Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Inc

TSX:SWP

Earnings Call Transcript

[Operator]

Before Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Inc. conference call starts, they are 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 the 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 Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Inc's. management's discussion and analysis posted on SEDAR and Swiss Water's website for a full discussion regarding forward-looking statements and the risks therein.

I would now like to turn the floor over to your host, Frank Dennis. Sir, the floor is yours.

[Frank Dennis, executive]

Thank you, Holly. Good morning, everyone, and thank you again for taking the time to join us. I'm Frank Dennis, President and CEO of Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Inc. With me today is Iain Carswell, our CFO. .

Iain and I are here today to discuss Swiss Water's financial results for the 3 and 12 months ended December 31, 2021. As always, I'll begin with a brief overview of our performance, and then Iain will provide more detail about our financial results before I return to tell you more about our longer-term plans and expectations. And after that, we'll be happy to take your questions.

If you read yesterday's press release and reviewed our quarterly and annual MD&A, you will already know that Swiss Water achieved strong processing volumes as well as record financial results for the fourth quarter and 2021 fiscal year. At $125.1 million, our annual revenue set a new all-time record, exceeding $100 million for the first time. And our adjusted EBITDA of $10.5 million for the year was another record, exceeding $10 million for the first time in our history.

The strong performance built on the positive momentum we reported in November was our third quarter results. As then, this strong performance resulted from the combination of a number of positive factors. First, we are seeing very positive market consumption figures from the decaffeinated or reduced caffeine segment. The work-from-home shift has been very favorable for greater afternoon at-home consumption of decaf Coffee, which has driven market growth.

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 over coffee decaffeinated with methylene chloride or ethyl acetate.

The result is clearly visible in our total processing volumes, which were up by 23% in the fourth quarter and by 17% in the full year. Meeting this demand enable us to achieve a high level of capacity utilization from all 3 of our current production lines over 80% during the second half of 2021. This, in turn, enabled us to achieve very strong profitability with gross profit growing by 53% in the fourth quarter and by 13% for the full year.

While the volume growth was notable in all of our geographic markets with many of our customers ordering in line or even ahead of pre-pandemic levels, Europe stood out once again, posting an increase of 72% in Q4 and annual growth of 70% over 2020. Business in the Asia-Pacific region was also very strong with volumes up 56% in Q4 and up 30% for the year, mainly due to organic growth. And in our largest market, North America, volumes were up by 7% in the quarter and by 5% for the full year.

Of note is that during the second half of the year, we began shipping to some new high-profile out-of-home customers in the U.S. and Canada, helping boost our results and providing an encouraging indication of future growth potential. Since 43% of our current business is in the U.S. and 31% in Canada, this is where we expect to see the bigger overall growth to come.

Importantly, we see the positive changes in our customer mix as a clear sign of a strong recovery in the vitally important out-of-home coffee market, while at the same time, at-home consumption has remained point. The relaxing of restrictions on food service outlets in the U.S. and elsewhere has helped us increase volume shift to our higher-margin specialty accounts by 34% in the fourth quarter and 26% for the full year.

What's unusual is that we've achieved this exceptional volume growth across the business despite an ever-increasing New York futures contract coffee commodity price, or NY'C'. For comparison, after peaking at USD 2.50 a pound, the NY'C' averaged USD 2.20 in Q4, nearly double the USD 1.14 we saw in the fourth quarter -- comparable fourth quarter of 2020. These high prices have continued into Q1 of this year with the NY'C' currently at USD 2.25.

Normally, when the NY'C' is rising like this, our customers tend to consume from their own inventories rather than buying more coffee from us as they wait for the price to fall back. However, during 2021, an unusual double frost in Brazil, together with the widespread disruption of global supply chains, created a growing fear of a looming coffee shortage among industry participants at all levels. This concern has helped support our volume growth and may even have caused some customers to move their orders forward to ensure that they have sufficient inventory on hand to meet demand. Over the coming weeks and months, we will see how this plays out.

So before I tell you more about our outlook for this year and our preparations for the future, let me turn the call over to Iain to take you through our financial results.

[Iain Carswell, executive]

Thanks, Frank. Good morning, everyone. As always, I'll begin my review with volume shipped to customers as this is a key metric that drives our financial performance.

As Frank indicated, Swiss Water's processing volumes set new records in the year to December 31, primarily as a result of the ongoing recovery of the foodservice economy. Total volumes were up by 23% in the fourth quarter and by 17% for the full year compared to the same period in 2020.

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 down by 6% in the quarter but increased slightly for the full year, growing by 1%. Shipments to importers for customers who resell our coffees to roasters where and when they need it, were up substantially, growing by 69% in Q4 by 50% in the full 12 months of the year.

Looking at volumes another way, as Frank noted, specialty account volumes continued to trend upward, growing by a healthy 34% in the quarter and by 26% for the full year. These accounts serve the out-of-home consumer primarily strong growth here reflects the new opening of cafes and restaurants in a number of our key geographic markets. Shipments to large commercial accounts we serve the grocery market principally were also well up, growing by 14% in the quarter and by 12% in the 12 months of the year.

Turning now to revenues. Fourth quarter revenue of $35.1 million was up by $10.6 million or 43% from Q4 of 2020. Full year revenue of $125.1 million set a new record for Swiss Water, increasing by $27.5 million or 28% over the 2020 level. The revenue increase in both periods was due to the growth in our volumes as well as significantly higher prices for green during 2021 -- green coffee during 2021.

Looking at the cost side, our fourth quarter cost of sales was $30.7 million, an increase of $9.1 million or 42% compared to Q4 of last year. For the full year, cost of sales was $107.5 million, up $25.5 million or 31% from the 2020 level. The increase in both peers is mainly driven by higher green coffee costs and our significantly increased production volumes as well as by increased depreciation due to the inclusion of our new Delta manufacturing facility and incremental labor and production expenses.

As Frank noted, the NY'C' coffee commodity price has been trending sharply upward in recent months, hitting an average of [ $2.20 ] in Q4 versus an average of $1.14 in the fourth quarter of 2020. Over the full 2021 fiscal year, the NY'C' averaged $1.68 per pound, up over 50% from $1.11 in 2020. As you would expect, such a significant rise in coffee prices triggers a major increase in our working capital lease and the increased value of inventory in our balance sheet is reflective of this.

We are monitoring our working capital needs very closely and evaluating options to increase credit availability. Finally, the additional depreciation and amortization expenses from the Delta facility and finance lease totaled $900,000 for the quarter and $3.4 million for the full year.

Fourth quarter gross profit was $4.4 million, an increase of $1.5 million or 53% compared to Q4 of 2020. For the 12 months to December 31, gross profit was $17.6 million, up by $2 million or 13% from 2020. The improvement in gross profit was primarily driven by the record processing volumes we put through our facilities, particularly during the fourth and third quarters. By utilizing all 3 of our production lines at an average of 80% of capacity, we were able to realize significant production efficiencies and generate a higher differential margin. These 2 factors comfortably offset the increase in depreciation charges and incremental labor and production expenses following the commissioning of Line 1 at our new Delta facility.

Fourth quarter operating expenses were $2.9 million, up by 5% from Q4 of 2020. For the full year, the operating expenses were $10.9 million, an increase of 4% compared to 2020. The difference was primarily due to an increase in the administrative portion of operating expenses due to the absence of a cost recovery of share-based compensation in 2021 compared to 2020.

Q4 operating income was $1.5 million, up significantly from the $126,000 recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020. Full year operating income was $6.7 million compared to $5.1 million in 2020. Net income for the quarter was $241,000 compared to a loss of $320,000 in Q4 of 2020, representing a year-over-year improvement of 175%. For the full year, net income was $496,000 compared to $2.9 million in 2020. The decline in net income was driven by a number of factors, including increased depreciation and amortization and noncash loss on extinguishment of the convertible debenture and an increase in finance expense. Also included was the negative impact of mark-to-market changes in foreign currency exchange rates and futures market activities.

Higher nonoperating expenses also had an impact. Nonoperating expenses were higher for the quarter and full year due to an increase in finance costs in both our construction loan and credit facility. Fourth quarter net finance expenses of $1.1 million are up by $200,000 over Q4 of last year. For the year, net finance cost was $3.9 million, an increase of $1.3 million compared to 2020 level. The increase in net finance costs resulted from higher interest expense due to higher borrowings from our credit facility and construction loans.

Importantly, in 2020, during the construction of Delta Line 1, borrowing costs related to this project were capitalized. Following its commissioning in Q3 last year, the related borrowing costs started to be recognized as an expense.

Another factor contributing to 2021's increased nonoperating expenses is that in 2020, our nonoperating expenses were reduced by the revaluation of an embedded derivative as a result of a lower share price, offset by a slight loss on our risk management activities.

During 2021, there was a much smaller revaluation effect, another factor contributing to our higher 2021 nonoperating expenses resulting from the restructuring of our debt. By amending our convertible debenture with Mill Road Capital into a debenture with warrants, we incurred a onetime noncash loss on the extinguishment of the convertible debenture due.

Despite the additional cost burdens on the company during the year, we achieved a significant improvement in adjusted EBITDA. Fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA of $2.1 million was up by $900,000 or 78% compared to Q4 in 2020. And as Frank noted, for the full year, adjusted EBITDA of $10.5 million was up by $3.5 million or 50% over the 2020 results.

Operationally, our adjusted EBITDA improvement this year was driven by volume growth, efficiency gains resulting from our higher capacity utilization and an increased financial contribution from our Seaforth coffee handling subsidiary. As I've noted, these positive impacts were partially offset by the higher green coffee costs and incremental labor and production expenses associated with operating 2 standalone facilities we experienced in 2021. Once we consolidate all production at our Delta location exit the legacy Burnaby facility in mid-2023, the resulting efficiencies will bring down our operating cost significantly.

With that, thank you for your attention, and I'll hand back over to Frank.

[Frank Dennis, executive]

Thank you very much, Iain. Well, as we have indicated, we are both very encouraged by the record results we have achieved in the fourth quarter and for the full year last year in 2021. Demand for the decaf category, particularly at home and an increase in desire for roasters and brand owners to improve the sustainability of their food supply chains, have helped drive existing customer growth. And these trends have helped develop new customer names. However, we are in an environment of a very elevated coffee futures price, and these input prices will start to be seen in Q2 at the retail store level. And the effect could be demand destruction. Both of these factors have an effect on our 2022 volumes.

Although as 2022 begins, we have a very strong order book, and our production facilities are running very smoothly despite ongoing delays in coffee arrivals. The high capacity utilization we achieved on all 3 decaffeination lines and at our Seaforth subsidiary during the second half of 2021 drove solid profitability and gave us a clear view of what could be achieved in the future. That said, caution continues to be called for.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is creating a lot of uncertainty in Europe and around the world. And at this point, no one knows how this will be resolved nor how it will ultimately impact the European and global economies. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic is not over. And although we may be learning to live with it, at least in the developed world, further disruptions may well occur.

Notwithstanding the Ukrainian situation, 1 unfortunate side effect of the post-COVID economic recovery that grinds on is the disruption of global supply chains. In our case, we are experiencing logistical challenges and moving coffee from growing regions to our production facilities in the markets both in North America and internationally. The simple availability of equipment and drivers is causing isolated but severe issues. This is being most acutely at the Port of Vancouver as the 2 major steamship lines have eliminated service to the port and the only 1 remaining at this time.

The tight supply of exportable coffee due to crop shortages and logistics challenges is also keeping pressure on the coffee futures market, and we have seen spot availability of coffee fall substantially as a result. This in turn further supports a high future market in the near term. While on the other hand, the war in the Ukraine will eliminate demand potentially causing supply and demand to come back more imbalance.

Likely, we will need to get through the important June-July Brazil frost season to have a better view of the future in terms of the New York 'C'. While high coffee prices can have a destabilizing impact on the efficient movement of coffee inventories, they also put additional pressure on our working capital resources. On top of this, like most businesses, we are experiencing inflationary pressure on many of our other cost inputs from natural gas to packaging to freight and labor. This required us to implement a processing price increase during the fourth quarter in order to sustain our margins. So far, our customers have understood and accepted this change. More action on pricing may well be required as inflationary prices -- inflationary pressures persist.

Operationally, we continue to run both decaffeination lines at our legacy production facility in Burnaby, B.C. on a 24/7 basis as we did throughout 2021. The initial line at our new Delta facility in Delta, B.C. operated smoothly and efficiently, also on a 24/7 basis throughout the year. We are continuing to migrate more of production here. Since its startup, we have been gradually increasing the processing speed of Delta Line 1 as we work to optimize and maximize its production.

If you've been following our story, you'll know that we must relocate all remain production from Burnaby by June 2023 due to the upcoming expiry of our lease there. Accordingly, in order to ensure that our ability to deliver on customer orders is uninterrupted and to meet the growth in demand we see ahead, we are in the process of building a second new production line in Delta. Financing for this project was a range in Q2 of last year and the necessary permits were secured over the summer.

Foundation was completed during the third quarter last year and ground construction began in Q4. The project is currently proceeding on time and on budget toward a target completion date before the 2023 lease expiry in Burnaby.

As I've noted before, based on engineering reports from a third-party engineering firm, when both are completed, we expect the 2 new lines in Delta together will have a targeted end capacity, at least 40% greater than the current Burnaby facility. The preliminary cost estimate for design and construction of the Line 2 production project in Delta is approximately $45 million plus commissioning costs of around $2 million. These estimates are preliminary and like all major design and construction projects are dependent on local and global economic factors.

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

[Operator]

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

[Unknown Analyst]

Just trying to look forward here, do you have any idea or thoughts on when you might start paying a dividend again?

[Iain Carswell, executive]

Yes. Thank you, Lyle, for your question. At the moment, obviously, we're in the middle of a fairly significant CapEx project. And at the moment, that's our priority in terms of funding and use of excess cash. We have communicated fairly consistently that we're going to fund that project from a combination of free cash flow from operations and a new capital. I think that remains our focus in the short term. We will continue to evaluate with the Board, the most appropriate timing for potential reintroduction of the dividend. But at the moment, our priority remains using our free cash flow to fund the CapEx project that we have in hand at the moment and that's our only priority.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] Your next question for today is coming from [ Patrick McNeil ].

[Unknown Analyst]

Yes, I was just wondering what this fiscal 2022 year looks like for gross margin based on the growth in revenue of Europe and Asia? And do you have an expectation that the gross margin will be higher this year based on changing growth rates in different regions and product mix? Or how you're thinking about that impact?

[Iain Carswell, executive]

Yes. Thank you for your question. I mean, obviously, as we've noted, as our volumes increase and our capacity utilization increases, that helps us to expand our margin somewhat. We also noted that we're under quite significant inflationary pressure right now as all businesses are. I would certainly hope that as long as we can maintain current growth levels that we should see at least a maintenance of current margin levels. And I would hope that if volumes continue to grow that, we'll again see a benefit from high capacity utilization, effectively spreading our fixed costs over a bigger base and that should flow through to the bottom line and should generate margin expansion. We have also obviously put through some price increases at the back end of last year. But generally, the geographical growth doesn't have a significant impact on margin expansion. It's overall volume growth through our production assets that drives that, not necessarily where the output of those production assets is. I don't know, Frank, if you have anything you want to add on that point.

[Frank Dennis, executive]

Yes, I think that with our pricing that we took in the fall, that was essentially a gross margin percentage maintenance strategy. And to me, the #1 wild card for 2022 is going to be natural gas. Obviously, with this war in Ukraine, natural gas is in the news daily, and that's -- that would have an impact on gross margin for sure. We buy forward quite a bit of gas, but I think that, that is kind of the 1 potential risk, Patrick. But generally, we're forecasting a margin maintenance for 2022.

[Unknown Analyst]

Okay. And just to clarify, so there's no like the increased inventory, it's not as a result of like changing geographic mix. It's just the increase in commodity. So there's no real other way to manage the total inventory. You have to carry by adjusting or focusing on, say, just the United States market versus Europe or Asia?

[Frank Dennis, executive]

Yes. I mean, inventory carrying costs and the value of inventory when you're dealing with a commodity that is as volatile as coffee has both its upsides and downsides. But surely as we set out of $2.25 NY'C', we've got higher inventory carrying costs. I think that in Europe, as that grows, it's actually growing kind of nicely balanced between big, large commercial customers as well as higher margin specialty, which is very attractive to us. Asia tend to kind of be more in the commercial space, so a different margin structure. While the U.S. where we're having some good success with new high-profile names, those are some good names and they are at decent pricing levels. And so I think that there are some opportunities for a margin increase, but that's on a gross margin basis. But like I say, this wildcard of natural gas through the back part of this year certainly is a concern, Patrick. So hopefully, that answers your question. Inventory carrying costs are a little different than gross margin, as you can imagine. But hopefully, that give you some idea.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] There are no further questions in queue. I would like to turn the floor back over to Frank for any closing comments.

[Frank Dennis, executive]

Okay. Well, if there are no further -- sorry.

[Operator]

You do have a question. I apologize. It's coming from [ Bill Wu ].

[Unknown Analyst]

Sorry for the last minute question. I just want to know what's the price in case we want to buy out all the land in Delta?

[Iain Carswell, executive]

That's a good question. We don't stay on top of that number that, that closely, but we're just over a 5-acre site or so. 5.2 acres, I think. And we've recently seen numbers in the acreage in the Delta area in the $6 million range.

[Frank Dennis, executive]

$5 million to $6 million.

[Iain Carswell, executive]

$5 million to $6 million. So that's kind of where we're sitting at. And we do have an opportunity to purchase here that is contracted at a previously specified price, which is lower than that current market number, which is terrific. And the first opportunity for us to potentially execute a purchase, turn that into a -- for example, turn that into a mortgage instead of more expensive leasing is would be 2028.

[Unknown Analyst]

Okay. So the price is not locked in the contrary, right?

[Iain Carswell, executive]

The price of the land?

[Unknown Analyst]

Yes. Yes.

[Iain Carswell, executive]

There would be an assessment at fair market value with some limits attached to that.

[Operator]

There are no further questions in queue.

[Frank Dennis, executive]

Okay. Thanks very much, Holly. So if there are no further questions, Iain and I will conclude today's call. And we wish you all good health, and thank you very much for joining us. Have a good day.

[Operator]

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This does conclude today's event. You may disconnect your phone lines at this time, and have a wonderful day. Thank you for your participation.