Rayonier Inc Q4 FY2025 Earnings Call

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to the Q4 2025 Rayonier Inc. Earnings Conference Call. Now, I will hand the call over to Collin Mings, Vice President of Capital Markets and Strategic Planning. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good morning. Welcome to Rayonier's investor teleconference covering fourth quarter earnings. Our earnings statements and financial supplement were released yesterday afternoon and are available on our website at rayonier.com. I would like to remind you that in these presentations, we include forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of federal securities laws. Earnings release and Forms 10-K and 10-Q filed with the SEC with some of the factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements we may make. They are also referenced on Page 2 of our financial supplement. Throughout these presentations, we will also discuss non-GAAP financial measures, which are defined and reconciled to the nearest GAAP measures in our earnings release and supplemental materials. With that, let's start our teleconference with opening comments from Mark McHugh, our President and CEO. Mark?

Thanks, Collin. Good morning, everyone. Before turning to our fourth quarter results, I'd like to provide an update on our transformative merger of equals with PotlatchDeltic, which successfully closed ahead of schedule on January 30. Achieving this milestone required an incredible amount of work and collaboration. Since announcing the proposed merger in October, teams across both organizations have worked tirelessly to complete the transaction and begin the process of integrating our operations. I want to personally thank everyone involved for their dedication and commitment throughout this process. The combination of Rayonier and PotlatchDeltic has created a premier land resources company with a high-quality, well-diversified timberland portfolio, spanning over 4 million acres, a dynamic real estate platform and a well-positioned wood products manufacturing business. As our integration efforts continue, we remain confident that this transaction will deliver significant strategic and financial benefits beyond what either company could have achieved independently. While we have initially retained the Rayonier name, we plan to announce a new name and ticker symbol for the company later in the first quarter. Our leadership team is working diligently to execute key integration initiatives, including optimizing our organizational structure and implementing best practices from both companies. Despite challenging market conditions to start 2026, we are energized by the opportunities ahead of us, and I continue to be encouraged by the strong cultural alignment across the combined organization. As we continue to work through the integration process, we remain focused on creating long-term value for our shareholders through synergies, operational efficiencies and a relentless focus on disciplined capital allocation. Moving to our fourth quarter financial results. I'll start with some high-level comments before turning it over to April Tice, Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer, to review our consolidated and segment-level financial results. Following April's review of the fourth quarter, Wayne Wasechek, our newly appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will discuss our 2026 outlook for the combined company. We are pleased to finish 2025 with better-than-expected fourth quarter financial results, which allowed us to deliver full year adjusted EBITDA of $248 million, representing an 8% increase over 2024 and exceeding the high end of our prior guidance range. This outperformance was primarily driven by the record contribution from our Real Estate segment which delivered full year adjusted EBITDA of $127 million amid continued strength in our rural HBU markets and further growth in our real estate development business. Full-year pro forma net income was $89 million or $0.57 per share. In the fourth quarter, we generated adjusted EBITDA of $62 million and pro forma net income of $32 million or $0.20 per share. Adjusted EBITDA exceeded the high end of our previous guidance range, but was down compared to the prior year period as real estate closing activity in 2024 was heavily concentrated in the fourth quarter. In our Southern Timber segment, we generated fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA of $32 million, which was down 8% from the prior year period as the decline in weighted average net stumpage realizations and lower revenue from land-based solutions, was partially offset by higher harvest volumes. The increase in harvest volumes versus the prior year quarter reflects drier weather conditions as well as the normalization of green log demand as salvage activity in the Atlantic region subsided. Turning to the Pacific Northwest Timber segment. Fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA of $5 million was roughly $2 million below the prior year quarter, primarily due to a 26% decline in harvest volumes resulting from the Washington dispositions that we completed at the end of 2024. In our Real Estate segment, we generated adjusted EBITDA of $33 million in the fourth quarter, down $31 million from an exceptionally active fourth quarter of the prior year. With that, let me turn it over to April for more details on our fourth quarter financial results.

Thanks, Mark. As we highlighted last quarter, please note that all periods presented have been retrospectively adjusted to recast the historical results of the former Trading segment into the Southern Timber and Pacific Northwest Timber segments, as we eliminated the trading segment following the sale of our New Zealand business last year. Moving to the financial highlights on Page 5 of the supplement. For the fourth quarter, sales totaled $117 million, while operating income was $27 million, and net income attributable to Rayonier was $26 million or $0.16 per share. On a pro forma basis, net income was $32 million or $0.20 per share. Pro forma items in the quarter included $6 million of costs related to the merger with PotlatchDeltic. Our adjusted EBITDA was $62 million in the fourth quarter, down from $95 million in the prior year period. Moving to our capital resources and liquidity at the bottom of Page 5. Our cash available for distribution, or CAD, was $199 million in 2025 versus $141 million in the prior year. The significant increase was driven by a combination of higher adjusted EBITDA, lower cash interest expense, higher interest income and lower capital expenditures. A reconciliation of CAD to cash provided by operating activities and other GAAP measures is provided on Page 8 of the financial supplement. During the fourth quarter, prior to the announcement of our merger with PotlatchDeltic, we repurchased approximately 110,000 shares at an average price of $26.31 per share or $2.9 million in total. Following the announcement of the merger in mid-October, our ability to repurchase shares was generally restricted through the close of the transaction. As of year-end 2025, we had roughly $230 million remaining on our current share repurchase authorization. During the fourth quarter, we also paid a $1.40 per share special dividend and a combination of cash and shares as a result of the taxable gains arising from the sale of our New Zealand joint venture interest earlier in the year. By issuing shares to satisfy a portion of our retaxable income distribution requirements, we retain significant flexibility around future capital allocation priorities. We finished the fourth quarter with $843 million of cash and roughly $1.1 billion of debt. Our net debt to enterprise value based on our closing stock price at the end of the quarter was 6%, and our net debt was less than 1x of our 2025 adjusted EBITDA. Now moving on to our segment results. Let's start on Page 9 with our Southern Timber segment. Adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter of $32 million was 8% below the prior year quarter as lower net stumpage realizations more than offset higher harvest volumes. Total harvest volumes increased 10% versus the prior year quarter due to drier weather conditions and increased demand for green logs as salvage operations subsided. Average sawlog net stumpage pricing was $25 per ton, a 2% increase compared to the prior year quarter, which was negatively impacted by salvage operations. Pulpwood net stumpage pricing of roughly $12 per ton was 27% lower than the prior year quarter, driven by weaker demand following recent mill closures in the Atlantic region, an unfavorable shift in geographic mix and dry weather conditions across much of the U.S. South. Overall, weighted average net stumpage realizations decreased 9% as lower pulpwood pricing was partially offset by a higher proportion of sawtimber volume. In great markets, sawmills contended with tepid demand throughout the fourth quarter. As we move through early 2026, we are optimistic that some local markets will see improvement in demand and pricing as sawmills ramp up production in response to improved lumber pricing. In pulpwood markets, conditions were challenging throughout Q4. Dry weather across the U.S. South allowed for the harvesting of typically inaccessible sites, which contributed to elevated supply in our Atlantic markets, while salvage operations from the 2024 hurricanes have now fully concluded, recent mill closures resulted in weaker overall demand. This combination of increased supply and weaker demand resulted in significant pricing pressures, especially in our Atlantic markets. On a positive note, we are starting to see improved operating rates at some pulp and packaging mills as production levels are being recalibrated following recent mill closures. However, we expect that dry weather conditions and upcoming maintenance shutdowns will continue to create near-term headwinds to pulpwood pricing. Looking further ahead, we remain confident that the supply side will tighten meaningfully over the coming years. As we've noted previously, the Georgia Forestry Association estimates that approximately 26 million tons of pine and 30 million tons of hardwood were impacted by Hurricane Helene in 2024. This should translate to a significant reduction in regional supply, which we expect will support improved market conditions over time. Moving to our Pacific Northwest Timber segment on Page 10. Fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA of $5 million was 24% below the prior year quarter due to lower harvest volumes and log prices. Total harvest volumes decreased 26% in the fourth quarter as compared to the prior year period, reflecting the impact of the Washington dispositions we completed in late 2024. At $87 per ton, average delivered domestic sawlog pricing in the fourth quarter decreased 3% from the prior year period due to softness in mill demand given market conditions. Meanwhile, at $38 per ton, pulpwood pricing was up 26% versus the prior year quarter due to the reduced availability of sawmill residuals. After a relatively lackluster fourth quarter, lumber pricing has been on an encouraging trajectory in recent weeks in response to constraints on Canadian supply. Moving forward, we expect some producers in the region to ramp up production in response to higher lumber prices, which should translate to positive log price momentum as well. All things considered, we are optimistic that log markets in the Pacific Northwest will tighten as we move through 2026 with improving demand from sawmills, the lifting of China's log export band and Canadian mill curtailments all contributing to increased market tension. Further, we remain confident in the region's positioning for the structural changes ahead as lumber produced in the Pacific Northwest competes more directly with Canadian production, making mills in the region well-positioned to capture market share as import duties and mill shutdowns constrain the supply entering from Canada.

Thanks, April. Turning to our outlook for 2026. Given the merger closed less than 2 weeks ago, we are initially providing limited segment guidance for the combined company for 2026 as our team continues to advance through the integration process. This guidance reflects the anticipated pro rata contribution from PotlatchDeltic's operations starting on January 31, 2026. With respect to our individual segments, starting with our Southern Timber segment, we expect to achieve full year harvest volumes of 12.1 million to 12.6 million tons, reflecting the increase in our sustainable yield as a result of the merger with PotlatchDeltic. We further expect that regional pine stumpage realizations will trend modestly higher from fourth quarter levels during the year as supply-demand conditions normalize. However, we expect that full year 2026 average pine stumpage realizations for the combined company's Southern Timber segment will be lower than the stand-alone realizations for Rayonier in the prior year based on pro forma geographic mix of the combined company. In our Northwest Timber segment, we expect to achieve full year harvest volumes of 2 million to 2.3 million tons, likewise, reflecting the increase in our sustainable yield due to the merger. We further expect that full year 2026 average log pricing for the combined company's Northwest Timber segment will be higher than the stand-alone pricing for Rayonier in the prior year based on improving demand conditions, a higher mix of sawtimber and the pro forma geographic mix of the combined company. However, we anticipate that the combined company's pricing in the Northwest will also have increased sensitivity to lumber pricing compared to legacy Rayonier as a significant portion of our sawlog sales in Idaho are indexed to lumber prices. In our Wood Products segment, we've been encouraged by the positive momentum in lumber prices to start the year. For the 11 months of contribution from this segment in 2026 following the merger, we expect lumber shipments to total approximately 1.1 billion board feet. Based on quarter-to-date price realizations and current lumber pricing, we would expect the Wood Products segment to have a slightly positive contribution to overall adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter. In our Real Estate segment, we are seeing continued momentum to start 2026, supported by a strong pipeline of rural land sales and improved development transactions. Based on our current transaction pipeline, and sales closed to date, we expect an adjusted EBITDA contribution in the first quarter of $30 million to $35 million. For the full year, we expect an adjusted EBITDA contribution from our Real Estate segment of $180 million to $200 million. We expect to provide additional updates on guidance as well as our progress on synergy targets as the year progresses. Turning to our balance sheet. We remain well positioned following the closing of the merger with a conservative leverage profile and significant capital allocation flexibility. As April noted earlier, we were generally restricted from repurchasing shares during the pendency of the merger. However, we continue to believe that our stock price is trading at a significant discount to net asset value. In addition, the dividend yield is over 4.5% at the current stock price. As such, we believe that share buybacks represent a compelling use of capital and one of the most attractive ways to create value for our shareholders in the near term.

Thanks, Wayne. As we wrap up our prepared remarks, I'd like to commend our team for their extraordinary focus and dedication during this transitional period for the company. Throughout 2025, our team navigated difficult market conditions while identifying and executing on opportunities to enhance long-term value. In particular, we had an exceptional year in our Real Estate business, which allowed us to deliver full year adjusted EBITDA ahead of our original guidance. Following our merger with PotlatchDeltic, we now have an enhanced platform to unlock HBU value in our Real Estate business, and we're excited about the opportunities we see ahead for the combined portfolio. While timber and lumber market conditions were certainly challenging throughout 2025, I'm proud of how both companies stayed focused on near-term execution. With the merger now complete, we believe that our shareholders will benefit from a more diversified timberland portfolio, along with an integrated Wood Products manufacturing business that is well positioned to benefit from positive long-term fundamentals. To this end, we've been encouraged by the recent improvement in lumber prices, and we expect further upside as end market demand continues to improve, especially given the supply constraints in Canada. On the land-based solutions front, our combined team continues to advance solar, carbon capture and storage and carbon offset project opportunities with high-quality counterparties. We remain very optimistic about the long-term value creation potential from this business as substantial capital continues to flow into AI and data center infrastructure, thereby driving increased demand for clean energy solutions. As I discussed at the beginning of the call, merger integration activities continue to advance, and our leaders are already starting to implement best practices as we cross-pollinate our teams. I'm excited to see how these efforts progress as we look to grow our future revenue opportunities and improve our operational efficiency. On the cost side, we continue to estimate run rate synergies of $40 million by the end of year 2, which will be driven primarily by corporate and operational cost optimization. While many of these decisions are extremely difficult, especially when they involve personnel reductions, we believe they are necessary to maintain an efficient overhead structure and to maximize the long-term value creation potential of this merger. In sum, while timber and lumber markets continue to face some headwinds, our recent results underscore the resilience of our portfolio and our business model. As we move forward as a combined company, I'm confident that our well-diversified portfolio, our exceptionally talented team, our strong balance sheet and our disciplined approach to capital allocation leave us well positioned to navigate the current market environment with a view towards building long-term value per share. Lastly, I want to take a moment to recognize the significant contributions of our outgoing Executive Vice President and Chief Resource Officer, Doug Long, who's retiring from Rayonier after 30 years of dedicated service. Doug has been an exemplary leader of our Timber business as well as a valuable contributor on our earnings calls for the last 12 years. On behalf of the Board and the entire company, I want to thank Doug for his invaluable contributions and wish him well in his future endeavors. That concludes our prepared remarks, and I'll now turn the call back to the operator for questions.

Your first question comes from Mark Weintraub of Seaport Research Partners.

Great. Can you hear me?

Yes, Mark, can you hear us?

Yes, I can. Congratulations, obviously, all the hard work, etc. So first, just on real estate, 2025 was a very strong year actually for both companies, and you're looking for another strong year in 2026, perhaps not quite as much as on 2025 on a pro forma basis. Just curious if you could give a little bit more color on puts and takes and what you see as drivers on the rural side, the development side improved. Anything you can provide to help us kind of assess changes and potential trajectories?

Yes. Sure, Mark, I'll take that. As we've discussed in the past, real estate sales are invariably going to be lumpy quarter-to-quarter, year-to-year. Results tend to be pretty significantly impacted by a handful of larger transactions, and we had a number of those in 2025. That said, it's been a number of years now here where we've had a pretty good run on HBU, and we've been able to continue to monetize properties within the portfolio at very strong premiums to underlying timberland value. I'd say we used to think of that rural HBU premium as being around 50%, give or take, relative to timberland value on average. But look, underlying land values have just continued to appreciate. And over the last few years, I'd say our rural HBU premiums have been more like 100-plus percent. So this is a part of our business that we actually think is a bit underappreciated. Every time we sell an acre of land, at that kind of premium to underlying timberland value, we believe we're generating NAV accretion, especially when you look at that public-private arbitrage that continues to exist in the stock price. You've often heard us say that, that HBU business is really all about premium. And so that's what we're really focused on in terms of measuring our success in the business. And notably, it's really been premium more so than volume that's been driving our outperformance in real estate over the last several years. We really haven't had much in the way of elevated volume. It's really been stronger pricing, particularly in our rural business as well as the folding in the development business in a more meaningful way in the last few years. So look, we're going to continue to try to take advantage of those types of opportunities within the portfolio, and that may ultimately translate to a higher long-term trend line in terms of the contribution of that real estate business relative to what we've seen historically.

Great. It has certainly been very noticeable that there is much higher accretion. I'm just curious, do you think that it's the overall market instead of the mix you have been selling in recently?

I'd say it's more of the overall market, but certainly a big factor within that is just where we own lands. Again, Texas and Florida, in particular, have been very strong HBU markets for us and stand-alone Rayonier historically owned a lot of acreage in that region. But across the board, we're seeing strong HBU premiums, very strong land values. Certainly, despite the challenging timber market conditions, that we're seeing land values have held up very well and have just continued to appreciate. So again, we're going to continue to take advantage of those types of opportunities.

Super. Just one more question. You mentioned where your net debt stood at Rayonier at the end of the year, and you talked about the appeal of continuing share repurchases. I believe you indicated that you have $230 million remaining on the authorization. When considering the factors that might limit your share repurchase, one will obviously be the stock price in relation to your valuation perspective. Could you share some insights regarding your capital structure and other important factors that could influence the amount of share repurchase you might consider in the upcoming year under various circumstances?

Yes. No, it's a great question. As we discussed in the prepared remarks, we closed the merger less than 2 weeks ago. So still some moving pieces there as it relates to balance sheet, transaction and integration expenses. I'd say the initial wave of kind of big-ticket deal expenses are largely out the door in terms of advisory fees, the dividend, special dividend to Rayonier shareholders, the cash consideration, the legacy Potlatch shareholders as a result of that as well as some other transaction costs. So those have all been paid, but recognize there's still some costs like organizational restructuring that will phase in over time. As we sit now kind of immediately post close, we expect pro forma net debt to be in the range of probably $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion. So that would put us comfortably inside of our 3x net debt to mid-cycle EBITDA leverage target that we've laid out in the past and laid out in connection with the merger announcement. So again, while timber and lumber markets remain challenging, we think the balance sheet is in really good shape, and we still have a lot of financial flexibility around capital allocation. And again, just in terms of what that appetite might be going forward, we certainly think we have some balance sheet capacity currently. Certainly, as we see synergies phase in, that should improve leverage as well. And so we think we have the opportunity to be opportunistic on that front here moving forward.

I don't know if you're willing to guess, but is there a specific mid-cycle number we should consider regarding EBITDA?

Yes. Again, with the merger just closed a couple of weeks ago, we're not in a position to put that out there quite yet. But look, if you look at the different components of the portfolio, the timber business has obviously been much more stable historically than the Wood Products manufacturing business. And the Real Estate business, again, as we've talked about, it tends to be lumpy. And so historically, the peers with lumber manufacturing assets haven't generally put out kind of annual guidance around that business just given the variability and unpredictability of lumber prices. But I would continue to expect that our timber business would be relatively stable. And so we can certainly kind of talk through some historical benchmarks and kind of how we think that might look on a go-forward basis. But 2 weeks removed from the merger closing, I don't think we're quite ready to put out a view of mid-cycle EBITDA.

Congrats again on completing the merger ahead of schedule. A lot of hard work went into that. So a great job. I wanted to touch on the initial harvest guidance for the combined companies. Just thinking through the numbers a little bit, just based on Potlatch's old projections and kind of where you guys are shaking out. Just kind of wondering kind of what went into those assumptions? It looked like it's a little lighter than we would have put together combined. But I'm wondering if that's just baking in a little extra conservatism or if this is just kind of the new sustainable run rate going forward?

Yes. First and foremost, we should acknowledge that we are only receiving a partial year contribution from the PotlatchDeltic timberland portfolio, covering 11 out of 12 months. Therefore, the forward guidance may not fully reflect a complete pro forma run rate. However, if you consider what Rayonier has communicated regarding the sustainable yield across various regions, and keep in mind the portfolio changes we've made over the past year, we believe it aligns generally with our previous guidance.

I appreciate that. I want to discuss the pulpwood markets and the pricing trends you're observing, particularly regarding the ongoing decline in demand, especially in the U.S. South, for containerboard and other mill products. Are there any indications that demand is bottoming out? Or is there still more pressure to deal with in terms of managing the surplus log volume available? How do you evaluate the factors affecting pulpwood and what might stabilize that market?

Yes. Certainly, these past several quarters have been pretty challenging in the Southern Timber segment. We've had this perfect storm of weaker demand driven by mill closures, coupled with elevated volume first due to the hurricane salvage last year and then kind of drier weather conditions as the year progressed. But as we discussed in the prepared remarks, we think that salvage volume is largely behind us at this point. And longer term, we think the amount of standing inventory that was destroyed by the hurricane is ultimately going to translate to a tightening of supply in those market areas that were impacted. So overall, we're still optimistic that market fundamentals should support growth in housing starts and timber demand over the long term. We still have a significantly underbuilt an aging housing stock, and that's got to be addressed at some point. And we also expect that even if overall construction demand remains flat, we're going to see U.S. mills gain market share, which bodes well for timber demand and pricing. Again, as we've talked about in the past, timber supply demand dynamics are highly localized. So we think that's another reason that the merger with PotlatchDeltic makes a lot of sense from a shareholder perspective as we're going to benefit from a more diversified portfolio that's less reliant on one particular market area. But as it relates to pulpwood, in particular, I'd say most of that downward pressure has been in those Atlantic markets. Again, we just had a lot of elevated supply in the last year with the hurricanes and the dry weather. We'd obviously like to see higher pricing, but we believe that some of these pressures, again, are going to be transitory in nature. It's also worth noting that even with those recent price declines that we've seen, these Atlantic markets are still among the strongest in the U.S. South and just in terms of that relative public pricing. So we still think that these markets are desirable from a long-term perspective. Recall that during COVID, we saw those markets really shoot up significantly from a pricing standpoint when we saw elevated demand. So again, I still think that those markets are highly attractive. And we think as those pressures subside, particularly on the supply side, we should see some improvement in pricing there. But like you said, it's certainly been a challenging dynamic in the last 12, 18 months.

Your final question comes from Ketan Mamtora of BMO Capital Markets.

My congratulations as well. I want to ask about share repurchases and also about potential opportunities in M&A. Are you seeing any possibilities right now, whether in timberland or downstream wood products, considering how low lumber prices have been over the past couple of years? Or do you believe share buybacks are currently the best opportunity for your company?

I can comment broadly on the timberland M&A market. It remains quite competitive, particularly for higher-quality assets. We continue to see strong values for assets in both the U.S. South and the Northwest. There is still a significant amount of private capital looking to invest in timberland, with an estimated $10 billion available for acquisitions, a large portion of which is aimed at carbon or climate-focused investments. We expect the timberland M&A market to stay active. In terms of our interest in timberland acquisitions, our current cost of capital and the competitive market make it challenging for us to justify those transactions. However, we will keep assessing acquisition opportunities, especially in areas where we have an established presence. Historically, we have seen success in finding bolt-on deals that add value to our portfolio, and we will continue to search for such opportunities. Overall, we believe that the best place for us to acquire timberland assets right now is through the public market by repurchasing our own stock. As we integrate the Wood Products manufacturing business, we will also consider investment opportunities in capacity expansion projects and the like, evaluating them alongside other capital allocation options with the goal of building long-term value per share. We view this as another resource in our capital allocation strategy but do not plan to be prescriptive about how we approach it moving forward.

No, that's fair and helpful context. Mark, I understand this isn't meant to be a quarterly update, but I'm curious if you have any news regarding other opportunities related to carbon or any other areas you'd like to emphasize, and how that opportunity is developing. Additionally, how should we approach the ramp-up as you progress through '26 and into '27?

Yes. I mean, broadly, in our land-based solutions business, I'd say we continue to be very focused on growth opportunities in that business. We're allocating resources to building out those platforms and really trying to approach these opportunities with a long-term mindset. With the recent closing of the merger, we're also really excited about what we see as an enhanced platform to tackle those opportunities as a combined company. Both Rayonier and PotlatchDeltic, we both already made some pretty significant strides in the solar arena and reach gaining exposure to some new markets and revenue streams through the merger on the land-based solutions front. Rayonier had more exposure to carbon capture and storage. PotlatchDeltic has had the lithium and the brine opportunity. So again, we're retaining exposure to some new opportunities there. And on the carbon market, again, I think that's an area where we continue to see a lot of opportunity long term. And we think that this larger platform and the larger portfolio really positions us well to be a supplier of choice into that carbon offset market. So again, overall, I still see a lot of upside in that LBS business. With all that said, there have obviously been a lot of moving pieces on the public policy front, and I think the market is still digesting the current regulatory environment and kind of a long-term impact on project underwriting of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, etc. So definitely seeing the timetables on both solar and CCS projects getting pushed out due to various factors. But again, still very optimistic about the long-term trajectory of that business. And I think we're going to see some progress on that front in 2026.

Got it. That's very helpful. Good luck as you integrate as a combined company.

Your next question comes from Anthony Pettinari of Citi.

Mark, Wayne, April, congratulations on the combination. I just had a quick follow-up on Buck's question on pulpwood pricing and understand there's a few things going on there, and you listed some reasons why that market might tighten. It seems like for a long time, pulpwood prices were maybe averaging, I don't know, $15, $16, $17 a ton. You obviously went higher during the pandemic. From your comments, Mark, I mean, is the expectation that you could get back to kind of more of a normalized range in the next couple of quarters or more in like 2027? Or I know you're not giving kind of precise guidance around this, but I'm just trying to understand whether this is more of like really a transitory thing or whether you have to see maybe some things that would play out maybe more into next year?

Yes. I think it's tough to say. I certainly wouldn't anticipate kind of a near-term bounce back to the type of pulpwood pricing levels that we saw 2 or 3 years ago. As it relates to the different factors that are impacting pulpwood pricing, I would say some of them are transitory and some of them are more sustained in nature. We think some of the weather impacts, in particular, the pickup in salvage volume, more recently, the dry weather, which just led to accessibility of a lot of sites that were in more normal weather conditions are not accessible. So that translated to a pickup in volume. And that again came on the heels of that hurricane salvage volume. And so the supply side effects we certainly think are transitory in nature. And if anything, again, just given the magnitude of the devastation from Hurricane Helene, we think the longer-term impact in those markets is that we're going to see a fair amount of inventory come out of the system, which should be a long-term positive for pulpwood supply demand dynamics and pricing in that region. But look, some of the mill shutdowns on the other side, I'd say, are more perpetual in nature. So kind of hard to say where that ultimately settles out, but it certainly feels as though we've kind of bottomed here recently, and we do expect some positive momentum through the year, but certainly not a bounce back to the levels that we saw a couple of years ago.

Got it. Got it. That's very helpful. And then just maybe last one. You were asked about sort of relative attractiveness of Timberland investments versus Wood Products. And obviously, whatever has the highest return wins, and that makes a lot of sense. But I'm just wondering if there's anything you can add in terms of maybe philosophically how you think like a Wood Products business could fit within the Timberland's portfolio. I mean is it something where your investors are saying, we kind of want maybe a little bit more cyclical exposure or maybe you're more positive or less positive on U.S. lumber long term? Or other than just return maximization, which is obviously the most important thing, is there any sort of way that you think about Wood Products within the broader Timberland's portfolio?

Yes, it's a great question. As we said in our prepared remarks, I'd say we're very encouraged by some of the recent pricing gains that we've seen in the lumber market, and we're optimistic that we're going to continue to see some momentum there, particularly given the supply constraints on Canadian lumber. PotlatchDeltic team, I say, did a great job of investing in their facilities over time to really keep them well positioned on the cost curve. We think that that bodes well for the future opportunities in that business. And look, we ultimately think our shareholders are going to benefit from having that integrated model over time. And so on the capital allocation front, given some of the headwinds that we're seeing in Wood Products and Timber business currently, again, not anticipating any large-scale near-term investments there, but we certainly see those facilities as being part of the combined company over the long term. And we'll certainly continue to evaluate incremental investment opportunities in the mills over time. But like I said, we're going to evaluate those opportunities through the same lens. It's where can we get the highest return, how do those alternatives compare to other capital allocation alternatives that we have available. And like I said, the bar is pretty high right now for any external growth or any kind of capital investment projects kind of relative to the opportunity that we see in buybacks.

Your final question comes from Mark Weintraub of Seaport Research Partners.

Some real quick follow-ups, if I could. Just one, I assume the indexes in Idaho are unchanged related to the transaction?

Mark, yes, this is Wayne. You're correct. There has been no change in the indexing in Idaho. The volume in Idaho for sawtimber remains approximately 75% indexed.

Okay. Super. And then second, is it fair to say that in Wood Products, it's really just sawmills and lumber that you would look to grow in or given need to find homes for pulpwood, would you consider some other products as well? Is that possibly within your bandwidth?

Yes, again, Mark, 2 weeks removed from the merger closing. I don't want to get kind of too far out there in terms of speculating on investments outside of our core business areas. But again, like I said earlier, we see that platform as just another kind of tool in the toolkit, and we'll evaluate those opportunities as they become available.

Yes, Mark, this is Wayne. As it relates to synergies, yes, we laid out the $40 million target. We expect to achieve on a run rate basis, half of that in the first year. So $20 million on a run rate basis here in year 1. Moving forward, we'll give updated updates on where we're at with those synergies and how we're achieving those. But as you would expect, the initial ones on consolidation of executive teams and Boards, we're already hitting those synergies. So things are moving forward as planned. As it relates to your second question, yes, the storm is certainly fairly severe for the South, but all in all, not a significant impact to production or the results for the year. We laid out in guidance 1.1 million board feet of shipments and that's on an 11th month basis. So really no significant impact to the business.

There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call over to Collin Mings for closing remarks.

This is Collin Mings. I'd like to thank everybody for joining us. Please contact us with any follow-up questions.

This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.