리즈(REED) 2026년 2분기 실적 발표 컨퍼런스 콜: 마진 개선, 자금 조달 검토

핵심 요약

• 2026회계연도 2분기 매출은 주요 전국 단위 고정 고객의 판매량 감소로 인해 전년 동기의 950만 달러에서 감소한 750만 달러를 기록했습니다. 매출은 2026회계연도 1분기 대비로는 5% 증가했습니다.
• 매출총이익률은 전년 동기 8%에서 24%로 개선되었습니다. 재고자산 감액손실은 160만 달러에서 10만 달러로 감소했습니다.
• 순손실은 430만 달러(주당 0.36달러)로 29% 축소되었으며, EBITDA 손실은 400만 달러로 30% 감소했습니다.
• 영업활동 현금사용액은 500만 달러에서 220만 달러로 줄었습니다. 리즈(Reed’s)는 이연금융비용을 차감한 분기 말 현금 240만 달러, 총부채 920만 달러로 분기를 마감했습니다.
• 경영진은 가격 정책, 판촉비 효율화, 물류 개선 및 엄격한 재고 관리를 통해 매출총이익률을 장기적으로 30%대 중반까지 확대하는 것을 목표로 하고 있습니다.
• 리즈는 사업 운영과 향후 성장을 지원하기 위한 자금 조달 대안을 검토하고 있습니다.

주요 재무 데이터

사업 및 영업 성과

리즈는 실적이 저조하고 비전략적인 SKU를 정리하면서 포트폴리오 효율화를 실질적으로 완료했습니다. 재고자산은 700만 달러로 감소하여 현금전환주기 개선을 뒷받침했습니다.

회사는 위탁 생산 네트워크를 통합하고, 생산 및 출고 물류비용이 다른 네트워크 기준을 초과하는 위탁 생산업체 2곳을 제외했습니다. 새로운 운영 소프트웨어와 자체 개발한 판매 및 수요 계획 도구는 예측 정확도, 원자재 구매 및 운전자본 효율성을 높이기 위한 것입니다.

상업적 노력은 유통업체 관계 재건, 매대 공간 재확보, 헤리티지 유리병 패키징 복원에 집중되었습니다. 리즈의 전국 브로커 파트너는 현재 75명 이상의 영업 전문가를 두어 유통망 확보 및 시장 내 실행을 지원하고 있습니다.

하반기 제품 이니셔티브에는 생강 향이 첨가된 토닉, 클럽, 자몽 믹서로 구성된 7.5온스 미니캔 4팩이 포함됩니다. 또한 리즈는 캔으로 출시된 진저에일을 유리병 제품으로 출시할 계획이며, 다양한 이색적인 풍미의 프리미엄 진저비어도 개발 중입니다.

경영진 전망

경영진은 시간이 지남에 따라 매출총이익률이 30%대 중반으로 확대될 것으로 예상합니다. 계획된 동인으로는 일부 SKU 단위의 가격 인상, 판촉비 누수 감소, 제조 최적화 및 재고자산 감액손실 축소 등이 있습니다.

회사는 또한 기획 및 재고 관리 역량을 강화함에 따라 3분기에 추가적인 재고 감축이 이루어질 것으로 전망합니다. 경영진은 재개된 고객 관계 강화를 통해 확보한 유통업체의 구매 확약이 3분기 후반부터 2027회계연도 1분기 사이에 가시화되기 시작할 것이라고 밝혔습니다.

리즈는 사업 및 성장 계획을 지원하기 위해 자금 조달 대안을 검토하고 있습니다.

리스크 및 주요 점검 사항

• 전국 단위 고정 고객의 판매량 감소로 인해 전년 대비 매출은 여전히 압박을 받고 있습니다.
• 리즈는 전년 대비 의미 있는 개선에도 불구하고 영업손실과 EBITDA 손실을 계속 기록했습니다.
• 2026년 6월 30일 기준 현금은 240만 달러로 감소한 반면 총부채는 920만 달러로 유지되어, 검토 중인 자금 조달 대안의 중요성이 더욱 커졌습니다.
• 성장은 재고 유지 성능 확보, 유통 매대 공간 복원, 고객의 구매 확약을 실제 매출로 전환하는 것에 달려 있습니다.
• 신제품 출시 시에는 높은 최소 주문 수량의 생산으로 인해 현금이 잠기는 현상을 방지하기 위해 세심한 재고 관리가 필요합니다.

애널리스트 Q&A 하이라이트

경영진은 주요 유통업체들과의 관계가 견고하게 유지되고 있다고 밝히며 푸드 라이온(Food Lion), 퍼블릭스(Publix), 스프라우츠(Sprouts), 크로거(Kroger), 웨그먼스(Wegmans), 잉글스(Ingles), 해리스 티터(Harris Teeter), 앨버트슨(Albertsons)과의 협력을 언급했습니다. 또한 리즈는 10월에 홀푸드(Whole Foods)와 미팅을 가질 예정이며, 유리병 패키징 복원이 유통 회복 노력의 일환이 될 것이라고 기대하고 있습니다.

신제품으로 인한 운전자본 수요를 제한하기 위해 리즈는 더 적은 최소 주문 수량이 가능한 생산 파트너와 협력하고 있습니다. 경영진은 이를 통해 새로운 SKU당 2만~3만 상자를 생산하지 않고도 수요를 테스트할 수 있을 것이라고 말했습니다.

수익성 개선을 위해 리즈는 매출의 85%~90%를 차지하는 주요 고객사를 대상으로 AI 기반 고객 및 제품 분석을 활용하고 있습니다. 회사는 또한 추가적인 마진 확보가 필요한 SKU에 대해 선별적인 가격 인상을 고려하고 있습니다.

실적 발표 컨퍼런스 콜 전문

전체 실적 발표 컨퍼런스 콜 녹취록

경영진 발표

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to Reed's Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call for the three months ended June 30, 2026.

My name is Mark, and I will be your conference call operator for today. Today's call will include prepared remarks from Neal Cohane, Reed's Interim Chief Executive Officer; and Douglas McCurdy, Reed's Chief Financial Officer.

Following the remarks, we will open the call for questions.

Before we begin, please take note of the company's cautionary statement. Today's call will include forward-looking statements, including statements about Reed's business strategy, growth initiatives, financial projections, operational improvements, the impact of corrective efforts, financing plans, and liquidity. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties and only reflect management's view as of today, August 12, 2026.

Reed's assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements except as required by law. For more information, please refer to the Risk Factors section of the company's annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 25, 2026, and in other filings that the company makes from time to time with the SEC.

When discussing results, the presenters may refer to non-GAAP measures which exclude certain items from reported results. Please refer to Reed's second quarter 2026 earnings release on Reed's investor website at investor.reedsinc.com, and the company's quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, expected to be available on the website soon, for definitions and reconciliations of non-GAAP measures and additional information regarding results, including a discussion of factors that could cause actual results to materially differ from forward-looking statements.

While we believe the non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information for investors, the presentation of this information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information presented in accordance with GAAP.

I will now turn the call over to Mr. Cohane. Please, go ahead.

Neal Cohane

Thanks, Mark, and good morning, everyone. We're now halfway through 2026, and I want to speak very plainly about where we stand. The second quarter results reflect early progress from corrective actions initiated earlier this year.

Net sales increased 5% compared to the first quarter. Gross margin expanded as well, and we expect continued expansion in the mid-30% area over time. Selling, general, and administrative costs decreased 18% compared to the first quarter, and we will continue to better balance these expenses.

Net loss decreased, and we are focused on achieving profitable growth. While these results represent improvement from the first quarter, the work is not finished, and the results are not where we want them to be. We need to continue improving sales execution, retail placement, and operating efficiency.

Let me give you some context on the key areas of progress during the second quarter. The first area is inventory. In the first quarter, inventory write-offs had a significant impact on our margins. In the second quarter, those write-offs declined materially as we substantially completed the portfolio rationalization work. We have liquidated underperforming and non-strategic SKUs, and we are now operating with a leaner, more focused inventory position. Overall, we reduced inventory to $7 million and improved our cash conversion cycle.

The second area is commercial execution. We regained shelf space and grew doors by reengaging national and regional retail accounts and restored our heritage glass bottle packaging. We have also invested in our national broker partner, which now has more than 75 sales professionals partnering with us to achieve success across key channels by increasing retail coverage and non-in market execution -- I'm sorry, improving in-market execution.

The third area is cost structure. We have taken action to better align SG&A with the current size of the business and improve trade spend efficiency, which is contributing to higher gross margins. We will continue to review the cost structure and prioritize spending that supports commercial execution.

On the product side, we have several initiatives building for the second half of the year. Our new mixer line is just about ready to hit the streets, and many retailers across the country are clearing space for our new 4-pack, 7.5-ounce mini cans of tonic, club, and grapefruit mixers. All have a hint of ginger. Our top-selling ginger ale in cans will soon be available in glass bottles. We expect this to be one of the most successful SKUs in our portfolio. We're also currently working on the most unique line of premium ginger beer in several unique exotic flavors.

Moving on to the ops side of the business. Damian Warshall, our Chief Operating Officer, has now completed his first full quarter with Reed's. His initial focus was on inventory control, supply chain management, vendor relationships, and production efficiency. During this time, we launched a comprehensive review of our contract manufacturing network, consolidating production to align each item with the optimal facility and region. We believe that work is already producing results. We rationalized 2 co-manufacturers in our legacy network whose combined production and outbound logistics costs were running well above the benchmarks we were achieving elsewhere, tightening our cost structure and reinforcing our foundation as we scale.

We've also deployed new operations software that we believe meaningfully strengthens how we forecast and manage raw material purchasing on a national basis, enabling us to operate leaner, reducing the aggregate inventory we carry ahead of production while preserving our ability to serve demand.

Stepping back, the second quarter demonstrated sequential progress in gross margin, inventory management, and overall operating performance, but we recognize that substantial work remains. As we move through the second half of the year, we are focused on disciplined commercial execution, continued margin improvement, and positioning Reed's for profitable and sustainable growth.

In the third quarter, we see continued opportunity to bring national inventory levels down further as we make efforts to build out our inventory planning and management capabilities. All this work is expected to free up working capital and improve the efficiency of our production footprint. Over the past 2 months, our team has taken the initiative to develop an in-house proprietary sales and demand planning tool purposely built for how this organization plans, tracking the baseline needs of our customers, while dynamically accounting for seasonality and the distribution gains we expect to capture through the annual sales cycle. We believe this positions us for continued working capital gains as we keep optimizing inventory across the network.

Finally, we are also evaluating financing alternatives to support our growth going forward.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Doug, our CFO, who will discuss the second quarter results in greater detail. Doug?

Douglas McCurdy

Thank you, Neal. Turning to our results for the second quarter of 2026. All variance commentary is on a year-over-year basis unless otherwise noted.

Net sales for the second quarter of 2026 were $7.5 million, compared to $9.5 million in the prior year period. The decrease was primarily driven by lower volumes with recurring national customers. On a sequential basis, net sales increased 5% from the first quarter of 2026, reflecting early progress with our profitable growth initiatives.

Gross profit for the second quarter increased to $1.8 million, compared to $0.8 million in the prior year period. Gross margin increased to 24% compared to 8% in the prior year period. The improvement was primarily driven by lower inventory write-offs, which declined to $0.1 million from $1.6 million in the prior year period.

Delivery and handling costs decreased 30% to $1.1 million during the second quarter of 2026, compared to $1.6 million in the second quarter of 2025, primarily driven by continued improvements in logistics efficiency and freight optimization. Delivery and handling costs were 15% of net sales or $2.54 per case compared to 17% of net sales or $2.95 per case during the same period last year.

Selling, general, and administrative expenses decreased 6% to $4.7 million, compared to $5.0 million in the prior year period. The decrease was primarily driven by lower legal settlements and continuing efforts to optimize selling, general, and administrative expenses, offset by investment in personnel and related services to support our Asia growth initiative.

Net loss during the second quarter of 2026 decreased 29% to $4.3 million, or negative $0.36 per share, compared to a net loss of $6.0 million, or negative $0.78 per share, in the prior year period.

EBITDA loss decreased 30% to $4.0 million in the second quarter of 2026 compared to $5.7 million in the year-ago period.

Cash used in operations decreased to $2.2 million in the second quarter of 2026 compared to cash used in operations of $5.0 million in the year-ago period.

As of June 30, 2026, Reed's had $2.4 million of cash and $9.2 million of total debt, net of deferred financing fees. This compares to $10.4 million of cash and $9.2 million of total debt, net of deferred financing fees at December 31, 2025.

As Neal noted, we are evaluating financing alternatives to support the business going forward.

This concludes our prepared remarks. Operator, you may open the line for questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Aaron Grey from Alliance Global Partners.

질의응답

Aaron Grey

I guess, first one from me. Regarding some of the vendor relationships that you referred to, maybe talk about where those stand? I know there's been some changes, probably some disruption. So how do some of those key relationships stand today in terms of retaining or maybe gaining back some shelf space for some of those key partners?

Neal Cohane

Yes, Aaron, this is Neal. That's a great question. And I have to tell you, we reduced the size of our sales team because we now have a broker partner. I can tell you I've got the 4 best salespeople in the country today. I would match them up to any other small beverage company like ourselves. We've touched almost every one of our big customers, not completed yet, some are still ready to go, but we've touched and spoken with, and myself personally involved: Food Lion, Publix, Sprouts, Kroger, Wegmans, Ingles, Harris Teeter, Albertsons. Across the country, we've talked to everybody.

Everybody loves the brand. Everybody wanted to make sure we were, A, staying in stock and we could handle their business. Two, some want the glass bottle back, so we're bringing glass bottles back into some locations, which will be extremely helpful.

I think it was very, very tough. This brand was born on glass bottles back in 1986, '87. It was our legacy, was the glass bottle, and it was eliminated overnight, which hurt us and impacted our business significantly at places like Whole Foods, just one of our largest volume per outlet customers, completely hurt us there. We have a meeting coming up with Whole Foods in October, personally with the buyer. And I can tell you, I believe that's going to be a very, very effective meeting. We have a lot to talk about.

So, long answer to a short question. Yes, our relationships are very much intact, and our business is only going to get better. And we're seeing the results right now. While we're getting commitments now, we'll start seeing those commitments come to fruition sometime around the end of this third, mid-third to going into first quarter of next year.

Aaron Grey

Okay, great. Really appreciate that color and glad to hear in terms of some of that progress there. I guess, assuming that we get some of these accounts back and get some shelf space, how should we think about then ensuring that you're properly inventoried and capitalized on those growth opportunities, particularly as we think about where the balance sheet stands today and there might be some constraints?

Neal Cohane

Yes, the one thing that, you know, bringing Damian on. Damian knew our system very, very well. Damian also knows our bottling network very, very well. We have also met with the bottlers. We've met with our production houses. And we also are using Chris Reed, the founder of the company, and his production facility out on the West Coast. It's allowing us to reduce our minimum order quantities. So as we start bringing on new SKUs, we're not going to have to have and produce 20,000 and 30,000 cases per new SKU.

We're going to be able to get it to a very, very reasonable amount, which will preserve cash, and it'll allow us kind of to see the market, test the market, see where we need to make improvement. We're much smarter about how we do things in terms of creating -- rather than creating tons of inventory which will tie up cash. We're going to be very strategic how we do it. We're probably one of the best things we have going right now is our relationships with these guys.

Aaron Grey

Okay, that's great to hear. Maybe last question from me, just on the gross margin, right? Nice to see some of the sequential improvement during the quarter. Given all the puts and takes of what you're just talking about, being able to be more nimble and efficient in terms of the new SKU launches, and obviously having a big prioritization in terms of profitable sales as you now go forward and look for growth, how should we think about the evolution of the gross margin profile over the next 12 months?

Neal Cohane

Aaron, we have implemented and installed a system right now that is best-in-class. I would hold it up against any major beverage company in the country. We're using AI in a very strategic way to help us look and evaluate how our business is in every single one of our -- and I'll just say start with our top 25 customers because those customers drive a big part of our business, 85% to 90% of our business. We now can look and perform an ROI in minutes when it used to take a little while longer than that and not be as accurate. So we can see what our mix looks like, we can see what's driving the business quickly, we'll know it, we have it at our fingertips.

But we're also working on some strategic price increases. It's not across the board, but across SKUs that we know need to have a slight more bit of a little push so we can get our margins into the, as Doug said, into the 30s and mid-30s and above range.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call over to Mr. Cohane for closing remarks. Please continue.

Neal Cohane

Thanks, Mark. Thanks for joining the call today. We believe the actions we are taking will position Reed's for continued improvement going forward and long-term sustainable growth. We appreciate your continued interest in Reed's, and we look forward to updating you on progress during the next call. Thank you.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your lines. Have a good day.