VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Conifex Timber Inc. reported second quarter revenues of $10.1 million, a 73 percent decrease from Q2 2019 and a 65% decline from the first quarter of 2020. Inspite of the rough quarter, the company forecasts a return to profitability for the second half of the year.

In a press release announcing its Q2 results, Conifex noted, “Lumber markets were significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic towards the end of the first quarter and into the second quarter of 2020. Reflecting the impacts from the pandemic, U.S. housing starts, on a seasonally adjusted annual rate basis, dropped to 934,000 in April before recovering to 974,000 and 1,186,000 in May and June, respectively.”

The company also reported that adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations was negative $1.1 million for the quarter, though positive results from bioenergy operations partially offset the revenues lost because of the curtailment of its Mackenzie sawmill for the period.

“Even though the economic disruptions caused by the unprecedented global pandemic resulted in our core sawmill business being curtailed for 12 weeks in the quarter, we are pleased that our quarter end cash balance of $11.5 million was only $0.6 million lower than at the beginning of the quarter,” said Ken Shields, CEO. “With the recent surge in lumber prices and our July 6, 2020 sawmill re-start, we expect to achieve profitable operations during the closing six months of 2020.”