Americold Realty Trust, the world’s largest owner and operator of temperature-controlled warehouses, announced financial and operating results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2017. The Company completed its initial public offering on January 23, 2018 and the results detailed below reflect the pre-IPO entity, except where noted.

“We are extremely pleased with our full year 2017 results, which showed strong year over year growth including Global Warehouse segment revenue and segment contribution increasing 6.0% and 10.9%, respectively. With the successful completion of our initial public offering in January 2018, we are now the first publicly traded owner-operator dedicated to temperature-controlled infrastructure. Our portfolio of mission critical assets, focused management, and customer-centric operating platform provide a meaningful competitive advantage as we focus on creating long-term shareholder value through the execution of our internal and external growth strategy,” stated Fred Boehler, President and Chief Executive Officer of Americold Realty Trust.

Full Year Highlights

• Total revenue increased 3.6% to $1.54 billion of which Global Warehouse segment revenue grew 6.0% to $1.15 billion, both over prior year

• Total contribution (NOI) increased 8.2% to $374.1 million; of which Global Warehouse segment contribution (NOI) was up 10.9% to $348.3 million, both over prior year

• Net loss of $0.6 million compared to net income of $4.9 million for the prior year

• Core EBITDA of $287.1 million, a 9.9% increase over prior year

• Adjusted Funds from Operations (“AFFO”) of $94.6 million, a 33.0% increase over prior year

• Global Warehouse segment same store revenue grew 6.1% to $1.12 billion, with segment contribution (NOI) improving 9.8% to $346.9 million, both over prior year

• Same store occupancy for the Global Warehouse segment expanded 110 basis points, over prior year to 78.3%

• Opened a new 6.8 million refrigerated cubic foot facility in Clearfield, Utah, and commenced construction on two development projects, a 5.2 million refrigerated cubic foot facility in Middleboro, MA and a 15.7 million refrigerated cubic foot automated high-rise expansion of an existing facility in suburban Chicago

Highlights Subsequent to Year End

• Completed initial public offering (“IPO”) in January 2018, generating net proceeds of $494 million to the Company through the issuance of 33.4 million common shares of beneficial interest

• Closed new $925 million senior secured credit facility

• Declared a pro-rata dividend of $0.13958 per common share payable on April 16, 2018 to shareholders of record on March 30, 2018, representing a full quarterly dividend of $0.1875 per share, which equates to $0.75 per share on an annual basis

Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2017 Financial Results

Total revenue for the fourth quarter 2017 was $401.7 million, a 1.8% increase from the same quarter of the prior year. For the full-year 2017, total revenue grew to $1.54 billion, an increase of 3.6% to 2016.

For the fourth quarter of 2017, the Company reported net income of $8.0 million, compared to net income of $12.4 million, for the same quarter of the prior year. For the full year 2017, the Company reported a net loss of $0.6 million, compared to net income of $4.9 million, for the prior year.

Total contribution (NOI) for the fourth quarter 2017 was $100.4 million, compared to total contribution (NOI) of $101.0 million for the same quarter of the prior year. The Company's fourth quarter 2016 revenues and contribution (NOI) were favorably impacted by the timing of revenue recognition associated with certain annual customer contractual volume commitments totaling approximately $5 million. Excluding this impact, total contribution (NOI) improved $4.4 million, or 4.4% for the same quarter of the prior year. For the full year 2017, total contribution (NOI) was $374.1 million, an 8.2 % increase over 2016.

Core EBITDA was $78.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2017, compared to $82.0 million for the same quarter of the prior year. Fourth quarter 2016 Core EBITDA benefited from the same volume commitment revenue related items mentioned above, and approximately $2.0 million of other income related to business interruption insurance proceeds. Excluding these favorable items recorded in the fourth quarter of 2016, Core EBITDA improved $3.7 million, or 4.9% from the same quarter of the prior year. For the full year 2017, Core EBITDA grew to $287.1 million, a 9.9% increase over 2016.

For the fourth quarter of 2017, Core Funds from Operations (“Core FFO”) was $32.7 million, compared to $31.5 million for same quarter of the prior year. For the full year 2017, Core FFO was $106.1 million, compared to $69.2 million for the prior year.

For the fourth quarter of 2017, AFFO was $24.0 million, compared to $28.3 million for same quarter of the prior year. For the full year 2017, AFFO was $94.6 million, compared to $71.1 million for the prior year. AFFO excludes certain expenses and income items that do not represent core expenses and income streams and the full definition and reconciliation can be found in the Company’s supplemental financial information.

Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2017 Global Warehouse Segment Results

For full year 2017, the Global Warehouse segment were $1.15 billion, a 6.0% increase over 2016. Segment contribution (NOI) was $348.3 million, or 30.4% of segment revenue for full year 2017, compared to $314.0 million, or 29.1% of revenue, for the prior year. This represents 10.9% improvement in segment profitability over 2016 and an expansion of 130 basis points in segment margin year-over-year.

For the fourth quarter of 2017, the Global Warehouse segment reported revenue of $297.6 million, a 2.3% increase over the fourth quarter of 2016. Segment contribution (NOI) was $93.9 million, or 31.6% of segment revenue for the fourth quarter, compared to $92.2 million, or 31.7% of revenue, for the same quarter of the prior year. This represents a 1.9% improvement in segment contribution (NOI) over the fourth quarter of 2016. Normalizing for the portion of the revenue recognition associated with certain annual customer contractual volume commitments associated with our global warehouse segment, approximately $4.0 million, the year over year improvement in revenue and contribution (NOI) would have been 3.7% and 6.4%, respectively. Additionally, normalized contribution (NOI) margin would have expanded 100 basis points to 31.7% from 30.7%.

The Company ended 2017 with 146 total facilities in its Global Warehouse segment portfolio. Of the 146 total facilities, 139 meet the Company’s definition of facilities with at least 24 months of consecutive "normalized operations" and are reported as "same store". The remaining seven facilities are in various stages of operations and are classified as "non-same store".

The tables below summarize the fourth quarter and full year 2017 Global Warehouse full segment and same store metrics compared to the same period a year ago:

Fixed Commitment Rent and Storage Revenue

At the end of 2017, annualized committed rent and storage revenue was $196.4 million, which represented 39.2% of our total Warehouse segment rent and storage revenue for the twelve months ended December 31, 2017.

Real Estate Portfolio

During the first quarter of 2017, the Company acquired a 9.6 million refrigerated cubic foot facility in San Antonio, TX which is fully leased to one customer under a long-term triple net lease. During the fourth quarter of 2017 the Company completed the construction of and began operations in its 6.8 million refrigerated cubic foot facility in Clearfield, UT.

During the third quarter of 2017, the Company commenced construction on a new 5.2 million refrigerated cubic foot facility based in Middleboro, MA and began construction of the 15.7 million refrigerated cubic foot high-rise expansion of one its suburban Chicago facilities, located in Rochelle, IL, which will incorporate state-of-art automation capabilities. These facilities are expected to be completed in the third and fourth quarter of 2018, respectively.

Total capital spend on these acquisitions and growth projects totaled $93.8 million for the full year 2017.

During 2017, the Company sold three facilities, two of which were idle. The two idle facilities were Norfolk, VA and West Point, MS. The third facility, Gloucester East Main, MA, maintained operations through its sale in the fourth quarter. During the third quarter, the Company exited a facility that it had leased in New Zealand.

Capital and Balance Sheet Activity

Subsequent to year-end, in January 2018, the Company completed its IPO and issued 33.4 million common shares of beneficial interest at $16.00 per share, including the full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares, raising aggregate net proceeds to the Company of approximately $494 million after deducting the underwriting discount and offering expenses.

In connection with the IPO, the Company closed on its new $925 million senior secured credit facility, consisting of a five-year, $525 million senior secured term loan A facility and a three-year, $400 million senior secured revolving credit facility. The credit facility has a $400 million accordion option, bringing total potential capacity to $1.325 billion. Borrowings under the entire facility bore interest at a floating rate of one-month LIBOR plus 250 basis points at origination. The spread varies between 235 and 300 basis points based on a leverage grid.

In the first quarter 2018, the Company utilized a portion of the net proceeds from the IPO, together with proceeds from the new senior secured facilities to repay $807 million outstanding under the Company’s senior secured Term Loan B facility and revolving credit facility. The Company also repaid $20.5 million of construction loan debt and canceled the commitment for future funding on those loans. In February 2018, the Company repaid $50 million on its outstanding senior term loan A facility, at which point the Company’s lender group increased its aggregate revolving credit commitments on the Company’s existing $400 million senior revolving credit facility by $50 million to $450 million.

At March 23, 2018, the Company had total liquidity of $609 million, including cash and capacity on the Company’s revolving credit facility. The Company had total debt outstanding of approximately $1.57 billion, with a weighted average effective interest rate of 5.52% and a weighted average remaining term of 4.4 years. The Company has no material debt maturities during the remainder of 2018 and 2019.

Dividend

On March 15, 2018, the Company’s Board of Trustees declared a pro-rata dividend of $0.13958 per common share for the first quarter of 2018, payable on April 16, 2018 to shareholders of record on March 30, 2018, representing $0.1875 per share for a full quarter.