Taiga's Q1 profit increased by 269%

BURNABY, BC, Aug. 7, 2014 /CNW/ - Taiga Building Products Ltd. ("Taiga" or the "Company") today reported its financial results for the three months ended June 30, 2014.

First Quarter Ended June 30, 2014 Earnings Results         

Sales for the first quarter ended June 30, 2014 increased to $374.8 million from $335.8 million in the same quarter last year. The 12% increase in sales was primarily the result of pent-up customer demand caused by the severe winter conditions in the preceding quarter.

Gross margin for the first quarter increased to $33.0 million from $25.4 million in the same quarter last year. Gross margin percentage for the first quarter also increased to 8.8% from 7.6% in the same quarter last year, which was negatively impacted by a sharp fall in commodity prices.

Net earnings for the first quarter increased to $5.6 million from $1.5 million in the same quarter last year. EBITDA for the first quarter increased to $16.2 million from $9.6 million in the same quarter last year.

Condensed Consolidated Statement of Earnings

For the Three Months Ended

	June 30,
(in thousands of Canadian dollars, except for per share amounts)	2014	2013
Sales	374,766	335,803
Gross margin	33,010	25,424
Distribution expense	5,081	4,416
Selling and administration expense	12,842	12,804
Finance expense	1,775	2,078
Subordinated debt interest expense	4,089	4,089
Other income	(96)	(383)
Earnings before income tax	9,319	2,420
Income tax expense	3,741	907
Net earnings	5,578	1,513
Net earnings per share^(1)	0.17	0.05
EBITDA^(2)	16,171	9,591

The following is the reconciliation of net earnings to EBITDA:

	June 30,
(in thousands of Canadian dollars)	2014	2013
Net earnings	5,578	1,513
Income tax expense	3,741	907
Finance and subordinated debt interest expense	5,864	6,167
Amortization	988	1,004
EBITDA	16,171	9,591

Notes:
(1)  Earnings per share is calculated using the weighted average number of shares.
(2) Reference is made above to EBITDA, which represents earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization. As there is no generally accepted method of calculating EBITDA, the measure as calculated by Taiga might not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other issuers. EBITDA is presented as management believes it is a useful indicator of a company's ability to meet debt service and capital expenditure requirements and because management interprets trends in EBITDA as an indicator of relative operating performance. EBITDA should not be considered by an investor as an alternative to net income or cash flows as determined in accordance with IFRS.

The foregoing selected financial information is qualified in its entirety by and should be read in conjunction with, our unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial statements for the three months ended June 30, 2014 and accompanying notes and management's discussion and analysis which will be available shortly on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

SOURCE: Taiga Building Products Ltd.

Mark Schneidereit-Hsu, CFO and VP, Finance & Administration, Tel: [phone], Email: [email protected]