Westrock Coffee reports Q1 net sales up 11.1% to US$213.8M; company posts US$27.2M net loss while reaffirming 2025-2026 guidance

May 8, 2025 (press release) –

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. , May 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Westrock Coffee Company (Nasdaq: WEST) (“Westrock Coffee” or the “Company”) today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025 .

First Quarter Highlights¹

• Consolidated Results
  • Net sales were $213.8 million , an increase of 11.1%
  • Gross profit was $29.1 million , a decrease of 22.0%
  • Net loss was $27.2 million , compared to a net loss of $23.7 million in the prior year period
  • Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA² was $8.2 million and included $3.3 million of scale-up costs associated with our Conway Facility, compared to Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA of $11.1 million and no scale-up costs in the prior year period
• Segment Results
  • Beverage Solutions
    • Net sales were $164.1 million , an increase of 3.8%
    • Segment Adjusted EBITDA³ was $9.6 million , a decrease of 11.3%
  • Sustainable Sourcing & Traceability (“SS&T”) 
    • Net sales were $49.7 million , an increase of 44.4%
    • Segment Adjusted EBITDA³ was $1.9 million compared to $0.3 million for the first quarter of 2024

Commenting on our results, Scott T. Ford , CEO and Co-founder stated, “We are off to a great start in 2025. Today we are reporting solid financial results for the first quarter, and we continue to make great strides towards our goal of becoming the premiere integrated strategic supplier to the pre-eminent coffee, tea, and energy brands around the world. In our Conway, Arkansas extract and ready-to-drink manufacturing facility, we are making great progress as we scale up the sales volume throughput in the facility, and the launch of our second single serve cup facility in Conway has exceeded our expectations. We remain confident in our ability to deliver against our plan and are reaffirming our previously stated guidance for both 2025 and 2026.”

2025 and 2026 Outlook

The Company is reaffirming its 2025 and 2026 guidance for Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA, Segment Adjusted EBITDA and Beverage Solutions credit agreement secured net leverage ratio, which were provided in its earnings release dated March 11, 2025 .

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¹ Unless otherwise indicated, all comparisons are to the prior year period.
² Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure. The definition of Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA is included under the section titled “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” and a reconciliation of Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA to the most directly comparable GAAP measure is provided in the tables that accompany this release.
³ Segment Adjusted EBITDA is a segment performance measure, which is required by U.S. GAAP to be disclosed in accordance with FASB Accounting Standards Codification 280, Segment Reporting. Segment Adjusted EBITDA is defined consistently with Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA, except that it excludes scale-up costs related to our Conway Facility.

Conference Call Details

Westrock Coffee will host a conference call and webcast at 4:30 p.m. ET today to discuss this release. To participate in the live earnings call and question and answer session, please register HERE and dial-in information will be provided directly to you. The live audio webcast will be accessible in the “Events and Presentations” section of the Company’s Investor Relations website at https://investors.westrockcoffee.com. An archived replay of the webcast will be available shortly after the live event has concluded and will be available for a minimum of 14 days.

About Westrock Coffee

Westrock Coffee is a leading integrated coffee, tea, flavors, extracts, and ingredients solutions provider in the United States , providing coffee sourcing, supply chain management, product development, roasting, packaging, and distribution services to the retail, food service and restaurant, convenience store and travel center, non-commercial account, CPG, and hospitality industries around the world. With offices in 10 countries, the Company sources coffee and tea from numerous countries of origin.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended from time to time. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as "believe," "may," "will," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "expect," "should," "would," "plan," "predict," "potential," "seem," "seek," "future," "outlook," and similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, our 2025 and 2026 financial outlook, our expectations regarding leverage ratios and compliance with the financial covenants in our credit agreement, expected volume growth in the Company’s core coffee business, our expectations regarding volume commitments from existing single serve customers and new single serve customer volumes, our expectations regarding expense savings from cost reduction and facility consolidation efforts in 2024, certain plans, expectations, goals, projections, and statements about the timing and benefits of the build-out of and the rapid scale up of our RTD can volumes, and the launch and scale up of our RTD glass bottle products from, the Company's Conway, Arkansas extract and ready-to-drink facility, the plans, objectives, expectations, and intentions of Westrock Coffee , and other statements that are not historical facts. These statements are based on information available to Westrock Coffee as of the date hereof and Westrock Coffee is not under any duty to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this communication to conform these statements to actual results. These statements are based on various assumptions, whether or not identified in this communication, and on the current expectations of the management of Westrock Coffee as of the date hereof and are not predictions of actual performance. These forward-looking statements are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to serve as and should not be relied on by an investor, or others, as a guarantee, an assurance, a prediction, or a definitive statement of fact or probability. Actual events and circumstances are difficult or impossible to predict and will differ from assumptions. Many actual events and circumstances are beyond the control of Westrock Coffee . These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, changes in domestic and foreign business, market (including continued increases in the “C” market price of green coffee), financial, political, and legal conditions; our inability to secure an adequate supply of key raw materials, including green coffee and tea, or disruption in our supply chain, including from tariffs or trade restrictions; risks relating to the uncertainty of the projected financial information with respect to Westrock Coffee ; risks related to the rollout of Westrock Coffee's business and the timing of expected business milestones; the effects of competition on Westrock Coffee's business; the ability of Westrock Coffee to issue equity or equity-linked securities or obtain debt financing in the future; Westrock Coffee’s future level of indebtedness, which may reduce funds available for other business purposes and reduce the Company’s operational flexibility; the risk that Westrock Coffee fails to attract, motivate or retain qualified personnel; the risk that Westrock Coffee fails to fully realize the potential benefits of acquisitions or joint ventures or has difficulty successfully integrating acquired companies; the availability of equipment and the timely performance by suppliers involved with the build-out of the Conway, Arkansas extract and ready-to-drink facility; Westrock Coffee’s inability to complete the construction and launch of its planned second RTD can line or RTD glass line as expected or the risk of incurring additional expenses in the process; the loss of significant customers or delays in bringing their products to market; litigation or legal disputes, which could lead us to incur significant liabilities and costs or harm our reputation; and those factors discussed in Westrock Coffee’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, which was filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on March 12, 2025 , in Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors” and other documents Westrock Coffee has filed, or will file, with the SEC . If any of these risks materialize or our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements. There may be additional risks that Westrock Coffee does not presently know, or that Westrock Coffee currently believes are immaterial, that could also cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. In addition, the forward-looking statements reflect Westrock Coffee's expectations, plans, or forecasts of future events and views as of the date of this communication. Westrock Coffee anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause Westrock Coffee's assessments to change. However, while Westrock Coffee may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, Westrock Coffee specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as a representation of Westrock Coffee's assessments as of any date subsequent to the date of this communication. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed upon the forward-looking statements.

Contacts

Media:
PR@westrockcoffee.com

Investor Contact:
IR@westrockcoffee.com

The total cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash at March 31, 2025 and 2024 is as follows:

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1 - Segment Adjusted EBITDA is a segment performance measure, which is required by U.S. GAAP to be disclosed in accordance with FASB Accounting Standards Codification 280, Segment Reporting. Segment Adjusted EBITDA is defined consistently with Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA, except that it excludes scale-up costs related to our Conway Facility. Refer to the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for additional information regarding our segments and a reconciliation of Segment Adjusted EBITDA to loss before income taxes and equity in earnings from unconsolidated entities.
2 - Net of intersegment revenues.

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1 – Primarily consists of $5.3 million of pro forma run-rate impact of cost savings initiatives, as permitted by the Credit Agreement.

The Company is required to maintain compliance with, among other things, a secured net leverage ratio under the terms of its credit agreement (the “Credit Agreement”) among the Company, Westrock Beverage Solutions, LLC , as the borrower, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A ., as administrative agent, collateral agent, and swingline lender, Wells Fargo Securities, LLC , as sustainability structuring agent, and each issuing bank and lender party thereto. The secured net leverage ratio is calculated as secured net debt divided by Adjusted EBITDA for the trailing twelve-month period, each as defined in the Credit Agreement, and is applicable only to our Beverage Solutions segment.

Management believes that our secured net leverage ratio provides useful information to investors and other users of our financial data regarding the Company’s compliance with its material financial covenants. Failure to comply with the covenants in the Credit Agreement or make payments when due could result in an event of default, which, if not cured or waived, could accelerate our repayment obligations under the Credit Agreement and could result in a default and acceleration under other agreements containing cross-default provisions. Under these circumstances, we might not have sufficient funds or other resources to satisfy all of our obligations. As of the date of this press release, the Company is in compliance with its financial covenants.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures
We refer to EBITDA and Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA in our analysis of our results of operations, which are not required by, or presented in accordance with, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”). While we believe that net (loss) income, as defined by GAAP, is the most appropriate earnings measure, we also believe that EBITDA and Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA are important non-GAAP supplemental measures of operating performance as they contribute to a meaningful evaluation of the Company’s future operating performance and comparisons to the Company’s past operating performance. The Company believes that providing these non-GAAP financial measures to investors helps investors evaluate the Company’s operating performance, profitability and business trends in a way that is consistent with how management evaluates such performance.

We define “EBITDA” as net (loss) income, as defined by GAAP, before interest expense, provision for income taxes and depreciation and amortization. We define “Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA” as EBITDA before equity-based compensation expense and the impact, which may be recurring in nature, of transaction, restructuring and integration related costs, impairment charges, changes in the fair value of warrant liabilities, non-cash mark-to-market adjustments, certain non-capitalizable costs necessary to place the Conway extract and ready-to-drink facility into commercial production, the write off of unamortized deferred financing costs, costs incurred as a result of the early repayment of debt, gains or losses on dispositions, and other similar or infrequent items (although we may not have had such charges in the periods presented). We believe EBITDA and Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA are important supplemental measures to net (loss) income because they provide additional information to evaluate our operating performance on an unleveraged basis.

Since EBITDA and Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA are not measures calculated in accordance with GAAP, they should be viewed in addition to, and not be considered as alternatives for, net income (loss) determined in accordance with GAAP. Further, our computations of EBITDA and Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to that reported by other companies that define EBITDA and Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA differently than we do.