WESTROCK COFFEE IPO PREVIEW (RVAC)
We host a pre-IPO preview of Westrock Coffee on Tuesday at 12:30 PM ET.
Westrock Coffee Holdings goes public through a SPAC merger with Riverview Acquisition Corporation (RVAC). Coffee is a secularly growing category both domestically and internationally. It is also a large, fragmented $318B TAM. Coffee consumption is one of the few consumer habits that accelerated during the pandemic and grew as COVID-19's impact ebbed. Coffee companies have been among the few to have successful IPOs still trading above the IPO price over the past two years. Westrock Coffee will seek to repeat that success when it de-SPACs in Q3. Our preview will dive into the company's history, management's background, the business model, drivers of revenue and margins, its opportunity set, and its valuation framework.
Consumables Pro Subscribers CLICK HERE for event details (includes video and materials link) ***Bonus Content***
The IRS hit Americans’ wallets harder this tax season.
Not that we needed another headwind to consumer spending.
The bad news is that only 51% of U.S. adults received a tax refund this year, down from 58% in 2021. The even worse news is that 33% owed money, up from 28% last year. Forty-one percent of people were surprised by their tax payments. That certainly won’t help an already-cash-strapped populace. The shifts were even worse among parents versus non-parents, partly attributable to overpayments of the Child Tax Credit last year. Among the tax winners, the largest group (28%) will use it to pay down debt, precisely the same percentage we saw in 2021. The number of respondents who said they would use their refund for home improvement fell most dramatically, while those who said they’ll use it for vacations and shopping showed small gains.
SBUX Labor issues are getting worse
SBUX is a SHORT
SBUX was hit Friday evening with a sweeping labor complaint covering 29 charges of unfair practices. The regional director of the National Labor Relations Board issued the complaint alleging more than 200 violations of the National Labor Relations Act. That's the result of claims made by Starbucks Workers United in Buffalo, N.Y., where the company's union organizing effort started last summer (and resulted in a successful vote in December). The NLRB is accusing Starbucks of interfering with, restraining, and coercing employees looking to unionize in various ways - including store shutdowns, threats, intimidation, cut compensation, discriminatory policy enforcement, surveillance, and terminations, along with mandatory anti-union meetings. Since the first Starbucks in Buffalo to vote yes on unionizing, more than 50 stores have voted to organize with Workers United, and almost 250 have petitioned for votes. In contrast, at least five have voted no on organizing. As a remedy, the NLRB is looking for reinstatement of workers and for either CEO Howard Schultz or North America's executive VP Rossann Williams to hold a meeting where they would read a notice of employee rights.
