CANADA - Norbord, on of the largest global manufacturers of OSB, has reported EBITDA of USD 61 million for Q1, 2016 which is USD 45 million higher than the same period last year.

The improvement is primarily due to higher North American OSB prices and shipment volumes as well as lower resin prices and a weaker Canadian dollar.

North American operations generated EBITDA of USD 53 million compared to USD 11 million in the same quarter last year and USD 51million in the prior quarter (4Q-2015). European operations, which comprise three UK panel mills and a factory in Belgium, delivered EBITDA of USD 10 million, USD 3 million higher than the same quarter last year and in line with the prior quarter.

"Our first quarter adjusted EBITDA result is almost a four-fold increase from a year ago," said Peter Wijnbergen, Norbord's president and CEO. "I'm also encouraged by the sequential improvement despite the seasonally lower North American benchmark OSB prices," he said.

In the 12 months since Norbord's merger with Ainsworth, the company has also achieved US 32 million in annualized synergies. "The pace of US housing starts is 14% higher than this time last year and single-family building activity is up even more," added Mr. Wijnbergen.

Norbord is an international producer of wood-based panels with assets of USD 1.6 billion and annual sales of approximately USD 1.5 billion. Norbord has 17 operations in the United States, Europe and Canada.

Norbord Results January – March 1Q

USD-FOB Million