Boise Cascade Company Reports 2018 Second Quarter Net Income of $41.8 Million on Sales of $1.4 Billion

For Immediate Release: August 6, 2018

BOISE, Idaho - Boise Cascade Company ("Boise Cascade," the "Company," "we," or "our") BCC today reported net income of $41.8 million, or $1.06 per share, on sales of $1.4 billion for the second quarter ended June 30, 2018. Second quarter results include $9.0 million of net after-tax losses, or $0.23 per share, from non-cash pension settlement charges.

Second Quarter 2018 Highlights

¹ For reconciliations of non-GAAP measures, see summary notes at the end of this press release.

            In the second quarter 2018, total U.S. housing starts increased 8% compared to the same period last year. Single-family starts, which are the primary demand driver of our sales, increased 9% and multi-family starts increased 6% in the second quarter 2018.

            "Both of our businesses delivered outstanding results in the second quarter. Wood Products made very good progress on engineered wood products pricing and took advantage of exceptionally strong plywood markets.  BMD executed well and captured market opportunities at both the local and national level," commented Tom Corrick, CEO. "I am very pleased that we further strengthened our nationwide distribution capabilities with the acquisitions in Nashville, Tennessee, and Medford, Oregon. Similar acquisitions remain a priority. As reflected by these acquisitions and our board's decision to declare an additional dividend of $1.00 per share this quarter, we continue to have a strong focus on deploying capital to create shareholder value."

Wood Products

            Wood Products sales, including sales to Building Materials Distribution (BMD), increased $75.2 million, or 21%, to $425.5 million for the three months ended June 30, 2018, from $350.3 million for the three months ended June 30, 2017. The increase in sales was driven primarily by higher sales prices for plywood, I-joists and LVL (I-joists and LVL are collectively referred to as EWP). In addition, increases in EWP sales volumes contributed to improved sales. Sales volumes for plywood were relatively flat compared with the same period in the prior year.

            Wood Products segment income increased $21.1 million to $36.5 million for the three months ended June 30, 2018, from $15.4 million for the three months ended June 30, 2017. The improvement in segment income was due primarily to higher sales prices of plywood and EWP. These improvements were offset partially by higher log costs, as well as oriented strand board (OSB) costs used in the manufacture of I-joists. In addition, depreciation and amortization expense increased $4.2 million compared to the prior year quarter.

            Comparative average net selling prices and sales volume changes for EWP and plywood are as follows:

Building Materials Distribution

            BMD's sales increased $233.1 million, or 24%, to $1,213.8 million for the three months ended June 30, 2018, from $980.7 million for the three months ended June 30, 2017. Compared with the same quarter in the prior year, the overall increase in sales was driven by sales price and sales volume increases of 15% and 9%, respectively. By product line, commodity sales increased 33%, general line product sales increased 15%, and sales of EWP (substantially all of which is sourced through our Wood Products segment) increased 18%.

            BMD segment income increased $13.2 million to $47.7 million for the three months ended June 30, 2018, from $34.5 million in the comparative prior year quarter, driven primarily by a higher gross margin of $27.8 million generated from a sales increase of 24%. The increase in gross margin was offset partially by higher selling and distribution expenses of $12.7 million.

             In second quarter 2018, BMD completed the acquisition of wholesale building material distribution locations in Nashville, Tennessee and Medford, Oregon (collectively, the "Acquisitions"). The company funded the Acquisitions with cash on hand. These distribution locations add to our existing distribution business and strengthen our nationwide presence. In addition, we believe we will be able to broaden our product and service offerings within these markets following the Acquisitions.

Income Taxes

            On December 22, 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was enacted by the U.S. government. The most significant impact to our financial statements is the reduction of the corporate federal income tax rate from 35% to 21%. For the three months ended June 30, 2018 and 2017, we recorded $13.8 million and $13.1 million, respectively, of income tax expense and had an effective rate of 24.9% and 37.2%, respectively.

Balance Sheet

            Boise Cascade ended the second quarter with $210.0 million of cash and cash equivalents and $395.4 million of undrawn committed bank line availability, for total available liquidity of $605.4 million. The Company had $438.9 million of outstanding debt at June 30, 2018.

            On August 2, 2018, our board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.07 per share, as well as an additional dividend of $1.00 per share, on our common stock payable on September 17, 2018, to stockholders of record on August 31, 2018.

            On April 25, 2018, Boise Cascade transferred $151.8 million of its pension plan assets to The Prudential Insurance Company of America (Prudential) for the purchase of a group annuity contract. Under the arrangement, Prudential assumed ongoing responsibility for administration and benefit payments for approximately one-third of Boise Cascade's U.S. qualified pension plan projected benefit obligations. As a result of the transaction, the Company recognized a non-cash pension settlement charge of $12.0 million before tax in the second quarter of 2018.

            On August 3, 2018, we entered into a commitment letter with Prudential to purchase another group annuity contract, in which Prudential will assume ongoing responsibility for administration and benefit payments for approximately 40 percent, or $122 million, of Boise Cascade's then remaining U.S. qualified pension plan projected benefit obligations. As a result, we expect to recognize a non-cash pension settlement charge of approximately $10 million before tax in the third quarter of 2018. In conjunction with the transaction, we also plan to make a discretionary pension contribution of $20 million in third quarter 2018, for which we will receive a tax deduction at the 2017 federal income tax rate.

            The pension-related transactions significantly reduce the Company's pension liability and its exposure to pension funding obligations that can result from future asset return, discount rate, and mortality assumption changes.

Outlook

            As in recent years, we expect to continue to experience modest demand growth for the products we manufacture and distribute in 2018. The July 2018 Blue Chip consensus forecast for 2018 reflects 1.32 million total U.S. housing starts, a 10% expected increase from 2017 levels. We remain optimistic that the improvement in demand for our products will continue as household formation rates and residential construction continue to recover. Future commodity product pricing and commodity input costs could be volatile in response to industry operating rates, net import and export activity, transportation constraints or disruptions, inventory levels in various distribution channels, and seasonal demand patterns. Commodity product pricing is currently above historical levels; however, prices have trended downward since the middle of June 2018. As a wholesale distributor of a broad mix of commodity products and a manufacturer of certain commodity products, we have sales and profitability exposure to declines in commodity product prices.

            We have successfully grown revenues and earnings in our distribution business as residential construction has recovered in the U.S. over the last several years. As we consider further acquisitions, much of our activity will remain focused on adding to our distribution capabilities.

            We expect our capital spending, excluding acquisitions, to be $75-$85 million during 2018.

About Boise Cascade
           
            Boise Cascade Company is one of the largest producers of engineered wood products and plywood in North America and a leading U.S. wholesale distributor of building products. For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.bc.com.

Webcast and Conference Call

            Boise Cascade will host a webcast and conference call on Monday, August 6, at 11 a.m. Eastern, to review the Company's second quarter results.

            You can join the webcast through the Company's website by going to www.bc.com and clicking on the Event Calendar link under the Investor Relations heading. Please go to the website at least 15 minutes before the start of the webcast to register. To join the conference call, dial 844-795-4410 (international callers should dial 661-378-9637), participant passcode 6886808, at least 10 minutes before the start of the call.

            The archived webcast will be available in the Investor Relations section of the Company's website. A replay of the conference call will be available from Monday, August 6, at 2 p.m. Eastern through Monday, August 13, at 2 p.m. Eastern. Replay numbers are 855-859-2056 for U.S. callers and 404-537-3406 for international callers, and the passcode will be 6886808.

Basis of Presentation
           
            We refer to the terms EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA in this earnings release as supplemental measures of our performance and liquidity that are not required by or presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States ("GAAP"). We define EBITDA as income before interest (interest expense and interest income), income taxes, and depreciation and amortization. Additionally, we disclose Adjusted EBITDA, which further adjusts EBITDA to exclude the change in fair value of interest rate swaps and loss on extinguishment of debt.

            We believe EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are meaningful measures because they present a transparent view of our recurring operating performance and allow management to readily view operating trends, perform analytical comparisons, and identify strategies to improve operating performance. We also believe EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are useful to investors because they provide a means to evaluate the operating performance of our segments and our Company on an ongoing basis using criteria that are used by our management and because they are frequently used by investors and other interested parties when comparing companies in our industry that have different financing and capital structures and/or tax rates. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA, however, are not measures of our liquidity or financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered as alternatives to net income, income from operations, or any other performance measure derived in accordance with GAAP or as alternatives to cash flow from operating activities as a measure of our liquidity. The use of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA instead of net income or segment income (loss) have limitations as analytical tools, including the inability to determine profitability; the exclusion of interest expense, interest income, and associated significant cash requirements; and the exclusion of depreciation and amortization, which represent unavoidable operating costs. Management compensates for these limitations by relying on our GAAP results. Our measures of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are not necessarily comparable to other similarly titled captions of other companies due to potential inconsistencies in the methods of calculation.
           
Forward-Looking Statements

            This press release includes statements about our expectations of future operational and financial performance that are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The accuracy of such statements is subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those projected, including, but not limited to, prices for building products, commodity input costs, the effect of general economic conditions, mortgage rates and availability, housing demand, housing vacancy rates, governmental regulations, unforeseen production disruptions, as well as natural disasters. These and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements are discussed in greater detail in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to revise them in light of new information. Finally, we undertake no obligation to review or confirm analyst expectations or estimates that might be derived from this release.

Boise Cascade Company
Consolidated Statements of Operations
(in thousands, except per-share data)

See accompanying summary notes to consolidated financial statements and segment information.

Wood Products Segment
Statements of Operations
(in thousands, except percentages)

Building Materials Distribution Segment
Statements of Operations
(in thousands, except percentages)

Segment Information
(in thousands)

See accompanying summary notes to consolidated financial statements and segment information.

Boise Cascade Company
Consolidated Balance Sheets
(in thousands)

Boise Cascade Company
Consolidated Balance Sheets (continued)
(in thousands, except per-share data)

Boise Cascade Company
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(in thousands)

Summary Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements and Segment Information

            The Consolidated Statements of Operations, Segment Statements of Operations, Consolidated Balance Sheets, Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows, and Segment Information presented herein do not include the notes accompanying the Company's Consolidated Financial Statements and should be read in conjunction with the Company's 2017 Form 10-K and the Company's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Net income for all periods presented involved estimates and accruals.

1. EBITDA represents income before interest (interest expense and interest income), income taxes, and depreciation and amortization. Additionally, we disclose Adjusted EBITDA, which further adjusts EBITDA to exclude the change in fair value of interest rate swaps and loss on extinguishment of debt. The following table reconciles net income to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA for the three months ended June 30, 2018 and 2017, and March 31, 2018, and the six months ended June 30, 2018 and 2017:

The following table reconciles segment income and unallocated corporate costs to EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA for the three months ended June 30, 2018 and 2017, and March 31, 2018, and the six months ended June 30, 2018 and 2017:

Investor contact:  Wayne Rancourt, 208 384 6073
Media contact:  John Sahlberg, 208 384 6451