Canadian forestry firms lost more than a half billion dollars in Q3; PwC report

Pricewaterhouse releases report today showing state of Canadian forest companies.

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Canadian forestry companies had losses totalling $552 million in the third quarter as the U.S. housing market continued to deteriorate and companies adjusted production in response to weak demand for North American building products.

Montreal-based Domtar was the only company of the six largest public forest firms included in the survey in Eastern Canada to report positive and improved earnings in the most recent quarter.

The $552 million loss for the companies studied in the third quarter included restructuring costs and asset impairment charges of $302 million compared to $14 million reported a year earlier.

Link to full article:

http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/08122008/2/biz-finance-canadian-forestry-firms-lost-half-billion-dollars-q3.html

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One of the positives for forest companies and exporters is that the Canadian dollar has fallen to around the 80 cent US level in recent weeks, which gives a 25% premium in Canadian dollars for any US sales.