Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Inc

TSX:SWP

Earnings Call Transcript

[Operator]

Before Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Inc. conference call starts, they required to remind you that certain information in today's presentation is forward-looking in nature. Any such forward-looking information or statements are based on assumptions that are considered reasonable at the time the information was prepared. Such information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors outside our control that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information. Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Inc. does not assume responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of its forward-looking information.

Similarly, they do not undertake any obligation to publicly revise this forward-looking information to reflect subsequent events or circumstances, except as required by law. Please refer to the Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Inc.'s Management Discussion and Analysis posted on SEDAR and Swiss Water's website for a full discussion regarding forward-looking statements and the risks therein.

It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Frank Dennis, President and CEO of Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Inc. Sir, the floor is yours.

[Frank Dennis, executive]

Thank you, Matthew. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for taking the time to join us again. I'm Frank Dennis, President and CEO of Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Inc. With me is Iain Carswell, our CFO. Iain and I are here today to discuss Swiss Water's financial results for the 3 months ended March 31, 2023. As usual, I'll begin with a brief review of our performance, then Iain will provide more detail about our financial results before I return to tell you about our longer-term plans and expectations. After that, we'll be happy to take your questions.

As outlined in yesterday's press release and in our MD&A, Iain and I are pleased to report that the strong performance Swiss Water achieved during 2022 carried forward into the first quarter of this year. Our volumes, revenues and adjusted EBITDA were all up nicely.

First quarter revenue was $49 million, a 28% improvement over Q1 last year, while adjusted EBITDA also increased by the same percentage to $5.0 million. As always, volumes were the key driver of our performance, with total volumes growing by 21% in the quarter.

It's particularly encouraging that volumes delivered in North America, which is our largest geographic market, were up by 35% in the quarter. In addition to organic growth, volumes delivered to the new customers and brands we've added in recent quarters are increasingly contributing to our North American business.

Looking at international markets together, volumes were down 16% when compared to Q1 of last year. In the Asia Pacific region, this was mainly due to order timing issues, and we expect volumes there to increase over the balance of the year. While in Europe, strong inflationary pressure in excess roaster inventories are limiting resupply in that region.

Speaking of timing, a high percentage of our overall growth in the first quarter was due to an increased concentration of customer volume in advance of the planned shutdown of our Burnaby production facility. As I'm sure you know by now, we must be out of the Burnaby site by early June due to the expiry of our lease there. We decaffeinated our last bag of coffee in Burnaby, April 19, and have now consolidated all of our production at our Delta, BC location where we are nearing completion of a second decaffeination line.

Since commissioning of this new Delta Line 2 project will not be completed until the end of August, we are now in a transition period during which our production capacity is temporarily constrained. We've been very proactive in alerting our customers that this transition was coming, and I've encouraged them to incorporate it into their production planning. Anticipating and understanding this, many of our customers move the timing of their orders up into the first quarter to ensure that they would have sufficient inventory on hand to bridge the transitional gap. We have also built our own inventory to enable us to meet customer demand through this transition.

The shutdown of Burnaby has also had an effect on our financial results, but in a noncash manner. Although revenues and EBITDA were both up nearly 30% in the first quarter, we recorded a net income loss of $700,000 compared to net income of $1.4 million versus a year ago. The quarterly loss this year was due to a $2.1 million onetime noncash depreciation charge or a write-down on the plant and equipment that was not salvageable at the Burnaby site.

As I've explained previously, in preparing the shutdown -- in preparing to shutdown the facility and vacate the site, we undertook a detailed analysis of our Burnaby assets with the help of an outside engineering consulting firm. This process carefully considered the potential future use, costs and benefits and related cash flow impacts involved in removing and repurposing equipment and determined that only a portion should be salvaged and the rest of it not. I will give you more detail on our Burnaby exit plan later in this call.

Strong operating results we achieved in 2022 and in Q1 of this year were achieved despite inflationary pressures that all businesses face today, because of a number of positive factors that are benefiting Swiss Water. The first and most important of these is the recovery of demand from the vital out-of-home coffee market, as the foodservice economy everywhere returns to normal and more and more people return to their offices and workplaces. Q1 was the final quarter to lap the heavy North American foodservice shutdowns experienced in Q1 2022.

The second is that as cafes, restaurants and retail grocery outlets in our key markets adapt to increasing environmental responsibility and food safety requirements, coffee roasters and coffee consumers are increasingly choosing chemical-free water process decaf like ours over the coffee decaffeinated with methylene chloride or ethyl acetate/sugar cane, particularly the premium specialty end of the market as first and fast adopters.

The normalization of the out-of-home coffee market helped us increase volume shipped to our higher-margin specialty roaster customers by 16% during the first quarter. Adding to this was a 24% quarterly increase in volume [ showed to ] a large commercial roasters who serve the in-home coffee market, primarily through the grocery channel.

In both roaster categories, the strong volume growth reflected not only the front-loading of orders I've outlined, but also a growing demand for the decaf generally as well as an increasing number of industry participants converting to our chemical-free process.

Now before I tell you more about the progress of the Delta Line 2 project and our exit from the Burnaby site as well as our outlook for the rest of the year, let me turn the call over to Iain to take you through our financial results. Iain?

[Iain Carswell, executive]

Thank you, Frank, and good day, everyone. As always, I'll begin my review with volume shipped to customers as this is the key metric that drives our financial performance. As Frank indicated, Swiss Water's processing volumes continued to [ grow in ] 3 months to March 31. Taken together, volumes shipped to customers in all categories were up by 21% in the quarter. While organic growth with existing customers played a role, the big factor here was a concentration of volume in advance of the shutdown of our legacy production facility in Burnaby.

As Frank explained, we've been very proactive in communicating with customers about the temporary production constraints who would be under during the transition period between our exit from Burnaby and the full and final commissioning of our Delta Line 2 in the third quarter. Knowing this, many of our customers pulled their orders forward into the first quarter.

Looking at volumes by customer type. Shipments to roasters, those customers who roast and package coffee to sell to consumers in their own coffee shops or for home or office consumption, were up by 44% in the quarter, while shipments to importers, those customers who resell our coffees to roasters, where and when they need it, were unchanged from the Q1 2022 level.

Looking at the roaster segment another way, as Frank noted, specialty roaster current volumes continue to trend upward, growing by 16% in the quarter. These accounts serve the out-of-home consumer primarily, and the strong annual growth here reflects the strength of traffic to cafes and restaurants in our key geographic markets. Shipments to large commercial roasters were also up significantly, growing by 24% in the quarter. As we've noted, a lot of this growth was due to customers adding inventory in preparation for the temporary reduction in our production capacity during the second and third quarter, as we transition all production out of our Burnaby facility to Delta.

Turning now to revenues. First quarter revenue of $49 million was up by $10.6 million or 28% from Q1 of last year. The revenue increase was due to the growth in our volumes as well as the appreciation of the U.S. dollar when compared to the same period in 2022. Record levels of activity and an increased financial contribution from our Seaforth coffee handling and logistics subsidiary also had a positive impact.

Looking at the cost side. Our first quarter cost of sales was $44.2 million, an increase of $11.5 million or 35% compared to Q1 last year. The increase was mainly driven by our increased production volumes; the significant onetime increase in depreciation expense associated with the write-down of non-salvaged assets at our Burnaby location; and to a lesser extent, inflationary pressure on our variable production freight costs.

As to green coffee costs, while remaining at historically high levels, the NY'C' was down from USD 2.35 per pound in Q1 2022 to USD 1.74 in the first quarter of this year. Foreign exchange rates can also have a material impact on our profitability and cash from operations. This is because the majority of our revenues are generated in U.S. dollars, while a significant portion of our costs are incurred and paid in Canadian funds. Our exposure to changes in the exchange rate is managed in part through derivative financial instruments. However, all other factors being equal, we benefit when the U.S. dollar appreciates, as it did during the first quarter of this year.

In Q1, the U.S. dollar averaged CAD 1.35, up CAD 0.08 from CAD 1.27 in the first quarter of 2022. As I noted, this appreciation has a positive impact on our revenues when they were converted to Canadian dollars.

First quarter gross profit was $4.9 million, a decrease of $900,000 when compared to Q1 of 2022; and gross profit percentage decreased from 15% last year to 10% in the first quarter of this year. The drop in gross profit was primarily driven by the $2.1 million increase in depreciation expense.

As with the $2.5 million impairment charge we took in the fourth quarter of 2022, this is a onetime noncash expense resulting from an assessment of the salvageable assets at our Burnaby production facility in advance of the lease expiry there in June of this year. To a much lesser extent, inflationary pressure on our variable production of freight costs also had a negative impact.

First quarter operating expenses were $3.5 million, up by $600,000 when compared to Q1 2022. The administrative portion of operating expenses was up by 28% in Q1 due to general inflationary pressure; higher insurance fees; and increased headcount and salaries; as well as the costs associated with operating 2 facilities, including depreciation and rental expenses. The sales and marketing component of operating expenses was unchanged from Q1 of last year.

As we move through the balance of 2023, we expect our sales and marketing costs to increase over last year's level due to higher headcount and salaries as well as a return to normal travel and trade activity -- trade show activity.

Q1 operating income was $1.4 million compared to $2.9 million in the first quarter of 2022. Again, the big driver of the drop in operating income was the increase in depreciation expense and, to a lesser extent, the inflationary pressure on our variable production and freight costs.

Turning to net income. We reported a net loss of $700,000 for the quarter compared to net income of $1.4 million in Q1 last year. As with operating income, the drop in quarterly net income was largely the result of the $2.1 million increase in depreciation expense. In addition, we incurred a $1 million noncash loss on the revaluation of Swiss Water's embedded option within our debentures with warrants. These negative factors were partially offset by the positive impact of the strong volume growth we achieved during the quarter.

First quarter net finance costs of $1.4 million were up by $300,000 or 23% over Q1 of 2022. The increase was primarily due to higher outstanding balances on our construction loans and credit facility as well as higher variable interest rates. Despite inflationary pressure during the quarter, we achieved a significant improvement in adjusted EBITDA.

First quarter adjusted EBITDA of $5 million was up by $1.1 million or 28% compared to Q1 of 2022. Operationally, our adjusted EBITDA improvement was driven by our strong volume growth during the period. As I've noted, these positive impacts were partially offset by inflationary impacts and the incremental labor and production expenses associated with operating a 2 stand-alone facilities. And as we are consolidating all production at our Delta location, the resulting efficiencies will bring down our operating costs going forward.

With that, I thank you for your attention. And now I'll turn things back over to Frank.

[Frank Dennis, executive]

Thanks, Iain. As Iain and I have indicated, we are encouraged by the fact that the positive momentum we saw building across the business in 2022 carried forward into the first quarter and that roaster customers had work with us to preload some inventories ahead of our summer capacity restriction.

As we look ahead into the balance of 2023, we are continuing to see a strong order book, particularly for late Q3 and early Q4. And while trading conditions are generally favorable in our key markets, as ever more industry participants move away from chemical decaffeination in favor of chemical-free processes, caution continues to be called for. Like businesses everywhere, Swiss Water is not immune to current and emerging macroeconomic risks.

Inflation is becoming increasingly entrenched, and economies around the world are struggling to get a grip on it by raising interest rates. The ongoing war in Ukraine has disrupted the global order, and it continues to create a lot of uncertainty in Europe and around the world. And here at Swiss Water, while the supply chain disruption in the last 2 have eased, we continue to experience some delays in coffee deliveries from certain [ quarantines ].

As we've noted, we are experiencing very significant inflationary pressure on virtually all of our input costs from natural gas to freight to labor. These risks and increasing costs demand our close attention and may require further mitigation measures. Right now, we are sharply focused on completing and initiating production on Delta Line 2, the second new decaffeination line here at our Delta, BC location, while preparing our Burnaby site for return to the landlord in June.

Looking at operations. During most of the first quarter, we ran both decaffeination lines in Burnaby on a 24/7 basis. As I noted earlier, we ceased production at this facility in April. Here in Delta, the initial decaffeination line, which we designate Delta Line 1, operated smoothly and efficiently, also on a 24/7 basis throughout Q1. Since its start up, we have been gradually increasing the processing speed of Line 1 as we work to optimize and maximize its production.

As I noted earlier, we expect to be producing commercial-grade coffee from this new line by late Q3. While our production capacity will be temporarily constrained until then, the inventory of green coffee we have on hand, together with the front-loaded orders we fulfilled on behalf of our customers in Q1 and the uninterrupted capacity on Delta Line 1, should be sufficient to meet demand during the transition period. This transition marks the culmination of a nearly 10-year project to relocate, modernize and expand the capacity of Swiss Water's production assets.

The consolidation of all production in Delta will provide us with a number of operational efficiencies as well as capacity for intermediate term growth. As I've noted before, many times, based on engineering reports from a third-party engineering firm, we expect the 2 new lines in Delta together will have a targeted end capacity of at least 40% greater than the old Burnaby facility as a stand-alone facility. The curtailment in volume during the transition will temporarily reduce our sales and likely lead to lower earnings year-over-year when we report results for the 2023 fiscal year. However, Swiss Water will be much better positioned for the future when the process is completed.

As to budget, the preliminary cost estimate for design and construction of the Line 2 project in Delta was approximately $45 million, plus commissioning costs of around $2 million. During the second half of 2022, the impact of global macroeconomic pressures, including inflation, building trades disruptions, poor sub trade efficiencies and supply chain issues, became more acute in terms of their impact on our project budget and schedule. Given the impact of these factors, we revised the Line 2 construction budget to a total of $53 million. The original $2 million commissioning budget remains unchanged. The revised cost estimate reflects the inflationary factors realized or projected to date.

There are also material costs involved in shutting down our legacy Burnaby facility, salvaging whatever equipment was deemed economical and vacating and repairing the site for return to the landlord. The preliminary budget to complete our exit from Burnaby was $1.5 million, and we have estimated a 20% contingency set aside for this project. With last year's incremental $12 million expansion of our senior term credit facility, along with our existing available credit projected internally of generated cash flow, we have sufficient funds to complete both Delta Line 2 and the Burnaby exit plan.

That wraps up our comments for today. Iain and I would now be happy to answer any questions that you might have.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] Your first question is coming from Lyle Parkin.

[Unknown Analyst]

Hello. Just a question about the land that you have for the Delta site. Now my understanding is that you're leasing this, but you have an option to purchase. What is the duration of your current lease on that site?

[Iain Carswell, executive]

So the -- it's a -- we signed a 30-year lease or we signed a lease with a -- it was an initial 10-year term with options to renew beyond that. But yes, the lease runs to maximum of 30 years. And the first...

[Unknown Analyst]

And you also have an option to purchase on it, right?

[Iain Carswell, executive]

Yes, option to purchase and at various increments throughout that 30-year period.

[Unknown Analyst]

All right. So that [ would notably be ] 10-year renewals, if you take them?

[Iain Carswell, executive]

Yes. Yes, it's at the 10-year period. So basically, Lyle, yes, that's a critical difference. And obvious one -- obvious key learning that we had to apply into the new Delta facility was the difficulty in moving a massive production facility out of Burnaby. In fact, you can't really move it while still producing at capacity. And so the option to buy was not built in, and we have -- sorry, was not built into Burnaby ever. And of course, it's been built into Delta. And we have prescribed purchase terms already for those periods, which, although we haven't disclosed them entirely, are quite favorable.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] Thank you. That concludes our Q&A session. I will now hand the conference back to our host for closing remarks. Please go ahead.

[Frank Dennis, executive]

Okay. Well, if there are no further questions, I'll conclude today's call. And Iain and I wish you a great day, and thank you for joining us.

[Operator]

Thank you, everyone. This concludes today's event. You may disconnect at this time, and have a wonderful day. Thank you for your participation.