Portland-based Lousiana-Pacific, which has cut more than 20% of its staff in the past 18 months, said it will think about paying dividends again dividend payment once its financial condition improves. The suspension of the $0.05-per-share dividend is expected to save the company $20 million per year.
Shares of Louisiana-Pacific closed at $7.19 on Friday on the NYSE. In early afternoon trading Monday, shares had rebounded to $7.28. The stock is off nearly 100% from its 52-week high of $13.95 on May 21, and off 23% since Sept. 10, the day before trading was suspended for a week in response to the terrorist attacks.
Louisiana-Pacific is a building products company, operating approximately 66 facilities in the United States, Canada, Chile and Ireland. The company distributes its building products primarily through third-party distributors and home centers.
In mid-October, Louisiana-Pacific said it would curtail production at most North American lumber facilities for two weeks in order to reduce inventory levels. Production at the mills was to be suspended for two weeks on a rolling basis, starting the last week of October, the company said in a statement. A spokeswoman told Reuters that nine of Louisiana-Pacific's 12 mills would be affected.
The company said it will continue to review production schedules and expects that further curtailment may be necessary over the next several quarters depending on market conditions. During the production shutdowns, plants will focus on maintenance projects, Louisiana-Pacific said.
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