Cott Reports First Quarter 2018 Results, Announces Approval Of Share Repurchase Program

(Unless stated otherwise, all first quarter 2018 comparisons are relative to the first quarter of 2017; all information is in U.S. dollars.) 

TORONTO and TAMPA, FL, May 3, 2018 - Cott Corporation announced its results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2018. 

Following the closing of the sale of Cott's traditional business on January 30, 2018, Cott became a pure play water, coffee and filtration business.  In keeping with Cott's new "better for you" business focus, Cott has updated its corporate logo to reflect its new business of water and coffee services. 

FIRST QUARTER 2018 HIGHLIGHTS – CONTINUING OPERATIONS     

• Revenue increased 4% (3% excluding the impact of foreign exchange and adjusted for comparable trading days) to $561 million compared to $537 million. 
   
   
• Reported net income and net income per diluted share were $5 million and $0.03, respectively. Adjusted EBITDA increased 8% to $65 million. 
   
   
• Cott completed the sale of its traditional beverage manufacturing business to Refresco Group N.V. ("Refresco") on January 30, 2018 for $1.25 billion, of which approximately $1.1 billion of proceeds were utilized to repay outstanding debt (inclusive of principal, premium and interest payments). As of March 31, 2018, Cott's leverage was 3.6 times (net debt to LTM adjusted EBITDA). 
   
   
• On March 23, 2018, Cott completed the acquisition of Crystal Rock Holdings, Inc., a direct-to-consumer home and office water, coffee, and filtration services business. On April 9, 2018, Cott sold its PolyCycle Solutions assets to Consolidated Container Company. The net impact of these two transactions on 2018 revenues is expected to be an increase of approximately $30 million. 
   
   
• Cott increased targeted full year 2018 revenues to over $2.35 billion to reflect the Crystal Rock and PolyCycle transactions. 
   
   
• Cott increased targeted full year 2018 cash flow provided by operations to reflect the Crystal Rock and PolyCycle transactions to approximately $235 million with capital expenditures in the range of $115 to $120 million, resulting in adjusted free cash flow of $115 to $120 million (when excluding acquisition, integration, and other working capital adjustments). 
   
   
• On May 1, 2018, Cott's Board of Directors approved a $50 million share repurchase plan. 

"I am pleased with the activity undertaken and the results of the first quarter.  In addition to our continuing revenue and EBITDA growth, we closed on the sale of our traditional business which reduced our debt by around $1 billion, we received approval from our Board of Directors to rebrand Cott's corporate identity to reflect the change in the business and approved a stock repurchase program," commented Jerry Fowden, Cott's Chief Executive Officer.      

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