Westrock Coffee Company, LLC (NASDAQ:WEST) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Scott Ford: Yeah, I — we will give you a really, I would say, a cogent view of that as we get towards the end of this year. But I would think you need to be on the maybe 10% in the first year, and then we will build it up 20% to 50%, and then 50% to 75% and 75% to 100%, something like that is what we’re expecting. And if we hit that, we actually end up in that five year plan, essentially unlevered and so we won’t just stop there. But you are right, we have pulled all three phases, where we were going to use the operating cash flow of the first two or three lines to build the third and fourth and fifth line. We went on and pulled them all forward and that’s why the 150 number, if you go back to some of the discussions we had as we were on the road, and people said, yeah, how much could it make? That is the number and those are the three phases.

Todd Brooks: Okay, great. Second follow up now. You guys dealt with ERP in the first half, you dealt with the single-server issues in the first half. Are you getting to a place where you’re feeling a little more front footed and able to play some more offense versus defense and how are you going to use that bandwidth to go out and attack opportunities to grow the business?

Scott Ford: Yeah, very much the mood has changed. We established a really good beachhead in this business from scratch and then we had a really tough set of battles that the group just stayed focused and fought through. I have not been in a better Board meeting since the day we sold Alltel to private equity in 2007 until today. When the Board went through all of the things that you’re asking, plus 1000 more about our run rate, about our team, about our bandwidth, about our options that are in front of us, about value creating paths we could pursue, today was the best Board meeting have been in 16 years and it reflects just exactly what you’re asking.

Todd Brooks: Okay, exciting to hear. Thanks, guys. I’ll jump back in queue.

Operator: Thank you. At this time, I would now like to turn the conference back over to Scott Ford for closing remarks.

Scott Ford: Well, I want to thank you. I know that this is a startup venture, and they’re hard to follow, and they’re lumpy, and that’s always hard to model, and it’s hard to keep up with the changes, but I believe we have turned the corner operationally on the core business, I believe we have upside in the Conway facility that is going to live up to its initial early hopes, and I believe we’ve got opportunities beyond that, that the balance sheet is going to allow us to pursue that are going to continue to let us leg this business up in a material way over the next several years, and we’re excited but we work here. But I want to thank you for staying with us and for all of the work that you guys do to try to stay up and communicate it back out. So thank you very much for your interest and your time, you guys have a great evening.

Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

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