Q4 2006 ShawCor Limited Earnings Conference Call - Final.

Original Source: FD (FAIR DISCLOSURE) WIRE

OPERATOR: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen; thank you for standing by. Welcome to the ShawCor fourth-quarter 2006 financial results conference call. At this time all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation we will conduct a question-and-answer session; instructions will be provided at that time for you to queue up for questions. (OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS). I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Gary Love, Vice President of Finance and Chief Executive Officer. Please go-ahead.

GARY LOVE, VP FINANCE, CFO, SHAWCOR: Thanks, Julie. I'd like to take a moment to remind our listeners that today's conference call and webcast includes forward-looking statements that involve estimates, judgments, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. The uncertainties include, among others -- economic conditions; levels of drilling and pipeline activity; environmental and regulatory risks; liability claims; exchange rate fluctuations; political risk and raw material prices.

Further information on risks that could affect the Company can be found in ShawCor's 2005 annual report and annual information form as well as the quarterly reports for 2006. Copies of these reports are available on SEDAR at www.SEDAR.com and may also be found on the ShawCor website at www.ShawCor.com. Bill?

BILL BUCKLEY, PRESIDENT, CEO, SHAWCOR: Thank you, Gary, and good morning, everyone. We're speaking to you today from Singapore. We've had our Board in the Far East region for facility and management reviews and we've had our Board of Directors meeting here earlier today; this is consistent with our continuing Board review program. Now having said that, we're obviously quite pleased with the operating results that we've reported today for both our fourth quarter and for full year 2006.

While the revenue growth was modest we were able to fully replace the $200 million in revenue contributed by the Langeled project in 2005 through strong growth in our other operating regions. This was accomplished while also generating a 45% improvement in operating income year-over-year.

Revenue in the fourth quarter was stronger than we anticipated for several reasons -- first, small diameter coating demand in Western Canada was much stronger than expected in the quarter. However, demand has now slowed and there is evidence of large inventories in the channel which may negatively impact Q1 and Q2 '07.

Second, to meet service requirements at our large diameter plants in Western Canada we attempted to add extra shifts in advance of our new plant capacity in Camrose coming on-stream. And we were successful in adding shifts in Q4 '06 which allowed us to increase large diameter project shipments in the quarter.

Third, our Thermotite deepwater installation facility in Norway and our new deepwater facility in Brazil both achieved revenues in excess of forecast. And finally, Shaw Pipeline Services had …