Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) from continuing operations and adjusted for non-recurring items (adjusted EBITDA) improved significantly year-on-year, with adjusted EBITDA of $0.4 million in 2Q 2015 compared with negative $1.4 million in 2Q 2014.
Anton Bogdanov, CEO of RusForest Management Company, commented: “2Q is generally the weakest due to seasonal factors in harvesting operations and the situation in softwood markets remains challenging. Despite the market factors and the temporary seasonal slowdown in 2Q we continue to deliver positive EBITDA and improve year-on-year results. RusForest has a strong balance sheet, the core operations continue to improve and we have a number of other value adding projects in process which jointly makes RusForest a stable and developing business in its sector”.
In 2Q 2015, RusForest harvested 29,704 cubic meters of sawlogs, compared with 13,802 cubic meters in 2Q 2014 (+115%). Quite low harvested volumes in 2Q 2014 were caused by extremely poor weather conditions in spring 2014.
In 2Q 2015, RusForest produced 18,467 cubic meters of sawnwood, compared with 14,113 cubic meters in 2Q 2014 (+31%). The result was achieved due to stable sawmilling during 2Q including May (in contrast to May 2014).
In 2Q 2015, RusForest's subcontractors harvested 82,816 cubic meters of sawlogs in the Ust-Ilimsk forest lease areas. In 2Q 2014, there were no harvesting operations. The large harvested volume was caused primarily by favourable weather conditions both in 1Q and 2Q 2015.
RusForest is a Swedish forestry company operating in Eastern Siberia. The Company controls long-term timber leases and utilizes these resources to produce a wide range of sawnwood products.
