Good day. Before Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Inc. conference call starts, they are required to remind you that certain information in today's presentation is forward-looking in nature. Any such forward-looking information or statements are based on assumptions that they considered reasonable at the time the information was prepared. Such information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors outside their control that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information. Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Inc. does not assume responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the forward-looking information. Similarly, they do not undertake any obligation to publicly revise this forward-looking information to reflect subsequent events or circumstances, except as required by law. Please refer to Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Inc.'s Management's Discussion and Analysis posted on SEDAR and Swiss Water's website for a full discussion regarding forward-looking statements and the risks therein. I would now like to turn the floor over to Frank Dennis, CEO. Sir, the floor is yours.
Thank you, Molly. Good morning, everyone, and thank you very much for taking the time to join us. I'm Frank Dennis, President and CEO of Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Inc. With me today is Iain Carswell, our CFO. Iain and I are here today to discuss Swiss Water's financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2022. As usual, I'll begin with a brief review of our performance. Iain will provide more detail about our financial results, and then I'll return to talk to you a little bit more about our longer-term plans and expectations. After that, we'll be happy to take your questions.
If you've had a chance to read yesterday's press release in review of our quarterly MD&A, you will already know that the strong performance improvement we achieved during the second half of 2021 strengthened further during the first three months of this year. In Q1, our volumes, revenues, and profitability all exceeded our expectations, leading to a stronger than expected start to the year. As always, volumes were the key driver of our performance, with total first quarter volumes growing by 23% year-over-year. With the volume growth, along with a higher green coffee cost, drove a 50% increase in our quarterly revenue, which at CAD 38.4 million, was up by CAD 12.7 million over last year.
The robust growth of our business, along with the resulting high capacity utilization of our production assets, enabled us to post strong profitability despite the inflationary pressures that we are increasingly facing. At CAD 5.8 million, our first quarter gross profit was up 62% over last year, while Adjusted EBITDA of CAD 3.9 million was nearly double what we had recorded in Q1 of 2021. This strong performance resulted from the combination of a number of positive factors. First, and most important of these, is the recovery of demand from the vital at-home coffee market as COVID-19 restrictions are eased in North American and international food service economies return to pre-pandemic levels of activity.
Second is that as cafes, restaurants, and retail grocery outlets in our key markets adapt to an increasing environmental responsibility and food safety requirements, coffee roasters and coffee consumers are increasingly choosing chemical-free water processed decaf over coffee decaffeinated with methylene chloride or ethyl acetate. While the volume growth was notable in all our geographic markets, it's particularly noteworthy that in North America, we achieved strong double-digit growth, with volume up 18% over Q1 of last year. The improvement came from a combination of new customer acquisition and organic growth with existing customers, most of whom are now ordering ahead of pre-pandemic levels. As I've indicated in previous calls, we began shipping to some new high-profile out of home customers during the second half of last year. This new business is helping boost our results and provides an encouraging indication of future growth potential.
Prime example is Peet's Coffee, a San Francisco-based specialty coffee roaster and retailer with commercial distribution across the United States. Another interesting development is that our international markets overtook Canada as our second-largest geographic segment during the quarter, with business outside of North America growing by 37%. The big driver here were volumes delivered to the Asia Pacific region, which were up by 63% in Q1, mainly due to organic growth. In Europe, volumes were up by 3% in the quarter. Growth in Europe was not as high as in previous quarters because of delayed deliveries due to ongoing disruption of the global supply chain and problems with the Port of Vancouver. Importantly, we also see the positive changes in our customer mix as another clear sign of the strong recovery of the out-of-home coffee market, while at the same time, at-home consumption has remained buoyant.
The relaxation of restrictions on food service outlets in the U.S. and elsewhere, and the return of more people to their offices and other workplaces helped us increase volume shipped to our higher margin specialty customers by 27% in the first quarter. This coupled with 20% volume growth with our commercial customers, indicative of both the general recovery and demand for decaf and the increasing number of in-industry participants converting to our chemical-free process. What's unusual is that we've achieved this exceptional volume growth across the business despite a stubbornly high New York Coffee Futures contract coffee price or NYC. The NYC rose steadily through the second half of last year and has remained unusually high for an extended period. During the first quarter, the NYC hit a peak of $2.58 a pound and averaged $2.35 a pound.
This compares to the average of $1.27 we saw in the first quarter of last year. Normally, when the NYC rises and remains at high levels, our customers tend to consume their own inventories as they wait for the NYC to fall back rather than buy more coffee from us. However, during 2021, an unusual double frost in Brazil, together with the widespread disruption of global supply chains and growing inflationary pressures across the economy, has created a persistent fear of a coffee shortage among industry participants at all levels. These concerns have helped support our volume growth and may even have caused some customers to move their orders forward to ensure that they have sufficient inventory on hand to meet demand. Over the coming weeks and months, we will see how this continues to play out. Before I tell you more about our outlook for the balance of the year and our preparations for the future, let me now turn the call over to Iain to take you through our financial results. Iain?
Thanks, Frank. Good day, everyone. As always, I'll begin my review with volume shipped to customers, as this is the key metric that drives our financial performance. As Frank indicated, Swiss Water's processing volumes continued to grow in the three months to March 31st, primarily due to the ongoing recovery of the food service economy. Total volumes are up by 23% in the first quarter when compared to the same period in 2021. Looking at volumes by customer type, shipments to roasters, those customers who roast and package coffee to sell to consumers in their own coffee shops or for home or office consumption, were down slightly, dropping by 1% in the quarter. However, shipments to importers, those customers who resell our coffees to roasters where and when they need it, were up substantially, growing by 56%.
Looking at the segments another way, as Frank noted, specialty roaster account volumes continued to trend upwards, growing by a healthy 27% in the quarter. These accounts serve the out-of-home consumer primarily, and the strong growth here reflects the reopening of cafes and restaurants in our key geographic markets. Shipments to large commercial roasters who serve the grocery market principally were also up, growing by 20% in the quarter. Turning now to revenues. First quarter revenue of CAD 38.4 million was up by CAD 12.7 million or 50% from Q1 of 2021. The revenue increase was due to the strong growth in our volumes as well as significantly higher prices for green coffee this year.
Looking at the cost side, our first quarter cost of sales was CAD 32.7 million, an increase of CAD 10.5 million or 47% compared to Q1 of last year. The increase was mainly driven by higher green coffee costs on our significantly increased production volumes. As Frank noted, the NYC coffee commodity price has been trending sharply upwards since early in the third quarter last year. In Q1 this year, the NYC averaged $2.35 per pound, compared to an average of $1.27 per pound in the first quarter of 2021. As you would expect, such a significant rise in coffee prices triggers a major increase in our working capital needs, an increased value of our inventory, and our balance sheet is reflective of this. We are monitoring our working capital needs very closely and evaluating options to increase credit availability as needed.
First quarter gross profit was CAD 5.8 million, an increase of CAD 2.2 million or 62% compared to Q1 of 2021. The improvement in gross profit was primarily driven by the high processing volumes we put through our facilities. Importantly, high utilization of all three of our production lines enabled us to realize significant production efficiencies. First quarter operating expenses were CAD 2.9 million, in line with Q1 of last year. The administrative portion of operating expenses was up by CAD 300,000 or 18% due to higher professional fees and salaries, as well as the incremental cost of operating from two locations. Growing inflationary pressure on production inputs such as natural gas, packaging, shipping, and labor are all putting upward pressure on expenses.
However, during Q1, the increase in operating expenses was offset by an equal reduction in sales and marketing expenses, which were down by CAD 300,000 or 25% compared to Q1 of last year. Q1 operating income was CAD 2.9 million, an increase of CAD 2.1 million or 290% compared to the CAD 738,000 recorded in the first quarter of 2021. After accounting for increases in finance expense and income taxes, this flows down to net income, which is CAD 1.4 million for the quarter, compared to a loss of CAD 96 ,000 in Q1 2021, representing a year-over-year improvement of 175%. The change reflects the combination of improvements in gross margin and operating income.
First quarter net finance expenses of CAD 1.1 million were up by CAD 200 ,000 over Q1 of last year. The increase was due primarily to a higher interest rate on our debentures with warrants, as well as higher outstanding balance on our construction loans and credit facilities. Despite inflationary pressure on the company during the quarter, we achieved a significant improvement in Adjusted EBITDA. First quarter Adjusted EBITDA of CAD 3.9 million was up by CAD 1.9 million or 95% compared to Q1 in 2021. Operationally, our Adjusted EBITDA improvement this year was driven primarily by the volume growth and an increased financial contribution from our Seaforth Supply Chain Solutions subsidiary, which operated at record levels during the quarter.
As I've noted, these positive impacts are partially offset by higher green coffee costs and incremental labor and production expenses associated with operating two standalone facilities. Once we consolidate all production at our Delta location and exit the legacy Burnaby facility in mid-2023, the resulting efficiencies will bring down our operating costs significantly. On a final note regarding financing. Subsequent to the end of the first quarter, we reached agreement with Mill Road Capital to increase our senior debt covenant from CAD 60 million to CAD 65 million. With that, I thank you for your attention, and I'll pass it back over to Frank. Frank?
Thank you very much, Iain. As Iain and I have indicated, we're very encouraged by the fact that the positive momentum we saw building across the business in the fourth quarter and full 2021 fiscal year continued to gain steam in the first quarter. While 2022 is off to a good start with a strong order book, a high capacity utilization rate, and the return of generally favorable trading conditions in our key markets, caution continues to be called for. Like all businesses, Swiss Water is not immune to the macroeconomic risks that are evident across the world. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to raise its ugly head in China and elsewhere and may well cause future disruptions to the coffee commodity supply chain. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is also creating a lot of uncertainty in Europe and around the world.
Here at Swiss Water, we are continuing to experience delays in coffee deliveries as persistent supply chain bottlenecks disrupt the flow of coffee, and in particular, the reduced supply of steamship service to Vancouver. Furthermore, the continuation of a very high coffee futures price is resulting in a significant increase in our working capital needs and may well impact coffee demand at the consumer level in the near future. At the same time, we are experiencing very significant inflationary pressure on virtually all our input costs, from natural gas to freight to labor. These risks are increasing costs. These risks and increasing costs demand our close attention and will likely require further pricing actions and mitigation measures. They could also have a negative impact on our margins and our 2022 volumes.
Operationally, we continue to run both decaffeination lines at our legacy production facility in Burnaby, BC on a 24/7 basis as we did throughout 2021. Aside from a scheduled maintenance shutdown in January, the initial line at our new facility in Delta, BC operated smoothly and efficiently, also on a 24/7 basis throughout the quarter, and we are continuing to migrate more of our production here. Since its startup, we have been gradually increasing the processing speed of Delta line one as we work to optimize and maximize its production. I expect you all know by now, we must relocate all remaining production from Burnaby by June of next year due to the upcoming expiry of our lease there.
Accordingly, in order to ensure that our ability to deliver on customer orders is uninterrupted and to meet the growth and demand we see ahead, we are now building a second new production line in Delta. Financing for this project was arranged in Q2 of last year, and the necessary permits were secured last summer. Foundation was completed during the third quarter last year, and ground construction began in Q4. The project is currently proceeding on time and on budget toward a targeted completion date for 2023 lease expiry in Burnaby. As I've noted before, based on engineering reports from a third-party engineering firm, when both are completed, we expect the two new lines in Delta together will have a targeted end capacity at least 40% greater than the current Burnaby facility.
The preliminary cost estimate for design and construction of the line two project in Delta is approximately CAD 45 million plus commissioning costs of around CAD 2 million. These estimates are preliminary and like all major design and construction projects, are dependent on local and global economic factors. In the meantime, we are working to quantify the exit costs associated with permanently shutting down our Burnaby facility next year. This process involves evaluating the costs associated with moving and re-relocating some production assets into storage for possible future use as compared to immediate disposal on a piece-by-piece basis. We will report the results of this analysis to you once we determine the best options. That wraps up our comments for today. Iain and I would now be happy to answer any questions that you might have.
Ladies and gentlemen, the floor is now open for questions. If you have any questions or comments, please press star- one on your phone at this time. We ask that while posing your question, you please pick up your handset if listening on speakerphone to provide optimum sound quality. Please hold while we poll for questions. Your first question for today is coming from Grover Wickersham. Grover, your line is live.
It's Grover from Glenbrook Capital, and we've been long-term shareholders, and we've actually added during the weakness in the stock because we're very optimistic about the company. I was concerned in reading the earnings report that you were talking about ways in which to increase capital, and I noticed that you do have some additional lines of credit. My question is, are you going to be issuing equity? I would just say that if there is equity issuance, I would hope that existing shareholders have an opportunity to participate. That's my question.
Thanks, Grover, appreciate the question. Yeah, appreciate your interest as well and you know, additional equity should that become available. What I would say at the moment is that you know, we are evaluating all of our opportunities right now should additional capital be required.
Yeah, I mean, Grover, Basically, as we are evaluating our capital structures, the reason for that is the working capital requirements of managing in a significantly inflated NYC. You've probably seen some of our working capital needs increase. If you've seen quarter by quarter over the past few years, months, really, or quarters, you've seen an increase in working capital. That's just having us evaluate our kind of shorter- term needs. I'm not certain that that's going to lead to a view in terms of issuing equity, but thank you for your point about being interested, as Iain had mentioned.
Yeah. I would just say, in addition to that, if there were a rights offering, then that would obviously give everyone an opportunity. Because you know, the way we look at it is the stock is really depressed. I guess I have one other kind of a marketing question, is that I'm based both in British Columbia and in the States, mostly California and Oregon, and I think the brand is incredible. I really haven't noticed any marketing efforts to really promote the brand, and I was wondering if that might be something you might be doing more in the future, either going online with social media or even just print advertising. Again, that's not something you tend to see, but it is a terrific brand. I think that you do mention that people are gravitating away from the chemical processes, but I think a lot of people are not necessarily aware of Swiss Water, even though it's been around for a long time.
Yeah. No, that's a great point, and one I'm glad you mentioned. Do you drink decaf?
I do. It depends. You know, for my job, I have to be heavily caffeinated up till about maybe.
I heard you. Of course, which is a perfect answer. Actually, that was a bit of a setup question, Grover. Because in fact, we are doing quite a bit of city-specific work in the U.S. online right now through a couple of different platforms, primarily YouTube. Essentially getting a click-through work done in I think it's 10 or 11 cities, and I think we just went live on probably our fifth. I don't know how many cycles we've done so far, but we've been very diligent. I mean, not aggressive. It's not heavyweights, but we've been very diligent and very targeted. That's why I asked you if you drank decaf. I'm almost glad you haven't seen what we're doing because that means we're targeting well.
Yeah, we are developing. In fact, our brand awareness is increasing. We do follow our brand awareness metrics, and we've seen nice increases in the U.S. I mean, they aren't leaps and bounds, and it's also targeted city by city. It's not blanket. With those increases, I can tell you that is a part of what is behind our growth. We aren't growing just because, you know, the supply chain is disrupted and, you know, things are moving. I mean, the fact that Peet's has come to us and another. If you're in the kinda Oregon, California range, you would know some important d rive-through kiosks there that have picked up our brand again, after having lost that business, like, 10 years ago. They're back working with us.
We are seeing really strong continued demand in North America, and that's. It's bubbling over into Europe and Korea because awareness is developing in the States. Our long-term strategy, as slow as it may seem, is working. I can tell you these types of results that we've had over the past year and a half and going back pre-pandemic when we were growing +14%, these aren't. It's not magic. I mean, it's not just happening. These are. It is driven by our brand development work that our excellent marketing team, who are ex-Starbucks, in fact, you know, they're successful, and it's exciting to see. I totally support your point about marketing, and it's targeted. It's not high weights. It's not heavy expense, but it's working. Thank you.
With Howard Schultz back at Starbucks, and then with them just being right across the border, I guess you probably talked to them to see if there were any opportunities there. That would, of course, be a home run.
Yeah, that's a much longer story over a coffee somewhere, Grover, probably, but yeah. Thank you very much for your question, and thanks for your support. I really appreciate it.
Oh, yeah. We're in for the long- term.
All righty.
Once again, if there are any questions or comments, please press star- one on your phone at this time. Your next question for today is coming from Brent Davies. Please announce your affiliation, then pose your question.
Hi. Yes, [Brent Davies from Monkuna Investment Management]. Just out of curiosity, so what you were saying was essentially Delta is going to be forty or have 40% higher capacity than Burnaby. I was curious. What would be the capacity in terms of, or compared to the three lines that are currently operational?
Well, it'll be just somewhat less than that, right? Because we have the benefit right now, and thankfully we do actually, as we're dealing with some of these kind of big whipsaws that are happening with global supply chains. We do have a little bit more capacity right now to kind of get through some, you know, some heavy periods that are happening because of pent-up demand through Q4, Q1. We will be slightly down, and I don't have the percentage metric, and as you know, we don't discuss pounds for competitive reasons. We will be slightly down from where we're at right now, but the 40% number is still what our target is vis-à-vis base Burnaby.
Currently the utilization of the three lines is around 80%?
Yeah, it's tracking at that, yeah.
I guess one final question. In one of your previous earnings calls, you had listed Tim Hortons as making up 75% of your out-of-home business. Is this still the case? I would assume that if they're still around, that it should be significantly less.
That is an interesting point. The 75%, I'm not sure that metric was ever really true. The 75% sounds like that's kind of almost like the share of Tim Hortons on a home basis in Canada. In any case, Tim Hortons still remains our largest customer. You know, without kind of revealing too much vis-a-vis a competitive basis, if you think about the fact that Europe in this quarter has ended up being larger than Canada, means that we are essentially diluting the concentration risk around Tim Hortons within our portfolio, and we've continued to dilute that over the years. Tim Hortons is still growing organically within our total portfolio. Their business is still growing.
Now, they've been up and down through the pandemic, etc ., but they continue to open shops around the world, and in Canada and drive their same-store sales. I'm not sure if that perfectly answers your question. I'm not sure kinda where you're coming from, if you're looking at concentration risk or you're just thinking about how Canada sits. I'm not exactly sure where the 75% kinda sits because I don't think we ever did actual metrics on what our exactly where our food service business sits, because it's a very hard determination to get because so many of our customers, like a Mother Parkers, for example, does a lot of food service business, but also has their own retail products. It's difficult. It's very difficult for us to see. I'd be surprised if we were speaking very specifically about a 75% number with that kind of accuracy. Does that make sense?
Perhaps I misheard one of the previous recordings. I appreciate that. It was largely based around concentration risk.
Yeah, that's what I thought. Yeah.
Sorry, there was one final question. We see pretty significant growth happening in Asia and Europe. You had mentioned in previous or in a previous call that perhaps you guys would expand to the East Coast of the U.S. or potentially overseas, given customer demand. Is this still the case?
It is a long-term strategic opportunity. We have a lot of kind of work to get through in the next 24 months. We ended up having to move out of Burnaby faster than we had thought. Ideally, we will be in a position in kind of 24 months to evaluate that longer-term strategic opportunity. I think that there are benefits to, you know, having processing capacity in more than one physical location. There are additional costs to that, though. I mean, operating two facilities in a reasonably kind of small business is an expensive proposition, no doubt. We continue or we will be evaluating that in the future, and it is still, you know, on our potential strategic horizon, yes.
Okay, perfect. Thank you. Sorry. Additionally, not so much as a question as more of a comment. A few years back, you made a relatively passionate speech about the quality of Swiss Water's decaffeination in comparison to Mountain Water or some of your other competitors that use chemicals. I found that was the passion was there, and it was very nice to hear.
Well, thank you. Thank you very much. We remain just as passionate for sure. Appreciate the support.
Once again, if there are any questions or comments, please press star- one on your phone at this time. There are no further questions in queue.
Thank you, Molly. If there are no further questions, we will conclude today's call. Iain and I wish you all good health, and thank you very much for joining us.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This does conclude today's conference call. You may disconnect your phone lines at this time and have a wonderful day. Thank you for your participation.