Americold Realty Trust (COLD) Q2 2024 earnings summary

Executive summary

• AFFO for Q2 2024 reached $109.4 million ($0.38/share), up over 36% year-over-year, and Core EBITDA was $165.5 million, up 24.7% year-over-year, with an EBITDA margin of 25%.

• Same-store warehouse services margins hit 13.2%, driving $40 million incremental NOI; global warehouse same-store NOI grew 19.3% year-over-year.

• Project Orion, a technology and process transformation, went live in North America and Asia Pacific in May, contributing to margin and efficiency gains.

• Fixed commitment storage contracts now account for 56.6% of rent and storage revenue, up 240 bps sequentially and 810 bps year-over-year.

• Economic occupancy dipped to 78.1%, with ongoing consumer weakness and high grocery prices suppressing throughput and demand.

Financial highlights

• Q2 2024 total revenues were $661.0 million, up 1.7% year-over-year, driven by Global Warehouse segment growth.

• Net loss for Q2 2024 was $64.4 million, compared to $104.8 million in Q2 2023, mainly due to a $115.1 million loss on debt extinguishment.

• Warehouse segment NOI rose 18.3% year-over-year to $204.5 million in Q2; margin improved to 34.1% from 29.7%.

• AFFO per share guidance for 2024 raised to $1.44–$1.50 (midpoint $1.47), a $0.05 increase from prior guidance and 16% above 2023.

• Net debt at quarter end was $3.3 billion; liquidity stood at $554 million; net debt to pro forma Core EBITDA was 5.3x.

Outlook and guidance

• Full-year 2024 same-store constant currency revenue growth expected at 2–4%.

• Economic occupancy expected to decline 200–300 bps versus 2023; throughput volume to decrease 2–4% year-over-year.

• Rent and storage revenue per economic occupied pallet growth guided at 4–5%; service revenue per throughput pallet at 7–8%.

• Service margins expected to exceed 11% for 2024, with potential upside as Project Orion matures.

• Guidance assumes no material improvement in consumer demand in the second half; any upside from interest rate cuts is not included.