Celsius Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CELH), maker of CELSIUS^®, the premium lifestyle energy drink formulated to power active lifestyles, today reported third quarter 2024 financial results.

John Fieldly, Chairman and CEO of Celsius Holdings, Inc., said: "Celsius continued to drive energy drink category growth at retail in the third quarter and outpaced the category in dollar and volume sales gains despite overall category softness. Pronounced supply chain optimization by our largest distributor, which we believe has largely stabilized, had an outsized and adverse impact on our operating results during an otherwise solid quarter. We remain focused on our long-term growth strategy of expanding our consumer base, broadening our availability, and being the preferred beverage for more occasions."

Jarrod Langhans, Chief Financial Officer of Celsius Holdings, Inc., said: "Gross and operating margins in the third quarter fell short due to significantly reduced orders because our largest distributor implemented a sizable, successful and efficient supply chain optimization program in the quarter, but we managed our sales and marketing spend to minimize interruptions while still turning a profit in the quarter. This activity did not impact customer sales at the retail level, which remain healthy. Our strong balance sheet enabled us to acquire a long-time Celsius co-packer, Big Beverages, which we believe will unlock innovation and other supply chain efficiencies."

For the three months ended Sept. 30, 2024, revenue was approximately $265.7 million, compared to $384.8 million for the three months ended Sept. 30, 2023. Revenue from our largest distributor declined $123.9 million in the three months ended Sept. 30, 2024, compared to the same period last year, which was primarily driven by the distributor's inventory optimization. Concurrently, related retailer promotional allowances created revenue headwinds that would have otherwise been offset by proportional distributor sell-in during the quarter. Retail sales of Celsius in total U.S. MULO Plus with Convenience grew by 7.1% year over year in the third quarter of 2024 as reported by Circana for the last-thirteen-week period ended Sept. 29, 2024¹.

For the three months ended Sept. 30, 2024, gross profit decreased by $71.9 million, or 37%, to $122.2 million from $194.1 million for the three months ended Sept. 30, 2023. Gross profit margin was 46.0% for the three months ended Sept. 30, 2024, a 440 basis point decrease from 50.4% for the same period in 2023. The decrease in gross profit was due to promotional allowances, incentives, and other billbacks as a percentage of gross revenue. These programs are driven by consumer purchases and sales from our distributors into retail, neither of which correlated with the sales that we made to our distributors this quarter due to supply chain optimization conducted by our largest distributor. Although gross profit as a percentage of revenue was lower year over year, we did receive the benefit of lower outbound freight and materials as a percentage of gross revenue in the three months ended Sept. 30, 2024, compared to the same period last year.

Share Growth
Celsius' energy drink category dollar share in MULO Plus with Convenience in the last-four-week period ended Oct. 6, 2024, was 11.6%, an increase of 0.1 points compared to the year-ago period². For the quarter ended Sept. 29, 2024, Celsius' dollar share was 11.8%³.

Alternative Growth Drivers
Sales to Costco in the third quarter of 2024 increased 15%; however, sales to Sam's club and BJs were negatively affected due to the timing of promotions and innovation loading in the year-ago period. Total club channel sales decreased 4% to $60.5 million in the third quarter 2024 from $63.2 million for the prior-year period.

Organizational Excellence
Celsius acquired Big Beverages Contract Manufacturing ("Big Beverages") in November. The strategic transaction provides Celsius with a 170,000-square-foot, modern manufacturing and warehouse facility that is expected to provide greater supply chain control, quicker innovation cycles and greater production flexibility. The facility will continue to be principally dedicated to the manufacture of Celsius products and provides the option to add capacity as the business scales and grows.

Third Quarter 2024 Earnings Webcast
Management will host a webcast at 8 a.m. EST on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, to discuss the company's third quarter financial results with the investment community. Investors are invited to join the webcast accessible from https://ir.celsiusholdingsinc.com. Downloadable files, an audio replay and transcript will be made available on the Celsius Holdings investor relations website.

About Celsius Holdings, Inc.
Celsius Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CELH) is the maker of energy drink brand CELSIUS^®, a lifestyle energy drink born in fitness and a pioneer in the rapidly growing energy category. For more information, please visit www.celsiusholdingsinc.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains statements that are not historical facts and are considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements contain projections of Celsius Holdings' future results of operations or financial position, or state other forward-looking information. You can identify these statements by the use of words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "should," "will," "would," "could," "project," "plan," "potential," "designed," "seek," "target," and variations of these terms, the negatives of such terms and similar expressions. You should not rely on forward-looking statements because Celsius Holdings' actual results may differ materially from those indicated by forward-looking statements as a result of a number of important factors. These factors include but are not limited to: our ability to realize the benefits anticipated from acquisitions, such as the acquisition of Big Beverages, our ability to successfully manage and integrate the operations, internal controls, procedures, financial reporting and accounting systems of acquisitions, and other factors related to the operational challenges and risks of acquisitions, including (i) increased costs, indebtedness, contractual obligations and/or other liabilities; (ii) the expense of integrating acquired businesses; (iii) the ability to retain or hire the personnel required for the successful operation of the acquired business and expanded business operations, in general; (iv) the ability to retain the business relationships of the acquired businesses; (v) diversion of management's attention; and (vi) the availability of funding sufficient to meet increased capital needs, among others; the strategic investment by and long term partnership with PepsiCo, Inc.; management's plans and objectives for international expansion and future operations globally; general economic and business conditions; our business strategy for expanding our presence in our industry; our expectations of revenue; operating costs and profitability; our expectations regarding our strategy and investments; our expectations regarding our business, including market opportunity, consumer demand and our competitive advantage; anticipated trends in our financial condition and results of operation; the impact of competition and technology change; existing and future regulations affecting our business; the Company's ability to satisfy, in a timely manner, all Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") required filings and the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the rules and regulations adopted under that Section; and other risks and uncertainties discussed in the reports Celsius Holdings has filed previously with the SEC, such as its Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date the statements were made. Celsius Holdings does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking information, except to the extent required by applicable law.

Celsius defines Adjusted EBITDA as net income before net interest income, income tax expense (benefit), and depreciation and amortization expense, further adjusted by excluding stock-based compensation expense, foreign exchange gains or losses, distributor termination fees and legal settlement costs. Adjusted EBITDA Margin is the ratio between the company's Adjusted EBITDA and net revenue, expressed as a percentage. Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin are non-GAAP financial measures.

Celsius uses Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin for operational and financial decision-making and believes these measures are useful in evaluating its performance because they eliminate certain items that management does not consider indicators of Celsius' operating performance. Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin may also be used by many of Celsius' investors, securities analysts, and other interested parties in evaluating its operational and financial performance across reporting periods. Celsius believes that the presentation of Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin provides useful information to investors by allowing an understanding of measures that it uses internally for operational decision-making, budgeting and assessing operating performance.

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin are not recognized terms under GAAP and should not be considered as a substitute for net income or any other financial measure presented in accordance with GAAP. Non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation or as substitutes for analysis of Celsius' results as reported under GAAP. Celsius strongly encourages investors to review its financial statements and publicly filed reports in their entirety and not to rely on any single financial measure.