CanWel Building Materials Announces Third Quarter 2013 Financial Results

NOT FOR RELEASE OR DISSEMINATION INTO THE UNITED STATES

Q3 2013 Financial Highlights(1)



--  Revenues increase to $205 million 
--  Gross Margin at 11.6% 
--  EBITDA(2) increases by 18% to $9.2 million 



CanWel Building Materials Group Ltd. ("CanWel" or "the Company")
(TSX:CWX)(TSX:CWX.DB) announced today its third quarter financial results for
the three-month period ended September 30, 2013.


For the three-month period ended September 30, 2013, revenues increased to $205
million compared to $198 million in the same period in 2012. The increase in
revenue relates primarily to higher sales of specialty and allied products as
well as contributions from CanWel's recent acquisitions. The Company's sales in
the quarter were made up of 52 percent of construction materials compared to 55
percent in the same period in 2012, with the balance resulting from specialty
and allied products. During the period, gross margin increased to $24 million,
or 11.6 percent of revenues, versus $22 million or 11.1 percent of revenues
during the third quarter of 2012. This increase in margin percentage relates
primarily to the higher gross margins associated with the third quarter's
product mix and the performance of the recent acquisitions. As a result, net
earnings(3) in the third quarter of 2013 amounted to $4.7 million compared to
$4.1 million in 2012.


EBITDA for the three months ended September 30, 2013 increased by 18 percent to
$9.2 million compared to $7.8 million in the same quarter of 2012. EBITDA for
the nine months ended September 30, 2013 was $20.1 million compared to $19.9
million in the same period in 2012.


"Overall, the third quarter continued to demonstrate resilience in our business
model with sales and gross margin showing growth and improvement during a period
of mixed market sentiment," noted Amar S. Doman, Chairman and CEO of the
Company. "This demonstrates our ongoing focus on growing the fundamental
strength of our business, and maintaining the discipline we apply to growth and
profitability."


Reconciliation of Net Earnings to Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation
and Amortization (EBITDA):




----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     Three months ended    Nine months ended
                                          September 30         September 30 
(in thousands of dollars)               2013  2012 (1)       2013  2012 (1) 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                            
Net earnings                      $    4,719$    4,068 $    9,421$    9,161 
                                                                            
Provision for income taxes             1,710     1,503      3,254     3,291 
Finance costs                          1,753     1,613      5,000     4,818 
Depreciation of property, plant                                             
 and equipment                           638       379      1,587     1,797 
Amortization of intangible assets        293       250        793       750 
Amortization of leasehold                                                   
 inducements                              48       (56)        24       (63)
Share-based compensation                   -        34         63       103 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                            
EBITDA                            $    9,161$    7,791 $   20,142$   19,857 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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(1) On January 1, 2013 the Company retrospectively adopted the amendments   
for IAS 19 - Employee Benefits. The amounts for the three months and the    
nine months ended September 30, 2012 have been restated. See "Changes in    
Accounting Policies" for further discussion.                                



About CanWel Building Materials

CanWel Building Materials trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol
CWX and is one of Canada's largest national distributors in the building
materials and related products sector, operating distribution centres coast to
coast in all major cities and strategic locations across Canada. CanWel
distributes a wide range of building materials, lumber and renovation products.
Further information can be found in the disclosure documents filed by CanWel
with the securities regulatory authorities, available at www.sedar.com.


Certain statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking"
statements. When used in this press release, such statements use words,
including but not limited to, "may", "will", "expect", "believe", "plan",
"intend", "anticipate", "future" and other similar terminology. These
forward-looking statements reflect the current expectations of CanWel's
management regarding future events and operating performance, but involve known
and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual
results, performance or achievements of CanWel, including the cash flow from
operations, dividends or EBITDA(2) generated or paid by CanWel, or industry
results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or
achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Actual
events could differ materially from those projected herein and depend on a
number of factors. These factors include (i) the risk that the integration of
the acquisition of Pastway Planing Limited ("Pastway") in quarter 3, 2013, the
assets of North American Wood Preservers ("NAWP"), completed in quarter 2, 2013,
Northwest Wood Preservers ("NWP"), completed in quarter 1, 2012 or Broadleaf
Logistics Company ("BLC") completed on February 1, 2010 (collectively the
"Acquisition") may result in significant challenges, and management of CanWel
may be unable to accomplish the integration of the Acquisition smoothly or
successfully or without spending significant amounts of time, money or other
resources thereon; any inability of management to successfully integrate the
operations of the combined business, including, but not limited to, information
technology and financial reporting systems, any of which could have a material
adverse effect on the business, financial condition and results of operations of
CanWel; (ii) the risk that revenues, profits and margins of the Company may not
remain consistent with historical levels, (iii) the risk that competing firms
which manufacture or distribute competitive product lines will aggressively
defend or seek market share, or that existing customers or suppliers of Pastway,
NAWP, NWP or BLC (some of whom are competitors of CanWel) will cease doing
business with the Company, in each case reducing, eliminating or reversing any
potential positive economic impact on CanWel of the Acquisition; (iv) the risk
that any increased sales, margin, profit or distributable cash resulting from
the Acquisition may not be fully realized, realized at all or may take longer to
realize than expected; (v) the risk

of disruption from the integration of the Acquisition making it more difficult
to maintain relationships with customers, employees or suppliers. Factors also
include, but are not limited to, dependence on market and economic conditions,
sales and margin risk, competition, information system risks, availability of
supply of products, risks associated with the introduction of new product lines,
product design risk, environmental risks, regulatory risk, differing law or
regulations across jurisdictions, volatility of commodity prices, inventory
risks, customer and vendor risks, acquisition and integration risks,
availability of credit, credit risks, litigation risks and interest rate risks.
A further description of these and other risks which could cause results to
differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements can
be found in the periodic and other reports filed by CanWel with Canadian
securities commissions and available on SEDAR (http://www.sedar.com). In
addition, a number of material factors or assumptions were utilized or applied
in making the forward-looking statements, and may include, but are not limited
to, assumptions regarding the performance of the Canadian economy, the relative
stability of interest rates, volatility of commodity prices, more limited
availability of access to equity and debt capital markets to fund, at acceptable
costs, the Company's future growth plans, the implementation and success of the
integration of the Acquisition, the ability of the Company to refinance its
debts as they mature, the Canadian housing and building materials market; the
amount of the Company's cash flow from operations; tax laws; and the extent of
the Company's future acquisitions and capital spending requirements or planning
as well as the general level of economic activity, in Canada, and abroad,
discretionary spending, uptake of the Company's NCIB program(4) and unemployment
levels.


These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press
release. CanWel does not undertake, and specifically disclaims, any obligation
to update or revise any forward looking information, whether as a result of new
information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by applicable
law.


(1) Please refer to our Q3 2013 MD&A and Financial Statements for further
information. Our 2013 filings are reported under International Financial
Reporting Standards ("IFRS"). 


(2) In the discussion, reference is made to EBITDA, which represents earnings
from continuing operations before interest, provision for income taxes, gain or
loss on sale of fixed assets, depreciation and amortization, goodwill impairment
loss and stock-based compensation. This is not a generally accepted earnings
measure under IFRS and does not have a standardized meaning under IFRS, the
measure as calculated by the Company may not be comparable to similarly-titled
measures reported by other companies. EBITDA is presented as we believe it is a
useful indicator of relative operating performance. EBITDA should not be
considered by an investor as an alternative to net income or cash flows as
determined in accordance with IFRS. 


(3) Before accounting for "Other Comprehensive Income"; please refer to our Q3
2013 Financial Statements for further information. 


(4) Please also refer to the forward looking statement information in our
November 19, 2012 news release for additional forward looking statement
information and cautions pertaining to the Company's Normal Course Issuer Bid
("NCIB"), which are hereby incorporated by reference, and as may also be
applicable to the Plan or NCIB as the case may be. Although CanWel intends to
purchase common shares and or convertible debentures for cancellation under its
NCIB and / or the Plan, there can be no assurances that any such purchases will
be completed. Please refer to our public disclosure filings for the latest
information on the NCIB.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: 
CanWel Building Materials Group Ltd.
Ali Mahdavi
Investor Relations
416-962-3300 or [phone]
[e-mail]