Topic: How To Invest

Pat: Could I have your comment on Eacom Timber? Regards.

Article Excerpt

Eacom Timber, $0.32, symbol ETR on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 397.4 million; Market cap: $137.6 million; www.eacom.ca), acquired most of the forest-products business of Domtar Corp. (symbol UFS on Toronto) in June 2010 for $80 million. Under the agreement, the company purchased seven sawmills and a 66% interest in an eighth sawmill (two of these sawmills are currently closed). Eacom recently agreed to buy the rest of the eighth sawmill for $15 million. A remanufactured-wood products facility was also included in the deal, along with a 50% stake in an engineered-wood plant. All of these assets are in Ontario and Quebec. Eacom also received annual allowable cutting rights to 3.5 million cubic meters of timber. That would let it produce about 900 million board feet of lumber a year. In the three months ended December 31, 2010, Eacom lost $10.5 million, or $0.02 a share, on revenue of $68.1 million. There are no comparable year-earlier results. Lumber prices have been volatile…