Delivers Strong Operational Results and Raises Annual Guidance

With Three Consecutive Quarters of Record Economic Occupancy, Americold Shifts Focus to Growth

ATLANTA, GA, Aug. 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Americold Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: COLD) (the “Company”), a global leader in temperature-controlled logistics real estate, and value-added services focused on the ownership, operation, acquisition and development of temperature-controlled warehouses, today announced financial and operating results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023.

George Chappelle, Chief Executive Officer of Americold Realty Trust, Inc., stated, “We are pleased with our second quarter results where we delivered AFFO per share of $0.28. This performance was primarily driven by our global warehouse same store pool, which generated revenue growth of 3.9% and NOI growth of 13.8%, versus prior year, both on a constant currency basis. Our strong same-store pool results were driven by meaningful economic occupancy growth and our continued pricing initiatives. Our same store economic occupancy increased by 687 basis points over prior year to 84.8%, a record-setting, second quarter level. Additionally, this quarter, we derived 48.5% of rent and storage revenue from fixed commitment storage contracts, which is another record-setting level for Americold.”

“As a result of the progress we have made around economic occupancy and pricing initiatives in our same store pool, we are increasing our full year 2023 AFFO per share guidance to the range of $1.20 to $1.30. This guidance increase reflects both a strong first half of the year in combination with continued progress throughout the second half of the year.”

“Lastly, during the quarter, we announced our agreement with Canadian Pacific Kansas City, or CPKC, one of North America's largest railroad companies. Our agreement with CPKC is a strategic collaboration in which Americold will build, own and operate cold storage facilities on the land located on CPKC’s railroad network. Similar to our recent DP World announcement, our agreement with CPKC illustrates Americold’s unique ability to create value by collaborating with global leaders in the supply-chain. We look forward to continuing to support our customers’ growth through these exclusive collaborations as well as through other traditional greenfield development and expansion opportunities.”

Second Quarter 2023 Highlights

• Total revenue decreased 11.0% to $649.6 million.
• Total NOI increased 9.4% to $184.1 million.
• Net loss of $104.8 million, or $0.39 loss per diluted common share.
• Core EBITDA increased 12.1% to $134.7 million, and increased 13.5% on a constant currency basis.
• Core FFO of $62.5 million, or $0.23 per diluted common share.
• AFFO of $75.6 million, or $0.28 per diluted common share.
• Global Warehouse segment revenue increased 3.0% to $581.2 million.
• Global Warehouse segment NOI increased 14.5% to $172.8 million.
• Global Warehouse segment same store revenue increased 2.8%, or 3.9% on a constant currency basis, Global Warehouse segment same store NOI increased by 12.7%, or 13.8% on a constant currency basis.
• Completed the Atlanta Phase 2 development project for approximately $39 million, consisting of 6.3 million cubic feet and 24,000 pallet positions.
• Completed the purchase of our previously leased Green Bay facility for $20.1 million.
• Sold our minority ownership interest in the LATAM JV to Patria, the majority owner, for proceeds of $37 million.

Year to Date 2023 Highlights

• Total revenue decreased 7.6% to $1.33 billion.
• Total NOI increased 13.8% to $371.6 million.
• Core EBITDA increased 15.9% to $267.8 million, or 17.6% on a constant currency basis.
• Net loss of $107.3 million, or $0.40 loss per diluted common share.
• Core FFO of $123.3 million, or $0.46 per diluted common share.
• AFFO of $155.4 million, or $0.57 per diluted common share.
• Global Warehouse segment revenue increased 6.4% to $1.18 billion.
• Global Warehouse segment NOI increased 17.0% to $347.7 million.
• Global Warehouse segment same store revenue increased 6.7%, or 8.1% on a constant currency basis, Global Warehouse segment same store NOI increased 18.5%, or 19.9% on a constant currency basis.

Second Quarter 2023 Total Company Financial Results

Total revenue for the second quarter of 2023 was $649.6 million, a 11.0% decrease, which was driven by decreases in our Third-party managed and Transportation segments, largely offset by growth within our Global Warehouse segment. The growth within our Global Warehouse segment was driven by our pricing initiatives, rate escalations, improvements in economic occupancy and incremental revenue from recently completed expansion and development projects, partially offset by a decline in throughput due to the inability to move product in certain warehouses during the cyber incident.

Total NOI for the second quarter of 2023 was $184.1 million, an increase of 9.4% from the same quarter of the prior year. This increase is a result of the improvement in our Global Warehouse segment as previously mentioned above, partially offset by ongoing inflationary pressure on operating costs.

For the second quarter of 2023, the Company reported net loss of $104.8 million, or $0.39 loss per diluted share, compared to net income of $4.0 million, or $0.01 loss per diluted share, for the same quarter of the prior year.

Core EBITDA was $134.7 million for the second quarter of 2023, compared to $120.2 million for the same quarter of the prior year. This reflects a 12.1% increase over prior year on an actual basis, and 13.5% on a constant currency basis. The increase is due to the same factors driving the increase in NOI mentioned above.

For the second quarter of 2023, Core FFO was $62.5 million, or $0.23 per diluted share, compared to $65.4 million, or $0.24 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2022.

For the second quarter of 2023, AFFO was $75.6 million, or $0.28 per diluted share, compared to $73.9 million, or $0.27 per diluted share, for the same quarter of the prior year.

Please see the Company’s supplemental financial information for the definitions and reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures.

Second Quarter 2023 Global Warehouse Segment Results
For the second quarter of 2023, Global Warehouse segment revenue was $581.2 million, an increase of $16.8 million, or 3.0%, compared to $564.4 million for the second quarter of 2022. This growth was principally driven by growth in our same store pool resulting from higher economic occupancy, our pricing initiative, and rate escalations. Additionally, our non-same store pool contributed revenue from our recently completed development projects and acquisitions. This was partially offset by lower throughput pallets in our same store pool as a result of the inability to move product for a period of time during the cyber incident and the unfavorable impact of foreign currency translation.

Global Warehouse segment contribution (NOI) was $172.8 million for the second quarter of 2023 as compared to $151.0 million for the second quarter of 2022. Global Warehouse segment contribution (NOI) increased due to the drivers of warehouse revenue increase mentioned above, partially offset by the impact of inflationary pressures, start-up costs for our developments, and the unfavorable impact of foreign currency translation. Global Warehouse segment margin was 29.7% for the second quarter of 2023, a 299 basis point increase compared to the same quarter of the prior year.

We had 220 same store warehouses for the three months ended June 30, 2023. The following table presents revenues, contribution (NOI) and margins for our same store and non-same store warehouses with a reconciliation to the total financial metrics of our warehouse segment for the three months ended June 30, 2023. Refer to our “Real Estate Portfolio” section below for the composition of our non-same store pool.

(1) The adjustments from our U.S. GAAP operating results to calculate our operating results on a constant currency basis are the effect of changes in foreign currency exchange rates relative to the comparable prior period.
(2) Refer to our “Real Estate Portfolio” section below for the composition of our non-same store pool.
(n/a = not applicable)
(n/r = not relevant)

(1) The adjustments from our U.S. GAAP operating results to calculate our operating results on a constant currency basis are the effect of changes in foreign currency exchange rates relative to the comparable prior period.
(2) Refer to our “Real Estate Portfolio” section below for the composition of our non-same store pool.
(n/a = not applicable)
(n/r = not relevant)

Fixed Commitment Rent and Storage Revenue
As of June 30, 2023, $521.3 million of the Company’s annualized rent and storage revenue were derived from customers with fixed commitment storage contracts. This compares to $480.4 million at the end of the first quarter of 2023 and $379.3 million at the end of the second quarter of 2022. We continue to make progress on commercializing business under this type of arrangement. On a combined pro forma basis, assuming a full twelve months of acquisitions revenue, 48.5% of rent and storage revenue was generated from fixed commitment storage contracts.

Economic and Physical Occupancy
Contracts that contain fixed commitments are designed to ensure the Company’s customers have space available when needed. For the second quarter of 2023, economic occupancy for the total warehouse segment was 84.4% and warehouse segment same store pool was 84.8%, representing a 726 basis point and 690 basis point increase above physical occupancy, respectively. Economic occupancy for the total warehouse segment increased 705 basis points, and the warehouse segment same store pool increased 687 basis points as compared to the second quarter of 2022. The growth in occupancy reflects our customer service initiatives, paired with customers’ increased food production levels throughout the end of 2022 and 2023.

Real Estate Portfolio
As of June 30, 2023, the Company’s portfolio consists of 242 facilities. The Company ended the second quarter of 2023 with 237 facilities in its Global Warehouse segment portfolio, five facilities in its Third-party managed segment, and 26 facilities in its Other segment. The same store population consists of 220 facilities for the quarter ended June 30, 2023. The remaining 17 non-same store population includes the De Bruyn Cold Storage acquisition, 10 facilities in expansion or redevelopment, a temporarily leased facility in Australia, two facilities we previously leased and purchased during 2022, a facility in which we ceased operations in order to prepare for leasing to a third-party, a site previously leased that was purchased at the end of June, and a leased facility in which we ceased operations during the fourth quarter of 2022 in anticipation of the upcoming lease maturity.

Balance Sheet Activity and Liquidity
As of June 30, 2023, the Company had total liquidity of approximately $454.6 million, including cash and capacity on its revolving credit facility. Total debt outstanding was $3.6 billion (inclusive of $243.2 million of financing leases/sale lease-backs and exclusive of unamortized deferred financing fees), of which 93% was in an unsecured structure. At quarter end, net debt to pro forma Core EBITDA was approximately 6.6x. The Company’s total debt outstanding includes $3.3 billion of real estate debt, which excludes sale-leaseback and financing lease obligations. The Company’s real estate debt has a remaining weighted average term of 5.6 years and carries a weighted average contractual interest rate of 4.0%. As of June 30, 2023, 80.0% of the Company’s total debt outstanding was at a fixed rate, inclusive of hedged variable-rate for fixed-rate debt. The Company has no material debt maturities until 2026, inclusive of extension options.

Dividend
On May 16, 2023, the Company’s Board of Directors declared a dividend of $0.22 per share for the second quarter of 2023, which was paid on July 14, 2023 to common stockholders of record as of June 30, 2023.

2023 Outlook
The Company is increasing its annual AFFO per share guidance to be within the range of $1.20 - $1.30. Refer to page 40 of this Financial Supplement for the details of our annual guidance. The Company’s guidance is provided for informational purposes based on current plans and assumptions and is subject to change. The ranges for these metrics do not include the impact of acquisitions, dispositions, or capital markets activity beyond that which has been previously announced.

Investor Webcast and Conference Call
The Company will hold a webcast and conference call on Thursday, August 3, 2023 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time to discuss its second quarter 2023 results. A live webcast of the call will be available via the Investors section of Americold Realty Trust’s website at www.americold.com. To listen to the live webcast, please go to the site at least fifteen minutes prior to the scheduled start time in order to register, download and install any necessary audio software. Shortly after the call, a replay of the webcast will be available for 90 days on the Company’s website.

The conference call can also be accessed by dialing 1-877-407-3982 or 1-201-493-6780. The telephone replay can be accessed by dialing 1-844-512-2921 or 1-412-317-6671 and providing the conference ID#13737834. The telephone replay will be available starting shortly after the call until August 17, 2023.

The Company’s supplemental package will be available prior to the conference call in the Investors section of the Company’s website at http://ir.americold.com. 

About the Company
Americold is a global leader in temperature-controlled logistics real estate and value added services. Focused on the ownership, operation, acquisition and development of temperature-controlled warehouses, Americold owns and/or operates 242 temperature-controlled warehouses, with approximately 1.5 billion refrigerated cubic feet of storage, in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and South America. Americold’s facilities are an integral component of the supply chain connecting food producers, processors, distributors and retailers to consumers.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures
This press release contains non-GAAP financial measures, including NAREIT FFO, core FFO, AFFO, EBITDAre, Core EBITDA; same store segment revenue, contribution (NOI), margin, and maintenance capital expenditures. Definitions of these non-GAAP metrics are included beginning on page 41, and reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures to their most comparable GAAP metrics are included herein. Each of the non-GAAP measures included in this report has limitations as an analytical tool and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for an analysis of the Company’s results calculated in accordance with GAAP. In addition, because not all companies use identical calculations, the Company’s presentation of non-GAAP measures in this report may not be comparable to similarly titled measures disclosed by other companies, including other REITs.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains statements about future events and expectations that constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on our beliefs, assumptions and expectations of our future financial and operating performance and growth plans, taking into account the information currently available to us. These statements are not statements of historical fact. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause our actual results to differ materially from the expectations of future results we express or imply in any forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on such statements. Factors that could contribute to these differences include the following: rising inflationary pressures, increased interest rates and operating costs; labor and power costs; labor shortages; our relationship with our associates, the occurrence of any work stoppages or any disputes under our collective bargaining agreements and employment related litigation; the impact of supply chain disruptions, including, among others, the impact on labor availability, raw material availability, manufacturing and food production and transportation; risks related to rising construction costs; risks related to expansions of existing properties and developments of new properties, including failure to meet budgeted or stabilized returns within expected time frames, or at all, in respect thereof; uncertainty of revenues, given the nature of our customer contracts; acquisition risks, including the failure to identify or complete attractive acquisitions or the failure of acquisitions to perform in accordance with projections and to realize anticipated cost savings and revenue improvements; our failure to realize the intended benefits from our recent acquisitions including synergies, or disruptions to our plans and operations or unknown or contingent liabilities related to our recent acquisitions; difficulties in expanding our operations into new markets, including international markets; uncertainties and risks related to public health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic; a failure of our information technology systems, systems conversions and integrations, cybersecurity attacks or a breach of our information security systems, networks or processes could cause business disruptions, loss of critical and confidential information, an adverse impact on our results and reputation, incurring additional and significant costs to address any malicious attack including costs to remediate and implement proactive, preventative actions against cyber breaches including those related to the cyber matter which occurred on April 26, 2023. disruption caused by implementation of the new ERP system, potential cost overruns, timing and control risks and failure to recognize anticipated cost savings and increased productivity from the implementation of the new ERP system; defaults or non-renewals of significant customer contracts; risks related to privacy and data security concerns, and data collection and transfer restrictions and related foreign regulations; changes in applicable governmental regulations and tax legislation, including in the international markets; risks related to current and potential international operations and properties; actions by our competitors and their increasing ability to compete with us; changes in foreign currency exchange rates; the potential liabilities, costs and regulatory impacts associated with our in-house trucking services and the potential disruptions associated with our use of third-party trucking service providers to provide transportation services to our customers; liabilities as a result of our participation in multi-employer pension plans; risks related to the partial ownership of properties, including as a result of our lack of control over such investments, financial condition of JV partners, disputes with JV partners, regulatory risks, brand recognition risks and the failure of such entities to perform in accordance with projections; risks related to natural disasters such as fires, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes; adverse economic or real estate developments in our geographic markets or the temperature-controlled warehouse industry; changes in real estate and zoning laws and increases in real property tax rates; general economic conditions; risks associated with the ownership of real estate generally and temperature-controlled warehouses in particular; possible environmental liabilities, including costs, fines or penalties that may be incurred due to necessary remediation of contamination of properties presently or previously owned by us; uninsured losses or losses in excess of our insurance coverage; financial market fluctuations; our failure to obtain necessary outside financing; risks related to, or restrictions contained in, our debt financings; decreased storage rates or increased vacancy rates; the impact of anti-takeover provisions in our constituent documents and under Maryland law, which could make an acquisition of us more difficult, limit attempts by our stockholders to replace our directors and affect the price of our common stock, $0.01 par value per share; the potential dilutive effect of our common stock offerings; the cost and time requirements as a result of our operation as a publicly traded REIT; and our failure to maintain our status as a REIT.

Words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “continues,” “estimates,” “expects,” “goal,” “objectives,” “intends,” “may,” “opportunity,” “plans,” “potential,” “near-term,” “long-term,” “projections,” “assumptions,” “projects,” “guidance,” “forecasts,” “outlook,” “target,” “trends,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “will” and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Examples of forward-looking statements included in this press release include those regarding our 2023 outlook and our migration of our customers to fixed commitment storage contracts, estimates related to the impact of the lost business and operational disruption of the cybersecurity incident on our warehouse and transportation segment, as well as estimates of cybersecurity recovery costs; statements related to expected recoveries from cyber and business interruption insurance, and potential disputes over the extent of insurance coverage, and timing for receipt of any insurance proceeds; statements related to potential additional recovery costs; statements related to continued investments in information technology with the intention of strengthening our information security infrastructure; and statements related to actions we are taking in response to the findings of the forensic investigation and to improve the resiliency of our information security infrastructure. We qualify any forward-looking statements entirely by these cautionary factors. Other risks, uncertainties and factors, including those discussed under “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, could cause our actual results to differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements we make. We assume no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.

Contacts:

Americold Realty Trust, Inc.
Investor Relations
Telephone: 678-459-1959
Email: investor.relations@americold.com

(a)   Maintenance capital expenditures include capital expenditures made to extend the life of, and provide future economic benefit from, our existing temperature-controlled warehouse network and its existing supporting personal property and information technology.

(b)   During the three months ended June 30, 2023, management excluded losses from discontinued operations from Core FFO applicable to common stockholders, and Adjusted FFO applicable to common stockholders and included certain losses from discontinued operations for NAREIT FFO and all of the related per share amounts for Core, NAREIT, and Adjusted FFO. For purposes of comparability using this same approach, the following adjusted historical results recasted are as follows:

(a)   During the three months ended June 30, 2023, management included certain losses from discontinued operations in NAREIT EBITDAre. For purposes of comparability using this same approach, the following adjusted historical results recasted are as follows:

We view and manage our business through three primary business segments—warehouse, transportation, third-party managed. Our core business is our warehouse segment, where we provide temperature-controlled warehouse storage and related handling and other warehouse services. In our warehouse segment, we collect rent and storage fees from customers to store their frozen and perishable food and other products within our real estate portfolio. We also provide our customers with handling and other warehouse services related to the products stored in our buildings that are designed to optimize their movement through the cold chain, such as the placement of food products for storage and preservation, the retrieval of products from storage upon customer request,case-picking, blast freezing, produce grading and bagging, ripening, kitting, protein boxing, repackaging, e-commerce fulfillment, and other recurring handling services.

In our transportation segment, we broker and manage transportation of frozen and perishable food and other products for our customers. Our transportation services include consolidation services (i.e., consolidating a customer’s products with those of other customers for more efficient shipment), freight under management services (i.e., arranging for and overseeing transportation of customer inventory) and dedicated transportation services, each designed to improve efficiency and reduce transportation and logistics costs to our customers. We provide these transportation services at cost plus a service fee or, in the case of our consolidation or dedicated services, we may charge a fixed fee. We supplemented our regional, national and truckload consolidation services with the transportation operations from various warehouse acquisitions. We also provide multi-modal global freight forwarding services to support our customers’ needs in certain markets.

Under our third-party managed segment, we manage warehouses on behalf of third parties and provide warehouse management services to leading food manufacturers and retailers in their owned facilities. We believe using our third-party management services allows our customers to increase efficiency, reduce costs, reduce supply-chain risks and focus on their core businesses. We also believe that providing third-party management services allows us to offer a complete and integrated suite of services across the cold chain.

• these measures do not reflect our historical or future cash requirements for maintenance capital expenditures or growth and expansion capital expenditures;
• these measures do not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, our working capital needs;
• these measures do not reflect the interest expense, or the cash requirements necessary to service interest or principal payments, on our indebtedness;
• these measures do not reflect our tax expense or the cash requirements to pay our taxes; and
• although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated will often have to be replaced in the future and these measures do not reflect any cash requirements for such replacements.