Highlights
- New record for orders per month with 9.1% increase from highest
historic month
- Order pipeline grew 23.3% month over month
- January can throughput of 9.4M,
meeting management expectations
- Commercial printing operations achieved
- Internal technology development team established to forward
technological initiatives
- Four key leadership hires to continue to build on our
Operations and Legal departments
- New fillers for Baltimore and
Las Vegas are on schedule for Q2
installation
- Initiated a no-plastic initiative to be achieved by 2024
- Initiated a renewable resource initiative to be achieved by
2025
- Initiated project to develop a mobile and web-based application
for customer supply chain and manufacturing visibility
VANCOUVER,
BC, Feb. 17, 2022 /CNW/ -
Wildpack Beverage Inc. (TSXV: CANS) (OTC:
WLDPF) ("Wildpack") is pleased to provide an
update on the progress of our corporate initiatives.
"I am pleased with the cross divisional
achievement of key performance indicators in January driving
towards the strategic outcomes we have established for Wildpack on
a 1, 3, and 5-year horizon. Leadership continues to be impressed
with our team's ability to meet high expectations, delivering on
fast timelines with great quality," said Mitch Barnard, Chief Executive Officer.
Growth Update
In January our M&A team continued to add
targets to our pipeline and re-structured our transaction
characteristics to match the current realities of our share price.
Our current targets have been generally amenable to our updated
structure as we continue to advance these discussions.
Our growth team has also prioritized facility
builds in the near term, which can be financed with cash-on-hand or
debt financing to capture the growing order pipeline described in
the highlight section above. Our team is working diligently through
the site selection process, and the planning required to deploy
existing manufacturing assets into those locations.
The primary consideration for growth is location
selection. Our continued goal is to enhance our network across the
US.
Operations Update
January can throughput was 9.4M. This meets management's planned ramp-up
utilization to achieve 300M cans of
throughput this year.
Las Vegas
in-house printing operations reached commercial level and is now
producing many of the sleeves and labels consumed by our
operations. As theorized and realized, this has increased our
operations ability to reduce total lead-times and costs; providing
the sales team with a new competitive advantage to win more
business.
The new fillers for Baltimore and Las
Vegas are high-end upgrades to existing assets, with
installation causing no disruption to production, which management
believes will increase the throughput and yields at those
facilities.
Technology Update
We have advanced our modernization strategy to
implement a B2B digital paperless portal, (See: Press Release dated
Oct 26, 2021) with the project
continuing on schedule.
Our Technology division has been enhanced with an
internal development team which allows us to increase productivity,
reporting, efficiency and reduce costs associated with implementing
our technology strategy.
We initiated a project to build a customer mobile
and web-based application. This will enhance the accessibility of
the current web-based portal with beta testing to begin in H2
2022.
These enhancements will maintain us as a leader
in technology in the beverage manufacturing space, better aligning
our service with customer expectations in the digital age.
Key People Update
In addition to the onboarding of the technology
development team, Wildpack added to our leadership team with the
appointment of Elizabeth Thampy,
General Counsel, Advaith Menon, Senior Manager, Operational
Excellence, Dante Bruton, Quality
Assurance Manager and Scott Samon,
Director of Planning, Supply Chain. Elizabeth's experience with
publicly traded small cap growth companies has immediately enhanced
the internal controls and oversight at Wildpack. Advaith, Dante,
and Scott have enhanced Wildpack's commitment to operational
commitment to timely, quality production.
Environmental Sustainability Update
Sustainability is fundamental to our future. As
global citizens we believe all companies have a social
responsibility to structure their businesses to progress
environmental initiatives. This is the leading cause of the massive
shift into aluminum cans in the beverage market and why complete
all production using this format. To further our alignment with
sustainability, we have commenced initiatives to remove plastic
from our operations and shift energy use to renewable sources on a
staged basis by 2024 and 2025, respectively.
A more fulsome update on timelines and key
milestones will be provided following the planning stage, which is
currently in process at our corporate and divisional steering
committees.
Per: "Mitch Barnard"
Mitch Barnard
Chief Executive Officer and Director
Advisors
Stifel GMP is financial advisor to Wildpack
Beverage Inc., Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP is its legal
advisor.
Visit our investor website at:
https://investor.wildpackbev.com
About Wildpack
Wildpack is engaged in beverage manufacturing and
packaging, operating in the middle market by providing sustainable
aluminum can filling, decorating, and brokering services to brands
throughout the United States.
Wildpack currently operates facilities in Baltimore, Maryland, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Atlanta, Georgia, Longmont, Colorado, Sacramento, California and Las Vegas, Nevada with a focus on digital
innovation and sustainable ready-to-drink packaging. Wildpack
commenced trading on May 19, 2021, on
the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "CANS.V".
Cautionary Statement on Forward Looking
Information
This news release may contain "forward-looking
statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities
laws, including, but not limited to, statements with respect
to Wildpack's plans and operating performance, the
estimation of revenue, the timing and targets of M&A activity,
costs, future capital expenditures, and the success of integration.
Forward-looking statements are based upon a number of estimates and
assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are
inherently subject to significant business, economic and
competitive risks including but not limited to: risks related to
the successful integration of acquisitions; risks related to
operations; risks related to general economic conditions and credit
availability, actual results of current production and decorating,
fluctuations in prices of aluminum; failure of plant, equipment or
processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labour disputes,
title disputes, claims and limitations on insurance coverage and
other risks of the co-packaging industry; delays in the completion
of capex activities, changes in national and local government
regulation of manufacturing operations and labour laws in light of
the current COVID pandemic, tax rules and regulations, and
political and economic developments where Wildpack operates. These
statements generally can be identified by the use of
forward-looking words such as "may", "should", "will", "could",
"intend", "estimate", "plan", "anticipate", "expect", "believe" or
"continue", or the negative thereof or similar variations.
Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause future results,
performance, or achievements to be materially different from the
estimated future results, performance or achievements expressed or
implied by those forward-looking statements and the forward-looking
statements are not guarantees of future performance.
Forward-looking statements expressed or implied by Wildpack are
subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and conditions, many
of which are outside of Wildpack's control, and undue reliance
should not be placed on such statements.
Although Wildpack has attempted to identify important
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from
those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other
factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or
intended. Forward-looking statements are qualified in their
entirety by the inherent risks and uncertainties related to
Wildpack's business, including that Wildpack's assumptions in
making forward-looking statements may prove to be incorrect; delays
in filing of financial information; adverse market conditions;
risks inherent in the beverage manufacturing and packaging sector
in general; that future results may vary from historical results;
and competition in the markets where Wildpack operates. Except as
required by securities law, Wildpack does not assume any obligation
to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a
result of new information, events or otherwise.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its
Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies
of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the
adequacy or accuracy of this release.
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SOURCE Wildpack Beverage Inc.
