Americold Realty Trust Announces First Quarter 2022 Results

First Quarter 2022 Highlights

• Total revenue increased 11.2% to $705.7 million.
• Total NOI increased 0.6% to $158.3 million.
• Core EBITDA decreased 5.9% on an actual basis to $110.9 million., and decreased 2.2% on a constant currency basis.
• Net loss of $17.4 million, or $0.06 loss per diluted common share.
• Core FFO of $46.3 million, or $0.17 per diluted common share.
• AFFO of $68.9 million, or $0.26 per diluted common share.
• Global Warehouse segment revenue increased 11.4% to $540.9 million.
• Global Warehouse segment NOI increased 0.1% to $146.3 million.
• Global Warehouse segment same store revenue increased 4.5%, or 6.0% on a constant currency basis, Global Warehouse segment same store NOI decreased by 4.7%, or 3.6% on a constant currency basis.

First Quarter 2022 Total Company Financial Results
Total revenue for the first quarter of 2022 was $705.7 million, an 11.2% increase from the same quarter of the prior year. This growth was driven by the incremental revenue from acquisitions, including warehouse and transportation operations, our recently completed expansion and development projects, contractual and market-driven rate escalations and the timing of Easter in 2022 as compared to 2021. These increases are partially offset by the continued impacts of COVID-19 and resulting supply chain disruption which impacted our throughput and holdings across our network as food production has been unable to keep up with steady consumer demand.

Total NOI for the first quarter of 2022 was $158.3 million, an increase of 0.6% from the same quarter of the prior year. This increase is primarily as a result of the acquisitions completed during 2021, recently completed expansions and developments and contractual and market-driven rate escalations, offset by continued food production challenges, labor shortages and wage and other inflationary pressure on nearly all cost categories and across our global portfolio.

Core EBITDA was $110.9 million for the first quarter of 2022, compared to $117.8 million for the same quarter of the prior year. This reflects a 5.9% decrease over prior year on an actual basis, and 2.2% on a constant currency basis, driven primarily from an increase in selling, general and administrative costs.

For the first quarter of 2022, the Company reported net loss of $17.4 million, or $0.06 per diluted share, compared to net loss of $14.2 million, or $0.06 per diluted share, for the same quarter of the prior year.

For the first quarter of 2022, Core FFO was $46.3 million, or $0.17 per diluted share, compared to $62.5 million, or $0.39 per diluted share, for same quarter of the prior year.

For the first quarter of 2022, AFFO was $68.9 million, or $0.26 per diluted share, compared to $75.9 million, or $0.37 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.

First Quarter 2022 Global Warehouse Segment Results
For the first quarter of 2022, Global Warehouse segment revenue was $540.9 million, an increase of $55.5 million, or 11.4%, compared to $485.5 million for the first quarter of 2021. This growth was driven by the recently completed acquisitions and ramp of recently completed development projects, paired with contractual and market-driven rate escalations and the timing of Easter in 2022 as compared to 2021, partially offset by the impact of continued food production challenges resulting in lower throughput in our same store portfolio.

Global Warehouse segment NOI was $146.3 million for the first quarter of 2022 as compared to $146.2 million for the first quarter of 2021. Global Warehouse segment NOI is flat period-over-period which is a result of our recently completed acquisitions, developments and expansions, paired with rate increases, largely offset by the impact of inflationary pressures across our portfolio, the impact of start-up costs for our developments and the unfavorable impact of foreign currency translation. Global Warehouse segment margin was 27.0% for the first quarter of 2022, a 307 basis point decrease compared to the same quarter of the prior year, due to inflationary cost pressures.

We had 215 same stores for the three months ended March31, 2022. The following table presents revenues, cost of operations, contribution (NOI) and margins for our same stores and non-same stores with a reconciliation to the total financial metrics of our warehouse segment for the three months ended March31, 2022. Results related to the Bowman Stores, ColdCo, KMT Brrr!, Lago Cold Stores, Liberty Freezers and Newark Facility Management acquisitions are reflected within non-same store.

(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) Total warehouse count of 240 includes two warehouses acquired through the Lago acquisition on November 15, 2021 (one leased facility from the Lago Cold Stores acquisition was exited upon expiration during the first quarter of 2022), one recently leased warehouse in Australia, one warehouse acquired through the Newark Facility Management acquisition on September 1, 2021, two facilities acquired through the ColdCo acquisition on August 2, 2021, one warehouse acquired through the Bowman Stores acquisition on May 28, 2021, two warehouses acquired through the KMT Brrr! acquisition on May 5, 2021 and three warehouses acquired through the Liberty acquisition on March 1, 2021. The results of these acquisitions are reflected in the results above since date of ownership.
(3) Non-same store warehouse count of 25 one recently leased warehouse in Australia, one recently constructed facility in Denver that we purchased in November 2021, two warehouses acquired through the Lago Cold Stores acquisition on November 15, 2021 (one leased facility from the Lago Cold Stores acquisition was exited upon expiration during the first quarter of 2022), one warehouse acquired through the Newark Facility Management acquisition on September 1, 2021, two facilities acquired through the ColdCo acquisition on August 2, 2021, one warehouse acquired through the Bowman stores acquisition on May 28, 2021, two warehouses acquired through the KMT Brrr! acquisition on May 5, 2021, three remaining warehouses acquired through the Liberty Freezers acquisition on March 1, 2021 (one leased facility from the Liberty Freezers acquisition was exited during 2021), 11 warehouses in expansion or redevelopment and one warehouse which we ceased operations within as it is being prepared for lease to a third-party. The results of these acquisitions are reflected in the results above since date of ownership.
(n/a = not applicable)
(n/r = not relevant)

Fixed Commitment Rent and Storage Revenue
As of March31, 2022, $367.4 million of the Company’s annualized rent and storage revenue were derived from customers with fixed commitment storage contracts. This compares to $356.5 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021 and $307.4 million at the end of the first quarter of 2021. While the Company’s recent acquisitions had a lower percentage of fixed committed contracts as a percentage of rent and storage revenue, 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, 39.8% 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 first quarter of 2022, economic occupancy for the total warehouse segment was 76.8% and warehouse segment same store pool was 77.6%, representing a 679 basis point and 696 basis point increase above physical occupancy, respectively. Economic occupancy for the total warehouse segment decreased 25 basis points, and the warehouse segment same store pool increased 22 basis points as compared to the first quarter of 2021. Occupancy reflects the impact from the timing of the Easter holiday year over year, offset by ongoing food supply chain disruption as manufacturers have not yet increased production to levels in excess of demand in order to meaningfully increase inventory holdings.

Real Estate Portfolio
As of March31, 2022, the Company’s portfolio consists of 249 facilities. The Company ended the first quarter of 2022 with 240 facilities in its Global Warehouse segment portfolio and nine facilities in its Third-party managed segment. During the first quarter of 2022, we completed the planned exited of a leased facility upon its expiration, which was recently acquired in connection with the Lago Cold Stores acquisition. The same store population consists of 215 facilities for the quarter ended March31, 2022. The remaining 25 non-same store population includes the 12 facilities that were acquired in connection with the Bowman Stores, Brighton, ColdCo, KMT Brrr!, Lago Cold Stores, Liberty Freezers and Newark acquisitions, the recently leased facility in Australia, 11 facilities in expansion or redevelopment and a facility in which we ceased operations during the first quarter of 2022, in order to prepare for leasing to a third-party.

Balance Sheet Activity and Liquidity
As of March31, 2022, the Company had total liquidity of approximately $657.0 million, including cash and capacity on its revolving credit facility. Total debt outstanding was $3.2 billion (inclusive of $268.7 million of financing leases/sale lease-backs and exclusive of unamortized deferred financing fees), of which 83% was in an unsecured structure. The Company has no material debt maturities until 2023. At quarter end, its net debt to pro forma Core EBITDA was approximately 6.6x. The Company’s total debt outstanding includes $2.9 billion of real estate debt, which excludes sale-leaseback and capitalized lease obligations. The Company’s real estate debt has a remaining weighted average term of 5.8 years and carries a weighted average contractual interest rate of 2.88%. As of March31, 2022, 72% of the Company’s total debt outstanding was at a fixed rate.

Dividend
On March 10, 2022, the Company’s Board of Trustees declared a dividend of $0.22 per share for the first quarter of 2022, which was paid on April 15, 2022 to common shareholders of record as of March 31, 2022.

2022 Outlook
The Company maintained its 2022 annual AFFO per share guidance to within the range of $1.00 – $1.10. Refer to page 38 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, May 5, 2022 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time to discuss first quarter 2022 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 five 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 1-844-826-3033 or 1-412-317-5185. The telephone replay can be accessed by dialing 1-844-512-2921 or 1-412-317-6671 and providing the conference ID# 10165351. The telephone replay will be available starting shortly after the call until May 19, 2022.

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 the world’s largest publicly traded REIT focused on the ownership, operation, acquisition and development of temperature-controlled warehouses. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Americold owns and operates 249 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 FFO, core FFO, AFFO, EBITDAre, Core EBITDA; same store segment revenue and contribution (NOI); real estate debt and maintenance capital expenditures. Definitions of these non-GAAP metrics are included beginning on page 39, 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 document 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: the impact of supply chain disruptions, including, among others, the impact on labor availability, raw material availability, manufacturing and food production; construction materials and transportation; uncertainties and risks related to public health crises, including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; adverse economic or real estate developments in our geographic markets or the temperature-controlled warehouse industry; rising interest rates and inflation in operating costs, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; general economic conditions; labor and power costs; labor shortages; risks associated with the ownership of real estate generally and temperature-controlled warehouses in particular; 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, and including synergies, or disruptions to our plans and operations or unknown or contingent liabilities related to our recent acquisitions; 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; 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 or loss of confidential information; risks related to privacy and data security concerns, and data collection and transfer restrictions and related foreign regulations; defaults or non-renewals of significant customer contracts, including as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; uncertainty of revenues, given the nature of our customer contracts; our failure to obtain necessary outside financing; risks related to, or restrictions contained in, our debt financings; decreased storage rates or increased vacancy rates; risks related to current and potential international operations and properties; difficulties in expanding our operations into new markets, including international markets; risks related to the partial ownership of properties, including as a result of our lack of control over such investments and the failure of such entities to perform in accordance with projections; our failure to maintain our status as a REIT; 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; financial market fluctuations; actions by our competitors and their increasing ability to compete with us; changes in applicable governmental regulations and tax legislation, including in the international markets; geopolitical conflicts, such as the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine; additional risks with respect to the addition of European operations and properties; changes in real estate and zoning laws and increases in real property tax rates; our relationship with our associates, including the occurrence of any work stoppages or any disputes under our collective bargaining agreements and employment related litigation; liabilities as a result of our participation in multi-employer pension plans; uninsured losses or losses in excess of our insurance coverage; 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; the cost and time requirements as a result of our operation as a publicly traded REIT; changes in foreign currency exchange 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 shareholders to replace our trustees and affect the price of our common shares of beneficial interest, $0.01 par value per share, of our common shares; and the potential dilutive effect of our common share offerings.

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 document include, among others, statements about our expected acquisition and expected expansion and development pipeline and our targeted return on invested capital on expansion and development opportunities. 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, 2021, 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
Investor Relations
Telephone: 678-459-1959
Email: investor.relations@americold.com

We view and manage our business through three primary business segments—warehouse, third-party managed and transportation. 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, blast freezing, case-picking, kitting and repackaging and other recurring handling services.

Under our third-party managed segment, we manage warehouses on behalf of third parties and provide warehouse management services to several leading food retailers and manufacturers in customer-owned facilities, including some of our largest and longest-standing customers. 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 to many of our key customers underscores our ability to offer a complete and integrated suite of services across the cold chain.

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 services, we charge a fixed fee.

• 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.