All right, hello and welcome to the Jewett-Cameron Fireside Chat. My name is Robert Blum, Managing Partner at Lytham Partners, and today I'll be moderating a Q&A discussion with Chad Summers, the company's CEO. Chad, welcome. Thank you. Good to be here. Fantastic. Can you walk me through the founding story of Jewett-Cameron and how its mission has evolved over the past 70+ years? How did Jewett-Cameron transition from its origins, really as a lumber-focused business, to this sort of broader portfolio of brands and products? Yeah, you mentioned it there. We were founded over 70 years ago, for decades operated as a lean, owner-managed company with a focus primarily on lumber, and then eventually expanded into outdoor metal products. During that time, the company took on a highly opportunistic approach, acquiring an eclectic mix of businesses. However, our legacy systems and aging infrastructure limited our ability to scale. Since I became CEO, our mission has evolved into focusing on enriching outdoor spaces through innovative, durable, and competitive price solutions for professionals and DIYers. We've transitioned into a more focused and scalable company, investing heavily in supply chain diversification and modernization, more targeted product innovation, and enhanced go-to-market strategies to create a stronger, more growth-ready portfolio. All right, you touched on a couple of items there, but for those maybe not familiar, what are the flagship products or brands in the Jewett-Cameron portfolio today, and what sort of customer needs do they address? Yeah, so I'll just list four primary products. The Adjust-A-Gate is an adjustable steel gate frame kit system with a technology to prevent sag, and it's sold at major home centers. It's designed for professional-grade durability and simplicity for DIYers. That's been a great product over the years. The Lifetime Steel Post, another fence product, a top-performing metal post system offering superior durability and ease of installation for fence projects, which, by the way, is a primary fail point in a typical fence with wood posts rotting out over time. Our Lucky Dog brand is our pet containment brand, offering both welded wire and chain link kennels and accessories for pet owners, prioritizing safety and flexibility. Finally, our MyEco World, our line of Compostable and Post-Consumer Recycled plastic alternatives, meeting the rising demand for sustainable home goods. Each brand focuses on solving real-world problems, from simplifying fence installations to offering greener plastic alternatives to fulfill our vision to enrich outdoor spaces. You've outlined in your investor presentations and conference calls and other areas a number of growth drivers. For those not familiar, can you sort of walk through these and which product lines do you see maybe as the strongest contributors to really sort of your overall identity and the success right now? Yeah, we have four primary growth drivers. I'll detail them. The expansion of our in-store displayer program is the biggest and most important for us, especially with the Lifetime Steel Post. We've had the Adjust-A-Gate displayers in aisle for years, and now we've introduced the merchandiser displayer for the Lifetime Steel Post. We can talk more about that later. New product launches, including our Adjust‑A‑Gate Unlimited, which is a low-profile four-corner steel gate frame kit, and more to come with other new products later this year. Sourcing diversification is our third growth strategy, reducing costs and mitigating tariffs while ensuring supply chain flexibility. Our fourth growth strategy is really monetization of non-core assets, namely the property we previously operated our seed cleaning facility on. The metal fence category, specifically the Adjust‑A‑Gate and Lifetime Steel Post, are the strongest contributors to our current identity and momentum. In Q1 of this year, our fiscal year, metal fencing sales rose 19%. By February, we had expanded our Lifetime Steel Post displayer beyond our 300-store target, getting into 350 stores. We see this segment as the foundation for our long-term growth. I want to come back to the LTP displayers here in a minute, but maybe talking about product innovation and something that you mentioned in terms of one of the key strategies going forward. What are the strategies that the company utilizes to bring new products to market, right? Really from that idea to getting the product on the retail shelves. Maybe as a follow-up, how do you sort of your partnership with the major retailers, right? Most of your products are in the Home Depot and Lowe's. How do those retailers influence sort of that commercialization process? Yeah, that's a great question. We definitely take a customer-driven approach to our product development. Our team identifies pain points in outdoor and DIY and professional construction projects and design solutions that simplify the installation, improve durability, or reduce total cost. We also engage our major retail partners to validate our solutions, serve their customer needs, and what price points will move desired volumes for them. Take the Adjust‑A‑Gate Unlimited, for example. It was designed to offer an unmatched customization, ease of use, and aesthetic appeal as the only all-in-one kit on the market. An innovative high-quality gate solution priced competitively with other gate kits that require purchasing other materials such as hinges and strike plates to finish the project. We also packaged it to make the best use of retail shelf space or in-aisle displayers for the benefit of both the consumer as well as the store's needs. Our long-standing partnerships with Home Depot and Lowe's are instrumental. They not only help validate product-market fit early on, but they can also influence packaging, pricing, and merchandising strategy. They expect us to be experts in our categories and work with us to optimize commercialization to better serve their customers. I think our in-aisle displayer design for our Lifetime Steel Post has been a notable success, placing our products right where customers shop in the lumber aisle, enhancing visibility and pull-through. Chad, let's go into that with a little bit more detail if we could on the in-aisle displayers, right? Sort of for those maybe not familiar, right? Sort of take a step back. What is it exactly and why is this such a sort of a critical growth opportunity to get all these displayers in the right location in these stores? Yeah, Lifetime Steel Post displayers are certainly a transformational growth driver for us. Each fence project will typically include a gate or maybe two gates, but dozens of posts. The time, labor, and materials to install traditional treated four-by-four posts can be extensive, and over time, they will rot and require replacement. Our Lifetime Steel Post reduces installation time, labor, and materials, and is built to last. Having these steel fence posts available in the lumber aisle with the wood fence materials makes it easier for these pros and consumers to get all their necessary materials in one convenient location. The Lifetime Steel Post displayer is a growth opportunity for us for the following reasons. They do place our Lifetime Steel Post directly in the path of the fence builders inside major home centers next to the wood fence materials, as I mentioned. Each displayer acts like a mini storefront, functioning similar to a vending machine, if you will, filled with inventory that turns over with replenishment orders. We grew to, as I mentioned earlier, 350 stores in just over half a year with these displayers and other regions, sorry, are requesting them to be added into their stores. The point of sales data shows strong consumer demand, confirming the strategy is actually working. Our sales reps and marketing teams are optimizing the presentation, and early momentum in the off-season suggests this will continue to impact our fiscal 2025 and beyond results. You mentioned mini storefront. I know in the past, we've sort of used the vending machine approach, right? Sort of right there at the place that you want to get it, and people are encouraged to want to see the product easily and pull it off the shelves there. That's helpful. Another one of your sort of initiatives, we talked about operational efficiencies. How does a company ensure its products remain competitive, right? Both from, well, really across the board, from quality, affordability, sustainability? Talk about some of the initiatives that you've implemented really across the board to ensure competitiveness in those areas. Yeah, certainly. Over the past two years, we've undergone major operational transformation. Some of those key initiatives include diversifying our supply chain. We now source from Bangladesh, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Taiwan, which reduces our dependency on China and allows us to mitigate tariffs that are particularly high out of China. Number two, engaging in strategic partnerships, such as with our Continental Sales and Marketing to help set up and ensure quality in-store presentation, as well as our exclusive rep relationship with the MyEco World brand of sustainable products to provide alternatives to traditional plastic bags with our Compostable and Post-Consumer plastic family of products. Inventory reduction and tighter working capital management. We've reduced our inventory quite a bit since our peak in 2023 to be more in line with our needs and growth plans, and then maintained a much healthier aged trial balance to improve our cash flow. Finally, we're also improving our product innovation, enhancing our existing products to remain cost competitive, as well as identifying opportunity to solve other backyard challenges to expand our suite of quality products. These changes allow us to be cost competitive, resilient, and align with retailer and consumer expectations. Okay. Let's transition to the asset monetization. You have an 11+ acre facility for sale. Maybe for background, talk through how you came to own this facility. Maybe it comes to what you started at the beginning with that sort of eclectic mix of business, but talk about how you came to own the facility, what it's currently listed for on the market, and maybe even on the balance sheet if you have some of the information there, and sort of what that potential brings to Jewett-Cameron shareholders here. Yeah, 11.6 acres, to be exact. We purchased a seed cleaning business back in 2000, and we actually continued operations through August of 2023. The property is highly visible on a corner lot just off a major highway in one of the fastest-growing communities in Oregon. The seed cleaning facility does remain on the property, and also we have about 109,000 sq ft of excellent warehousing infrastructure on that property. We currently have it listed on the market right now for $9 million. The book value is less than $600,000. A successful sale could provide a significant one-time boost to shareholder equity. The ultimate goal is to fully monetize the asset and reinvest the proceeds to drive shareholder value. All right. Good to understand. Certainly something that a lot of investors I know have been paying attention to here. Looking back at the past few years, you've encountered a number of opportunities, a number of challenges. You had the pandemic, which had sort of its own benefits and pullbacks to it. It was this sort of rise in pet ownership, this rise in home ownership, and some refurbishments and stuff that were done there. Talk about how sort of the last few years have sort of driven strategy, really transformed what it is that you're looking to do going forward, and some of the opportunities that you as a CEO now are looking to implement to ensure sort of future success going forward here. Yeah, it certainly has been a unique time period in the company's history since I became CEO, full of many twists and turns, to say the least. There have been three major transformations under my leadership, and so I'll highlight those for you. Modernizing the company from a legacy holding model to a focused, scalable operating company with clear vision, mission, and aligned resources to drive sustainable growth is notable. Refocused revenue streams, capitalizing on our lumber trading routes, and strengthen our higher margin, higher velocity fence category sold through major retail, and less focus on fashionable pet accessories that were being pursued for online sales channel when I stepped in as CEO. Finally, improving operational agility. Our rapid shift in suppliers, proactive inventory management, and sales channel expansion are all the result of a more nimble, highly scalable organization. The pandemic brought volatility, but also clarity for us. We need to be diversified, data-driven, and execution-focused, and we've acted accordingly. All right. I think that's a good overview there. Five, ten years out, where are we in terms of sort of the market position, product evolution, just broader picture? Again, not expecting sort of specific guidance or expectations, but what do you sort of see for the future here of Jewett-Cameron? Yeah, I mean, Jewett-Cameron is, as we mentioned earlier, over 70 years old and has adapted itself multiple times over those decades. Weathered many economic challenges. Through it all, the basic DNA of designing quality, affordable, functional solutions that enrich outdoor spaces has been a constant. In five to ten years, I see Jewett-Cameron dominating the fence aisle in both big box and down market with an expanded suite of quality branded products that improve the lives of professionals and DIYers. We'll continue to lead with innovation, scaling existing product families while launching new ones each year. Own more shelf space at national retailers and accommodate how their customers want to buy and receive our products. Grow our distribution footprint to reach more customers where they want to get our products. We operate with margin strength, implementing world-class lean structure and diversified sourcing model that our customers can continue to depend on regardless of what economic challenges develop in the future. Our goal is to be recognized not just for quality products, but for flawless execution and dependability. All right, then. Very good insight there. We're kind of wrapping things up. Final takeaways? Final takeaways, I would just say at Jewett-Cameron, we've been through a lot. We've made a lot of changes. These are going to take some time, but I think that we're gaining some positive traction here heading into our season, spring and summer. I would encourage people to follow us and get to know us and challenge where we're going. All right. Very good. Chad, thank you so much for your time today. Thank you to everybody watching here. As maybe Chad mentioned there, sort of alluded to, if there's any questions or perhaps you'd even like to schedule a meeting with management, feel free to send me an email. My email is Blum, B-L-U-M, at Lytham Partners. I'd be happy to coordinate there for everyone. Again, just a reminder, we have additional presentations, fireside chats coming up throughout the event here today. Please stick around for more. Chad, again, thanks so much for your time today. Greatly appreciate it. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right.