Westrock Coffee Co. of Little Rock (Nasdaq: WEST) narrowed its losses in the fourth quarter of 2023 and the full year as it moved closer to opening its new $300 million ready-to-drink production facility in Conway.
The coffee, tea and extracts company on Tuesday reported a fourth-quarter loss of $20.1 million, smaller than the $31.9 million loss it posted in the same quarter a year ago. Per share, the loss came to 23 cents.
Sales in the period totaled just under $215 million, down 5.6% from $227.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2022.
For the full year, Westrock reported a loss of $34.6 million, smaller than the $55.5 million loss it posted in 2022. The loss was partially offset by a $10.2 million non-cash gain from the change in fair value of warrant liabilities.
The annual loss includes $11.7 million in startup costs for the Conway production facility. The company purchased the former Kimberly-Clark plant in 2021 and has been transforming it to manufacture and package a wide-range of beverages, such as canned or bottled cold brew coffees, lattes, assorted teas and juice-based products, using advanced robotics. Westrock has said the facility will be the largest of its kind in the world. It will employ about 850 people.
Scott Ford, CEO of Westrock, said in a statement that the Conway facility is scheduled to deliver its first commercial products to customers next month. He said the company has also been modernizing its legacy manufacturing operations.
“Last year was a significant transition year for Westrock and we now enter 2024 with a number of critical system migrations and capital equipment upgrades behind us,” he said.
Westrock officially completed construction of a new $70 million distribution center in Conway on Dec. 27. The facility brings the company’s combined operations in Conway to 1.1 million SF.
Westrock is projecting consolidated, adjusted EBITDA to be between $60 million and $80 million in fiscal 2024. The company said the guidance range is “necessarily broad to account for the range of results the Company may experience” as operations begin at the Conway facility.
Westrock went public in 2022 through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company.
Shares of the company closed at $9.14 on Tuesday and dipped about 6% in after-hours trading. Year to date, shares are down about 10%.
Sign up for Daily E-news
