Westrock Coffee posts $26.8M loss, closes stock equity raise at $118.8M

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by Talk Business & Politics staff ([email protected]) August 9, 2023 4:21 pm 1,844 views 

Westrock Coffee Co. reported a second quarter loss of $26.8 million, more than four times a year ago, as the company ramps up for a major growth period that has officials bullish on its future. Westrock reported it closed an “upsized” $118.8 million common stock equity raise during the quarter.

Net sales for the quarter ended June 30, 2023 were $224.69 million compared to $223.41 million a year ago. The $26.8 million quarterly loss was greater than the $5.7 million loss reported in the previous year’s second quarter.

Westrock officials said the net loss included $2.9 million of acquisition, restructuring and integration expenses and $11.8 million of non-cash expenses from the change in fair value of warrant liabilities.

“We are pleased to announce today our second quarter financial results and the closing of our $118.8 million equity raise, which provides us with the capital necessary to fully fund the expanded opportunities we were seeing for our Conway extract and RTD facility. We currently have customer commitments for 100% of the capacity available in our originally planned for high-speed can and glass bottle lines, and we are well on our way to contracting the expanded capacity we announced in late June,” Westrock CEO and co-founder Scott Ford said. “I could not be more excited about where we sit in both our customer and competitive landscape or of the team that has worked tirelessly to put us in this position.”

Other highlights from the quarter include:

  • Adjusted EBITDA was $11.3 million for the second quarter of 2023, a decrease of $2.0 million, compared to the second quarter of 2022.
  • Westrock’s Beverage Solutions segment contributed $189.7 million of net sales and $11.7 million of Adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter of 2023, compared to $170.9 million and $12.5 million, respectively, for the second quarter of 2022.
  • Its Sustainable Sourcing & Traceability (SS&T) segment, net of intersegment revenues, contributed $35.0 million of net sales and Adjusted EBITDA of ($0.4 million) for the second quarter of 2023, compared to $52.5 million and $0.8 million, respectively, for the second quarter of 2022.

Westrock reaffirmed its guidance provided on June 30, 2023 for 2023 consolidated Adjusted EBITDA to grow flat to 10% over 2022.

Shares of Westrock Coffee (NASDAQ: WEST) closed trading Wednesday at $10.90. The company’s stock has traded between a low of $9.35 per share and a high of $14.71 per share over the past 52 weeks.

Little Rock-based Westrock Coffee is an integrated coffee, tea, and extracts provider. It has offices in 10 countries and sources coffee and tea from 35 origin countries.