CANADA – Norbord Inc. a wholly-owned subsidiary of West Fraser Timber effective February 1, 2021, reported Adjusted EBITDA of USD 865 million for the full-year 2020 compared to USD 138 million in 2019.

The improvement was due to significantly higher North American oriented strand board (OSB) prices, productivity improvements and lower raw material prices.  North American operations generated Adjusted EBITDA of USD 832 million compared to USD 85 million in the prior year and European operations delivered Adjusted EBITDA of USD 48 million compared to USD 64 million in the prior year.

For the fourth quarter of 2020, Norbord reported Adjusted EBITDA of USD 384 million compared to USD 322 million in the third quarter of 2020 and USD 27 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. The quarter-over-quarter increase was primarily driven by higher realized North American OSB prices, partially offset by lower shipment volumes, while the year-over-year increase was due to significantly higher North American OSB prices and higher shipment volumes. North American operations generated Adjusted EBITDA of USD 370 million in the fourth quarter compared to USD 310 million in the third quarter of 2020 and USD 20 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, and European operations delivered Adjusted EBITDA of USD 20 million compared to USD 16 million in the prior quarter and USD 11 million in the same quarter last year.

“The past year was truly remarkable in many respects for Norbord,” said Peter Wijnbergen, President & CEO of Norbord and now President, Engineered Wood of West Fraser. “After adjusting our production strategy in response to the demand challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic in the first half of the year, OSB demand from new home construction and repair & remodeling recovered beyond expectations and forecasts in the second half, lifting  prices to all-time highs. In fact, the recovery of demand was so robust that we reported back-to-back record quarterly results in the third and fourth quarters. In Europe, our results were more adversely impacted by the pandemic though we  saw steady improvement in the back half of the year with panel prices recovering and production ramping up at the recently commissioned Inverness, Scotland Phase 2 plant expansion.”