented on the Corporate line. As a result, we have revised our 2014 segment disclosures to conform to our 2015 presentation. (Previously reported numbers for Operating income (loss) for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2014 are as follows; Pulp and Paper: $76M and $323M, respectively, Personal Care: $12M and $54M, respectively, Corporate: $(2)M and $(13)M, respectively).

The following table sets forth certain non-U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP") financial metrics identified in bold as "Earnings before items", "Earnings before items per diluted share", "EBITDA", "EBITDA margin", "EBITDA before items", "EBITDA margin before items", "Free cash flow", "Net debt" and "Net debt-to-total capitalization." Management believes that the financial metrics presented are frequently used by investors and are useful to evaluate our ability to service debt and our overall credit profile. Management believes these metrics are also useful to measure the operating performance and benchmark with peers within the industry. These metrics are presented as a complement to enhance the understanding of operating results but not in substitution for GAAP results.

The Company calculates "Earnings before items" and "EBITDA before items" by excluding the after-tax (pre-tax) effect of items considered by management as not reflecting our current operations. Management uses these measures, as well as EBITDA and Free cash flow, to focus on ongoing operations and believes that it is useful to investors because it enables them to perform meaningful comparisons between periods. Domtar believes that using this information along with Net earnings provides for a more complete analysis of the results of operations. Net earnings and Cash flow provided from operating activities are the most directly comparable GAAP measures.  

"Earnings before items", "Earnings before items per diluted share", "EBITDA", "EBITDA margin", "EBITDA before items", "EBITDA margin before items", "Free cash flow", "Net debt" and "Net debt-to-total capitalization" have no standardized meaning prescribed by GAAP and are not necessarily comparable to similar measures presented by other companies and therefore should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for Net earnings, Operating income or any other earnings statement, cash flow statement or balance sheet financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP. It is important for readers to understand that certain items may be presented in different lines by different companies on their financial statements thereby leading to different measures for different companies.

The following table sets forth certain non-U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"), financial metrics identified in bold as "Operating income (loss) before items", "EBITDA before items" and "EBITDA margin before items" by reportable segment. Management believes that the financial metrics presented are frequently used by investors and are useful to measure the operating performance and benchmark with peers within the industry. These metrics are presented as a complement to enhance the understanding of operating results but not in substitution for GAAP results.

The Company calculates the segmented "Operating income (loss) before items" by excluding the pre-tax effect of items considered by management as not reflecting our ongoing operations. Management uses these measures to focus on ongoing operations and believes that it is useful to investors because it enables them to perform meaningful comparisons between periods. Domtar believes that using this information along with Operating income (loss) provides for a more complete analysis of the results of operations. Operating income (loss) by segment is the most directly comparable GAAP measure.

"Operating income (loss) before items", "EBITDA before items" and "EBITDA margin before items" have no standardized meaning prescribed by GAAP and are not necessarily comparable to similar measures presented by other companies and therefore should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for Operating income (loss) or any other earnings statement, cash flow statement or balance sheet financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP. It is important for readers to understand that certain items may be presented in different lines by different companies on their financial statements thereby leading to different measures for different companies.

⁽¹⁾ As a result of changes in the Company's organization structure, we have changed the way we allocate certain Corporate general and administrative costs to the segments. Further, certain Corporate costs not related to segment activities, as well as the mark-to-market impact on stock-based compensation awards, will be presented on the Corporate line. As a result, we have revised our 2014 segment disclosures to conform to our 2015 presentation.  

The following table sets forth certain non-U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"), financial metrics identified in bold as "Operating income (loss) before items", "EBITDA before items" and "EBITDA margin before items" by reportable segment. Management believes that the financial metrics presented are frequently used by investors and are useful to measure the operating performance and benchmark with peers within the industry. These metrics are presented as a complement to enhance the understanding of operating results but not in substitution for GAAP results.

The Company calculates the segmented "Operating income (loss) before items" by excluding the pre-tax effect of items considered by management as not reflecting our ongoing operations. Management uses these measures to focus on ongoing operations and believes that it is useful to investors because it enables them to perform meaningful comparisons between periods. Domtar believes that using this information along with Operating income (loss) provides for a more complete analysis of the results of operations. Operating income (loss) by segment is the most directly comparable GAAP measure.

"Operating income (loss) before items", "EBITDA before items" and "EBITDA margin before items" have no standardized meaning prescribed by GAAP and are not necessarily comparable to similar measures presented by other companies and therefore should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for Operating income (loss) or any other earnings statement, cash flow statement or balance sheet financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP. It is important for readers to understand that certain items may be presented in different lines by different companies on their financial statements thereby leading to different measures for different companies.

⁽¹⁾ On January 2, 2014, the Company acquired 100% of the shares of Laboratorios Indas, S.A.U. in Spain.
⁽²⁾ As a result of changes in the Company's organization structure, we have changed the way we allocate certain Corporate general and administrative costs to the segments. Further, certain Corporate costs not related to segment activities, as well as the mark-to-market impact on stock-based compensation awards, will be presented on the Corporate line. As a result, we have revised our 2014 segment disclosures to conform to our 2015 presentation.

^(a)  As a result of changes in the Company's organization structure, we have changed the way we allocate certain Corporate general and administrative costs to the segments. Further, certain Corporate costs not related to segment activities, as well as the mark-to-market impact on stock-based compensation awards, will be presented on the Corporate line. As a result, we have revised our 2014 segment disclosures to conform to our 2015 presentation.

^(b)  Figures are gross of market pulp purchased from other producers on the open market for some of our paper making operations. Pulp Shipments represent the amount of pulp produced in excess of our internal requirement.

Note: the term "ST" refers to a short ton and the term "ADMT" refers to an air dry metric ton.

SOURCE Domtar Corporation

Related Links

http://www.domtar.com