Louisiana-Pacific Corp. on Wednesday reported a $37 million first quarter loss that the company blamed largely on the downturn in residential construction.
The company's first quarter net sales fell to $406 million from $678.3 million in the first three months of 2006. A year ago the company reported $83.7 million in net income.
All segments of the business saw reduced sales compared with the same period a year ago, CEO Rick Frost said.
Oriented strand board was particularly hard-hit. "OSB lost money as pricing was nearly 50 percent lower than the first quarter of 2006," Frost said.
Louisiana Pacific operates a siding plant in Two Harbors and manufactures siding and oriented strand board at a plant in Hayward.
