08:31 AM EDT, 10/16/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Interfor ( IFSPF ) on Wednesday said it will stop operating in Quebec, selling three plants in the province and closing a corporate office in Montreal, as it focuses on its assets in the rest of Canada.

The company said it will sell sawmills in Val-d'Or and Matagami, as well as a remanufacturing facility in Val-d'Or to closely held Chantiers Chibougamau (CCL) for $30 million. Interfor ( IFSPF ) also agreed to a multi-year contract for CCL to supply machine-stress rated lumber to its joist engineered-wood products plant in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

The company will also close its Montreal office in the coming months. It did not disclose whether any staff will be cut due to the measure.

Following the closure, Interfor ( IFSPF ) will continue operating five sawmills in Ontario and two in New Brunswick, as well as its joist plant.

"The decision to exit our Quebec operations was influenced by recent developments that have restricted the availability of economic fibre, including record forest fires in 2023," Chief Executive Ian Fillinger said in a release. "This divestiture enables us to focus resources on our remaining Eastern Canadian sawmills situated in Ontario and New Brunswick, which are well-positioned with competitive log costs and an increasingly valuable spruce-pine-fir lumber product mix."

The company said its two Quebec sawmills have a combined capacity of 255-million board feet per year, but only produced 206-million board feet in the year ended June 30 and have operated at 50% of capacity since early August.

Interfor ( IFSPF ) said it will take a charge against its third-quarter earnings to account for the measures.

The company's shares closed up $0.35 to $21.01 Tuesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.