Primo Water Corporation (NYSE:PRMW) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Water Refill targets a value conscious consumer and provides similar margins to our other water offerings which provides a diverse platform of water solutions for all consumers. We are pleased to report that our commitment to improving the customer experience has resulted in improved operational metrics, digital experience and customer satisfaction. As a reminder, a key service metric we focus on is on-time in-full or OTIF. OTIF simply put is that we deliver to the customer on a scheduled day and with all the products they request. OTIF in North America in Q3 increased when compared to Q3 of 2022. The ability to serve our customers in the most efficient manner possible is a critical driver of both our short and long term profitability. Units per route per day increased approximately 4% compared to Q3 of 2022 and revenue per route increased 7% compared to Q3 of 2022.

Our scale and leverage are becoming more evident as we service more customers with higher volume per route. Route density and revenue per route have never been higher and as a result we are able to post record adjusted EBITDA margins of 22.7% across the entire company and North American margins of 25.7%. Relative to ESG, last month we received the results of the Sustainalytics Gap Analysis report. We were able to significantly improve our overall risk score related to ESG factors and received a strong corporate governance score. Our strengths in ESG coupled with our ownership of water rights and access to water sources as well as our expansive community distribution network sets us apart in terms of our ability to meet our customers’ needs whenever, wherever and however they want.

We have an economic mode that is not easily replicated and sets us up for sustained success. Looking ahead, we are reaffirming our full year 2023 revenue guidance to be between $2.32 billion and $2.36 billion with revenue growth in a range of 7% to 9% and full year 2023 adjusted EBITDA to be between $460 million and $480 million while understanding the current challenges in Israel. Our disruptions to-date have been relatively minor and we continue to monitor the situation closely. We have made significant strides with respect to adjusted free cash flow generation through a combination of increased earnings and improved working capital. We expect an increase in full year 2023 annual adjusted free cash flow to $160 million, a $10 million increase versus prior guidance.

We anticipate releasing next year’s guidance in conjunction with our 2023 year-end earnings in February of 2024. I’ll now turn the call over to our CFO, David Hass, to review our third quarter financial results in greater detail.

David Hass: Thank you, Tom. And good morning, everyone. Starting with our third quarter results, consolidated revenue increased 6% to $622 million compared to $585 million. Excluding the impact of foreign exchange, revenue increased 6% for the quarter. Adjusted EBITDA grew 21% to $141 million, which represents a 270 basis points of margin expansion to 22.7%. Excluding the impact of foreign exchange, adjusted EBITDA grew 19%. Turning to our segment level performance for the quarter, North America revenue increased 5% to $470 million compared to $447 million. Adjusted EBITDA in North America increased 18% to $121 million. Adjusted EBITDA margins climbed to 25.7%, a 280 basis point improvement over last year. In our Europe segment, revenue increased by 13% to $81 million.

Excluding the impact of foreign exchange, revenue increased 4%. Adjusted EBITDA in the Europe segment increased 32% to $20 million. Excluding the impact of foreign exchange, adjusted EBITDA increased by 18%. Adjusted EBITDA margins climbed to 25.2%, a 350 basis point improvement over last year. Turning to our Q4 and full year outlook, we expect consolidated revenue for the fourth quarter to be between $558 million and $598 million and adjusted EBITDA will be in the range of $108 million to $118 million. As Tom mentioned, for the full year of 2023, we are reaffirming our guidance with revenue projected to be between $2.32 million and $2.36 billion, with revenue growth in the range of 7% to 9%, and full year 2023 adjusted EBITDA to be between $460 million and $480 million.

Additionally, we are raising our adjusted free cash flow guidance to $160 million, an increase of 10 million dollars compared to the previous guidance. Our reported SG&A expenses in the third quarter were 50.7%. As expected, our Q3 SG&A declined as a percentage of sales as we were able to benefit from the leverage and scale of higher volume due to seasonality. On a year-to-date basis, adjusting for the one-time non-recurring items, such as the activist proxy contest, SG&A would have been 52.5% compared to the reported 53.2%. We are maintaining our 2023 CapEx guidance of approximately $200 million, which is approximately 7% of revenue, plus an incremental $30 million. We reaffirm our prior guidance that we expect to return to our total CapEx spend of approximately 7% of revenue in 2025, irrespective of the transaction.