Westrock Coffee Company (NASDAQ:WEST) Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call March 12, 2024 4:30 PM ET

Company Participants

Melissa Calandruccio - Investor Relations

Scott Ford - Co-Founder and CEO

Chris Pledger - CFO

Conference Call Participants

Todd Brooks - The Benchmark Company

Ben Bienvenu - Stephens Inc

Matt Smith - Stifel

Sarang Vora - Telsey Group

Operator

Thank you for standing by and welcome to Westrock Coffee Company's Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speaker presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions]

I would now like to hand the call over to Melissa Calandruccio, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Melissa Calandruccio

Thank you, and welcome to Westrock Coffee Company's fourth quarter 2023 earnings conference call. Today's call is being recorded. With us are Mr. Scott Ford, Co-Founder and

Chief Executive Officer; and Mr. Chris Pledger, Chief Financial Officer. By now, everyone should have access to the company's fourth quarter earnings release issued earlier today. This information is available on the Investor Relations section of Westrock Coffee Company's website at investors.westrockcoffee.com.

Certain comments made on this call include forward-looking statements, which are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs concerning future events and are subject to several risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements.

Please refer to today's press releases and other filings with the SEC for a more detailed discussion of the risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements made today. Also, discussions during the call will use some non-GAAP financial measures as we describe business performance. The SEC filings as well as the earnings press release provide reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures.

And with that, it is my pleasure to turn the call over to Scott Ford, our Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer.

Scott Ford

Thank you, Melissa and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. The year '23 was a significant transition year for Westrock. When we entered last year, we knew it was going to be a long year of system upgrades and equipment installations. And as we explained on our quarterly calls throughout the year, the impact of these upgrades on our business were material and sometimes painful even if wholly necessary. We now enter 2024 on the backside of a number of important system migrations, capital equipment upgrades and with the new extract and ready to drink facility in Conway, Arkansas on schedule for delivery of our first commercially available products next month.