We are presenting our ICR Conference Guidebook for the companies in our Consumables sector today at 12:30 PM ET.
Consumer Staples companies included in the Guidebook are as follows: Black Rifle Coffee Company (SBEA), Mission Produce (AVO), Real Good Foods (RGF), Stryve Foods (SNAX), SunOpta (STKL), Vintage Wine Estates (VWE), Winc (WBEV), and Zevia (ZVIA).
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CLICK HERE at the time of the event for the live conference preview webcast or to download the Conference Guidebook. |
Return to the office (ACI)
JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Jefferies, and Goldman Sachs have all recently delayed a return to the office in the New Year. Outside Wall Street numerous other companies including Apple and Chevron have also delayed their employees’ return to the office. Headed into the December holidays occupancy levels in the office were at a pandemic peak. The return to the office had been slow and steady with downticks seemingly more tied to holidays and vacation plans than COVID-19 variants. The office occupancy will determine how permanent the food consumption shift is from on-premise to off-premise.
Growth in wine (VWE)
Wall Street has not considered the wine industry a growth industry, because there has been a lack of public companies highlighting that growth. Constellation Brands has been the largest public company in the US with a wine division, but its focus has been on beer and wine sales have shrunk with divestitures. Now with Duckhorn and Vintage Wine Estates (plus WBEV and VINE) there is more investor attention to wine.
Delicato Family Wines is a top-five branded wine supplier in the U.S., but it is privately owned. The company made headlines in 2021 with the acquisition of Francis Ford Coppola Winery. The acquisition adds Sonoma County grapes to its supply needs as well as brings a well-known brand in the fast-growing, super-premium $20 per bottle range. Bota Box represents more than two-thirds of Delicato’s portfolio volumes. Impact Databank estimates that Delicato’s volumes were up 26% last year on a proforma basis. The company has grown by double digits in each of the past ten years and hit 16 million cases in 2020.
Vintage Wine Estates is one of the companies that we would highlight at the ICR conference next week.
5th South African alcohol ban is over (BUD)
South Africa lifted its four-hour overnight curfew last week ahead of New Year’s Eve. The omicron variant was first detected in South Africa a month ago. New infections dropped 29.7% last week compared to the week prior. Hospital admissions have also declined in eight of the country’s nine provinces. The country has resorted to five bans on alcohol sales with the previous waves of COVID-19. The last ban on alcohol sales was in July before the December ban. It’s not clear that the bans on alcohol sales reduced alcohol-related admissions to the emergency rooms, but it did lead to numerous organized thefts from warehouses and fed a $1.3B illicit market. The illicit market has grown to nearly a quarter of the total market. South Africa is the 12th largest beer consumer globally, and AB InBev has nearly 90% of the formal market share.
