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| Statement |
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| Additionally, sales volumes are projected to improve in Q1 as production ramps up to meet improved customer demand |
| Despite the challenges stemming from the weak Paperboard results in Q4, I was encouraged by the rebound observed in our core Cellulose Specialty business |
| We got higher, our confidence that the numbers that we're projecting will be realized with our customers |
| And what's really driving that is a couple of things that gives us confidence that we'll see this improvement |
| Additionally, we expect resilient market demand for commodity products, the fluff and viscose price is expected to improve from Q4 2023 |
| We also anticipate strong demand in the other CS grades |
| Conversely, our Cellulose Specialty products maintained strong pricing, realizing 11% increase compared to 2022 |
| I do want to note that I'm incredibly proud of all the collective efforts made by our team, particularly during the difficult 2023 year |
| As previously disclosed, these projects will primarily be funded by low-cost green project capital and are expected to generate significant margin expansion due to co-product economics and economies of scale |
| Prices are expected to decrease slightly as compared to 2023 Q4 levels, while sales volumes are expected to improve as destocking eases and production scales up to meet the improved demand |
| And the market should get stronger as we -- as the year progresses |
| Our final and perhaps most compelling initiative is to continue realizing the exceptional opportunities within our biomaterials business |
| And also expressed that I'm fully confident that we will continue to focus on enhancing our profitability and work diligently to reduce our debt and our leverage |
| In 2024, we anticipate our margins to be in the 10% to 11% range, reflecting a weighted average of the strong margins in our Cellulose Specialty and Paperboard segments, counterbalanced by a low positive high-yield margins and the anticipated negative margins in our non-fluff commodity sales |
| One is the gains that we saw in market share relative to the fully closure, we expect in total gain of market share around 50,000 tons and the value of north of the $35 million that we had guided to, let's say, something north of $40-plus million of value over the period |
| Sales volumes increased by 4% to 955,000 metric tons, resulting from the increased sales in the commodity markets |
| We also expect to see some improvement as noted in the call that in ethers |
| Consequently, we executed opportunistic downtime at both Paperboard and high-yield pulp facilities as well as our Tartas HPC facility, all key factors in supporting the impressive $93 million working capital benefit generated during the year |
| We also believe that the enhanced flexibility will also reassure key stakeholders |
| While we are confident in our ability to manage within the original covenant as evidenced by the results of a 4.2x for Q4, we wanted the operational flexibility that the expanded covenant and result in liquidity with grant us, so we could continue to execute on our strategic initiatives |
| And we here at RYAM continue to value your support and look forward to delivering to you long-term success and growth of the business |
| Thank you, and good luck for this year |
| While we remain confident in our ability to navigate through the covenant, we believe it was important to ensure the company maintained operating flexibility to fully implement our strategic initiatives while alleviating any liquidity concerns |
| And the expectation is that CS business is going to improve roughly $30 million to $35 million relative to last year |
| There may be some risk to that number, but we do think that we will see improvement because we do think destocking has largely concluded there |
| We are working hard to implement our asset optimization strategies to address our HPC commodity exposure given the drag this exposure has on our profit margins and earnings stability |
| Moreover, we foresee modest tailwinds from eased raw material and logistics input costs in 2024 |
| Demand for RYAM Cellulose Specialties is anticipated to be mixed with improved volumes in construction ethers albeit at lower than historical levels and relatively stable acetate markets |
| We expect to maintain this benefit in 2024, and we think we can realize an additional $15 million in working capital monetization this year |
| These efforts resulted in $53 million of free cash flow, which was largely driven by a $93 million benefit in working capital |
| Statement |
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| The fourth quarter shortfall can be attributed to weaker-than-expected demand for Paperboard, while the full year results were impacted by persistent weak demand across various product categories, notwithstanding the strong pricing observed in our CS segment |
| The results for both periods fell below expectations with EBITDA of $37 million for the fourth quarter and $130 million for the full year, reflecting declines of $18 million and $38 million versus 2022, respectively |
| High-yield pulp experienced rapid price declines post Investor Day as pulp market has encountered weak demand, resulting in a $3 million impact versus expectations |
| Sales in the Paperboard segment experienced a decline of $31 million, mainly due to a 13% reduction in sales volumes due to customer destocking |
| EBITDA for the segment decreased by $6 million to $144 million, primarily due to a less favorable sales mix, declining commodity prices and increased labor costs due to inflation |
| Sales declined by $24 million in comparison to prior year, mainly due to a 12% drop in external sales prices and a 5% reduction in sales volumes |
| Since the Investor Day guidance, we realized a $14 million decrease in Paperboard EBITDA versus expectations due to unforeseen levels of destocking towards the end of the year |
| Sales for the year decreased by $23 million or 2% to $1.3 billion due to a higher mix of commodity sales and lower market demand in certain specialty markets |
| The challenges encountered in our high-purity Cellulose Segments stem mainly from declining commodity pricing and decreased volumes in Cellulose Specialties, particularly in markets that are interest rate sensitive, like the construction ethers markets |
| High-yield pulp EBITDA decreased by $20 million versus 2022, driven by lower sales volumes and prices amid weak market demand, increased wood cost and market-driven downtime taking in response to the weak market conditions |
| The decline was associated with lower market demand and substantial customer destocking, primarily in construction markets |
| And obviously, '23 was a tough year in the fourth quarter was certainly weaker than what you expected |
| To highlight the importance of this effort, our non-fluff commodity sales had an EBITDA loss of minus $60 million in 2023 |
| The reductions were a consequence of weaker market demand |
| However, we are beginning to see pricing pressure related to the Chinese pulp markets, thus expect pricing pressure in late Q2 and possibly Q3 |
| And so there's some risk to the pulp forecast |
| And as a consequence, we expect that the orders we'll see in '24 will be greater than what we saw in '23, but the demand continues to be somewhat muted, continues to be muted |
| In the Paperboard segment, EBITDA decreased by $1 million compared to 2022, primarily due to lower sales volumes from customer destocking, partially offset by decreased purchase pulp, maintenance and logistics costs, along with market-driven downtime taken in response to the weak market conditions |
| There is some activity going on in China right now that's some concern |
| Corporate segment EBITDA declined by $11 million, primarily due to less favorable foreign exchange rates and discounting and financing fees incurred to support working capital enhancements |
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