Westrock Coffee Co - Annual Report: 2022 (Form 10-K)

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UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

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FORM 10-K

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Commission File Number 001-41485

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WESTROCK COFFEE COMPANY

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)

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Registrant’s telephone number, including area code (501) 320-4880

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Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

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Securities registered pursuant to section 12(g) of the Act: None.

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Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. ☐ Yes ☒ No

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Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. ☐ Yes ☒ No

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. ☒ Yes ☐ No

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). ☒ Yes ☐ No

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

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If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐ Yes ☒ No

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If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements.☐

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Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐
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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). ☐ Yes ☒ No

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As of June 30, 2022, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second quarter, there was no established public market for the registrant’s common stock and therefore, the registrant cannot calculate the approximate market value of the registrant’s common stock held by non-affiliates as of such date. The registrant’s common stock began trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on August 29, 2022.

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As of March 10, 2023, there were 75,596,640 shares of the registrant’s common stock outstanding.

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DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

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Part III of this Form 10-K incorporates information by reference from the registrant’s definitive proxy statement related to the 2023 annual meeting of stockholders, which will be filed no later than 120 days after December 31, 2022.

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EXPLANATORY NOTE

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On August 26, 2022, the registrant converted from a Delaware limited liability company, called “Westrock Coffee Holdings, LLC” to a Delaware corporation called “Westrock Coffee Company” in connection with the closing of its de-SPAC merger transaction with Riverview Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition vehicle and a Delaware corporation. References to “Westrock,” “we,” “us,” “our,” and similar terms, prior to the effective time of the conversion, refer to the registrant when it was a Delaware limited liability company called “Westrock Coffee Holdings, LLC” and such references following the effective time of the conversion, refer to the registrant in its current corporate form as a Delaware corporation called “Westrock Coffee Company.”

Prior to the conversion on August 26, 2022, when the Company was a Delaware limited liability company, the Company’s equity interests consisted of common units and two series of common equivalent preferred units. In connection with the conversion of the Company to a corporation, the Company’s outstanding common units and common equivalent preferred units were converted into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.01 per share (“Common Shares”) and shares of the Company’s Series A convertible preferred shares, par value $0.01 per share (“Series A Preferred Shares”), respectively. See Note 4, De-SPAC Merger Transaction, to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of Part II of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a discussion of the conversion of common units to Common Shares. The number of outstanding units, weighted average number of outstanding units, loss per common unit, equity-based compensation and other financial amounts previously expressed on the basis of common units have been retroactively restated on the basis of Common Shares to reflect the conversion of common units to Common Shares.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K includes forward-looking statements as defined under U.S. federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical statements of fact and statements regarding, but not limited to, our expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts, or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “would,” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and we assume no obligation and do not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

There are or will be important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those indicated in these forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, risks related to the following:

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The foregoing factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read together with the other cautionary statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. If one or more events related to these or other risks or uncertainties materialize, or if our underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, actual results may differ materially from what we anticipate. Many of the important factors that will determine these results are beyond our ability to control or predict. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and, except as otherwise required by law, we do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict which will arise. In addition, we cannot assess the impact of each factor on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements.

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WESTROCK COFFEE COMPANY

FORM 10-K

For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2022

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PART I

Item 1. Business

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General

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Westrock Coffee Company, a Delaware corporation (the “Company,” “Westrock,” “we,” “us,” or “our), is a leading integrated coffee, tea, flavors, extracts, and ingredients solutions provider in the United States, providing coffee sourcing, supply chain management, product development, roasting, packaging, and distribution services to the retail, food service and restaurant, convenience store and travel center, non-commercial account, CPG, and hospitality industries around the world. We seek to be the leading company to our partners, providing end-to-end solutions and offering product innovation, traceability, transparency, and scalability for coffee, tea, flavors, extracts and ingredients globally.

Our mission is to build and efficiently operate the preeminent integrated coffee, tea, flavors, extracts, and ingredients solutions provider to the world’s most iconic brands. We do this to provide smallholder farmers and their families in developing countries the ability to advance their quality of life and economic well-being.

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Our platform is built upon four fundamental pillars that position us as a leading provider of value-added beverage solutions and enable us to positively impact the coffee, tea, flavors, extracts, and ingredients ecosystems from crop to cup: (i) operate a fully transparent supply chain, (ii) develop innovative beverage solutions tailored to our customers’ specific needs, (iii) deliver a high quality and comprehensive set of products to our customers, and (iv) leverage our scaled international presence to serve our blue-chip customer base.

The Company operates eight manufacturing facilities, three of which are located in Concord, North Carolina, two in North Little Rock, Arkansas, one in Richmond, California, one in Kigali, Rwanda, and one in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. We have begun the build-out of a 524,000 square-foot extract and ready-to-drink facility (“RTD”) in Conway, Arkansas, which will be our ninth manufacturing facility, and one of the largest of its type in the United States. The Conway facility is expected to begin commercial production in 2024.

As of December 31, 2022, our operating structure consists of two reportable segments: Beverage Solutions and Sustainable Sourcing and Traceability (“SS&T”).

Beverage Solutions: Through this segment, we combine our product innovation and customer insights to provide value-added beverage solutions, including coffee, tea, flavors, extracts and ingredients. We provide products in a variety of packaging, including branded and private label coffee in bags, fractional packs, and single serve cups, as well as extract solutions to be used in products such as cold brew and ready-to-drink offerings. Currently we serve customers in the United States, Europe and Asia, through the retail, food service and restaurant, convenience store and travel center, non-commercial account, CPG and hospitality industries.

Sustainable Sourcing & Traceability: Through this segment, we utilize our proprietary technology and digitally traceable supply chain to directly impact and improve the lives of our farming partners, tangible economic empowerment and an emphasis on environmental accountability and farmer literacy. Revenues primarily consist of sales from commodity contracts related to forward sales of green coffee.

Recent Developments

On August 26, 2022, pursuant to the terms of the Transaction Agreement, dated April 4, 2022, by and among the Company, Riverview Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition vehicle and a Delaware corporation (“Riverview”), Origin Merger Sub I, Inc. (“Merger Sub I”), and Origin Merger Sub II, LLC (“Merger Sub II”) (as amended, modified or supplemented, the “Transaction Agreement”), the Company completed its de-SPAC merger transaction with Riverview (the “Transaction”). In connection with the closing of the Transaction (the “Closing”), the Company converted from a Delaware limited liability company to a Delaware corporation (the “Conversion”) and changed its corporate name from “Westrock Coffee Holdings, LLC” (the “Converting Company”) to “Westrock Coffee

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Company.” Pursuant to the Transaction Agreement, Merger Sub I merged with and into Riverview, with Riverview surviving the merger as a direct wholly owned subsidiary of Westrock (such merger, the “SPAC Merger”) and immediately following the consummation of such merger, Riverview merged with and into Merger Sub II, with Merger Sub II surviving the merger as a direct wholly owned subsidiary of Westrock.

At Closing, the Company issued 12,868,151 shares of common stock of the Company, par value $0.01 (“Common Shares”), to public and Class B shareholders of Riverview, receiving $49.8 million of the cash held in the trust account of Riverview, which is net of $17.1 million of Riverview transaction expenses offset against proceeds received by the Company at Closing. The 12,868,151 Common Shares include 1,910,000 shares issued to PIPE investors who elected to satisfy their PIPE commitments through the purchase of shares of Class A common stock of Riverview (“Riverview Class A Shares”) on the public market, pursuant to the terms of their respective subscription agreements.

Substantially concurrently with the Closing, the Company received $205.9 million in cash proceeds from common stock PIPE investments (the “PIPE Financing”), issued 20,590,000 Common Shares to the PIPE investors and entered into a credit agreement (the “Credit Facility”) that includes (a) a senior secured first lien revolving credit facility in an initial aggregate principal amount of $175.0 million (the “Revolving Credit Facility”) and (b) a senior secured first lien term loan facility in an initial aggregate principal amount of $175.0 million (the “Term Loan Facility”).

On November 14, 2022, Westrock Beverage Solutions, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, acquired one hundred percent (100%) of the equity securities of Kohana Coffee, LLC (“Kohana Coffee”), a Texas limited liability company. Kohana Coffee is an extract and RTD focused business, based in Richmond, California, serving customers in the retail and CPG industries. Aggregate consideration paid for Kohana Coffee included 1,852,608 Common Shares and approximately $15.7 million in cash, subject to customary adjustments.

On February 14, 2023, the Company entered into an Incremental Assumption Agreement and Amendment No. 1 (the “Amendment”) to its Credit Agreement, which establishes a new class of incremental term loan commitments in the form of a senior secured delayed draw term loan credit facility (the “Delayed Draw Term Loan Facility”) in the aggregate principal amount of $50.0 million, proceeds of which may be used to fund capital expenditures related to our extract and ready-to-drink facility in Conway, Arkansas, or for general corporate purposes.

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On February 28, 2023, the Company completed the acquisition of Bixby Roasting Co. (“Bixby”), a specialty-grade roaster that is a leader in the emerging influencer-led brand space. The acquisition includes Bixby’s roasting facility in Los Angeles, California.

Competitive Strengths

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In order to achieve our mission, we will utilize our competitive strengths and we will drive continued, sustainable growth and strong financial performance by executing on our growth strategies.

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Exceptional and highly experienced management team. Our experienced and passionate executive team has helmed the acceleration of our growth and set our strategic direction, all underpinned by a purpose to become the world’s most competitive and innovative provider of beverage solutions in order to provide smallholder farmers and their families in developing countries the ability to advance their quality of life and economic well-being.

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Purpose-driven mission that delivers measurable impact. We started Westrock with the belief that growth is an inevitable byproduct of investments in infrastructure, farmer development, supply chain and product innovation, and technological advancement, when coupled with exceptional personal service. We transform anonymous, disjointed supply chains into transparent, connected systems. Through economic empowerment and environmental accountability, we directly improve the lives of the people who bring our products to life. Paying fair prices, training farmers, and connecting them to customers with full transparency leads to reinvestment in more sustainable, profitable farms. The value we create to improve lives accelerates symbiotically with our revenue and profits.

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Proprietary, digitally traceable technology. We are capable of tracing individual lots from the farm, through the roaster, to the finished good. We combine IBM Food Trust® blockchain, Oracle NetSuite®, and other technologies to create traceability and connectivity on a global scale.

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Beginning with the farmer transactions, data is captured at every stage of the supply chain. We then collect data as it relates to exporting and importing coffee beans, including coffee milling, ocean freight, import clearing and delivery to the final warehouse. We then obtain the roasting data, as well as information about our purchase orders and packaging. Upon delivery to our customers, the traceability data is uploaded to their portals for finished goods. Our technology and commitment to responsible sourcing enables us to transform anonymous, disjointed supply chains into transparent, connected systems. Traceability is a fundamental pillar of the value proposition we offer our customers, and is key to driving the industry shift that will positively impact small hold coffee farmers throughout the world.

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Innovative, value-added, and scalable beverage solutions provider. Our comprehensive solutions offering and strategic partnership approach make us a unique “brand-behind-the-brand,” which allow us to deliver value-added beverage solutions across multiple product categories and platforms to our customers. Our collaborative product development process starts with custom consumer insights targeted to our customers’ channel and consumer profiles and makes us a critical partner to foodservice and private label retail operators seeking new and innovative products. The ability to serve global foodservice operators through our scaled international presence, best-in-class sustainable sourcing capabilities, and vertically integrated supply chain positions us as a global full-menu beverage solutions provider.

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Our comprehensive line of products allows us to create any product platform in a multitude of packaging sizes and formats. Our skilled team has extensive experience of success working in blend matching and taste profiling, which demonstrates our ability to match any coffee or tea blend or ready-to-drink beverage desired and ensure consistency in every cup. This, along with our partnership approach with our customers, enhances our ability to drive beverage program profitability. The capacity to deliver an ethically-sourced bespoke product, around the world, in a timely manner differentiates us from our competition.

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High growth and compelling liquid extract business. As Millennials and Generation Z enter their prime spending age, they will continue to drive major change within the coffee industry. Instead of hot coffee beverages and carbonated soft drinks, millennials are consuming cold coffee, liquid extracts, and premium away-from-home beverages. These trends are trickling down into Generation Z as well. As traditional fast-food restaurants and convenience stores compete to win back market share from current industry leaders, these restaurants and convenience stores need a partner to innovate and fulfill growing demand for cold coffee and other forms of liquid extracts globally.

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As a leading partner to these restaurants and convenience stores, we believe we are capable of fulfilling innovation requirements and scaling quickly enough to meet demand. We are uniquely positioned to support innovation demand from extract development through RTD fulfillment. Liquid Extracts is our highest growth product category that includes iced coffees, cold brew coffee, and RTD mixes, with cold coffee products experiencing the most significant growth. The segment comes with a significant channel diversification opportunity within the varied ingredients and cross-selling options, with tailwinds driven by cold brew and RTD beverages.

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Unparalleled customer value proposition. Our value proposition enables us to develop successful beverage solutions roadmaps, to provide product innovation, and to grow with our customers. Consumer and market insights comprise the foundation of our product innovation process and customer program recommendations. As a research-driven organization, we utilize our industry and consumer insights across our product development and sales processes. Our end-to-end solutions are based on a cross-functional sales team approach that starts with insights and innovation, leads to product and taste profile development, on to sourcing and risk management, production, final packaging and logistics delivery, and is supported with marketing and continued process and program refinement.

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Culture of commitment. We have a highly experienced leadership team anchored by a growth-oriented culture and a deep bench of talent with strong business and operational experience. Our employees at all levels of our organization are passionate about addressing the needs of our stakeholders — from our farmer partners, to our customers, to our stockholders. Our company is full of people looking to make a difference in countless lives around the world. We

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consider everyone who touches Westrock coffee — from crop to cup — to be an equal contributor in our mission to produce great coffee and improve the industry as a whole.

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Robust financial growth and performance underpinned by on-the-ground operating initiatives. Our strong topline growth in recent years combined with more streamlined operations have delivered continued improvement in our financial profile.

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Growth Strategies

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Extend and enhance product offerings through innovation. We are relentlessly focused on product innovation as it is paramount to our success. As the brand-behind-the-brand, we expect to continue to create new categories while innovating current products and formats at scale. We believe the liquid extracts category is the best near-term product expansion opportunity as customer tastes continue to shift to cold brew and RTD offerings.

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Expand our customer base. While we take the privilege of serving our current customers very seriously, we are actively and aggressively working to expand our blue-chip customer base to further penetrate our existing channels. Our new customer pipeline is organized and quantified through a detailed process that engages our cross-functional team to ensure we are always working to grow our customer base.

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Follow our customers with geographic expansion. Many of our blue-chip customers operate restaurants, hotels, convenience stores, and retail stores globally. Based on our estimates, we serve a substantial majority of our customers’ locations in the United States, but a very small fraction of their locations in international markets. This creates a significant opportunity to increase our sales within our existing customer base by “going with” our customers where they currently operate.

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Proven M&A platform with a highly accretive actionable pipeline of acquisition targets. Our management team has a proven track record of identifying, executing, and integrating acquisitions. We intend to leverage our proven value creation playbook to accelerate growth and realize synergies. Acquisitions will allow us to increase our customers, products, and geographies.

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Continue to drive margin expansion. We have developed a vertically integrated infrastructure that allows for scalability and adaptability. We will continue to increase our scale in order to promote cost of goods sold efficiencies and improve our ability to leverage our fixed cost infrastructure. We will also continue to seek to improve gross profit, through driving sales growth in the high-margin liquid extracts segment. We expect to add additional capacity to support our expansion and supply chain over the long term by investing in additional manufacturing facilities.

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Our Products

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We are focused on building a brand-behind-the-brand platform supported by an organization with the capabilities to provide comprehensive value-added beverage solutions. Capitalizing on growing beverage categories and innovation, we offer an array of on-trend, highly differentiated and innovative products that allow our customers to satisfy their customers changing tastes and preferences.

Our diversified product offering combines a strong earnings foundation in whole bean roast and ground coffee with high-growth product offerings in single service cups, food service iced tea, retail and food service hot tea, extract-based products, and our RTD beverage platform. These products reside in our Beverage Solutions segment.

From an innovation perspective, we recently launched multiple cold brew coffee and tea concentrate product lines, chai tea and other functional health beverage concentrates, an infused-beverages platform for agua frescas and other blended juice-based products, coffee extracts designed for indulgent dairy-based products, and further expanded into core RTD products. We collaborate with customers from the consumer insights and product design phase of development through extract manufacture and end-of-the-line packaging, which enables Westrock to capture profitability at every stage of the value chain. This turnkey approach makes us a valuable partner for our global customers to feed a constant pipeline of

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innovation into their business planning process. Using this same platform, we are also able to toll produce for our customers. We believe our ability to be flexible distinguishes us in the market.

One element of Westrock’s platform is to integrate our consumer insights, omni-channel product marketing and product development resources into the strategic planning process of our key global accounts, providing us with a multi-year stream of product innovation and new product introductions far ahead of the product launch cycle. This yields repeatable, forecastable, and consistent growth and the platform enables us to more efficiently deploy human resources and capital expenditures as compared to our competition due to our integration with the growth and product innovation plans of our key global customers.

As consumer preferences change and we integrate further as a key partner to our global customer base, we will continue to create new categories, innovate current products and formats at scale, and deliver the craft appeal across our offerings, with a baseline of the sustainable and better-for-you products that our customers are demanding.

Customer Channels

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Westrock Coffee seeks to supply the world’s most iconic brands with the world’s most innovative coffee, tea, flavors, extracts, and ingredients products. As the brand-behind-the brands, our long-tenured customers include blue-chip market leaders across the retail, restaurant and food service, convenience store and travel center, non-commercial account, CPG, and hospitality industries.

The mix of industries we serve provides a balance of in-home and out-of-home consumption. This diversification brings opportunities to leverage various products across industries and ensure that, regardless of shifting consumer patterns driving consumption at home or away, we remain stable and balanced as a provider of the brand-behind-the-brands.

Supply Chain Traceability and Community Impact

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We differentiate ourselves by situating our businesses at each point of aggregation in the supply chain, including coffee exporting through our wholly owned subsidiary Rwanda Trading Company SA (“RTC”), coffee importing and trading through Falcon Coffees Limited (“Falcon”) and coffee roasting. These strategic holdings provide exceptional insight into each segment of the supply chain that allows us to better understand and manage risk. Although we do not own any farms, we source our coffee and tea from over 1.5 million farmer partners spread across 35 different countries, spreading our supply risk across multiple importers and exporters and countries of origin.

We are focused on delivering a fully traceable and transparent supply chain for our customers. We have multiple programs and strategies designed to meet customers’ varying needs, including the following:

Responsible Sourcing Strategy. We define responsible sourcing as the purchase and processing of coffee and tea in a manner that is fair to the people who grow and handle it, their employees, peers, and environments. As of December 31, 2022, approximately 69% of our coffee and tea is responsibly sourced globally. We are committed to continuing to increase our responsibly sourced coffee and tea by building a global supplier assurance framework in partnership with assurance experts, and we will audit our entire supplier network for compliance with our Responsible Sourcing Policy. Additionally, we plan to deploy more personnel in key supply chains to further quantify the social, environmental, and entrepreneurial impact of coffee and tea in the countries of origin.

Farmer Direct Verified®.  Westrock is the largest private label service provider in the world to enable digital traceability at scale from farm gate to the finished products across all beverage offerings. Our transparent sourcing program, Farmer Direct Verified® (“FDV”), provides unprecedented transactional data throughout the supply chain. This, combined with multi-year trade relationships enables deeper collaboration, enforces ethical practices in the supply chain, and lays the foundation to solve the sustainability issues of tomorrow. Communicating supply chain realities allows our customers to make the informed decisions for their brands and leads to reinvestment in sustainable farms.

Raíz Sustainability. Raíz Sustainability is a proprietary third party-verified sustainable farming program. Raíz farmers receive training, services, and a $0.05 premium that makes their farms more environmentally sustainable and profitable.

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Raíz farmers also comply with internationally recognized standards for labor conditions, human rights, and environmental protection. Supply chain programs like Raíz show just how imbedded we are with many of our unrelated supply partners, which allows us to spread sourcing risk across multiple partners, origins, quality types and farmer groups without giving up influence over matters material to our sourcing goals such as farmer livelihoods, yield improvements, and transparent data.

Raw Materials

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Our primary raw materials are green coffee and tea. Green coffee is an exchange-traded commodity subject to price fluctuations. There are certain instances when specific types of green coffee are not traded on a commodities exchange, and instead are traded on a negotiated flat-price basis.

The most common flat-priced coffee in our portfolio is Fairtrade-certified coffees. The pricing structure set up by Fairtrade offers the exporter price floor on an FOB Origin basis of $1.60 per pound for Washed processed coffees and $1.55 per pound for Natural processed coffees. Therefore, when the average price of green coffee per pound, or C-Price, plus the differential for the conventional quality in question is below the Fairtrade minimum pricing, then we pay a flat price equal to the Fairtrade minimum price. When the C-Price plus the differential for the conventional quality in question is higher than the Fairtrade minimum pricing, then we revert to a differential based pricing mechanism against the C-Price that mirrors our normal purchasing process.

Due to significant demand and limited supply, some origins, such as Sumatra and Ethiopia, will price their top grades of export beans on a flat price that is mostly divorced from the C-Price.

We purchase raw materials through importers who source green coffee and tea from multiple countries of origin around the world. For the year ended December 31, 2022, approximately 21% of our green coffee and none of our tea was sourced from Falcon and RTC. No other importer accounted for more than 10% of our coffee raw materials purchases. Related to tea raw materials purchases, one importer accounted for approximately 50% of our tea raw materials purchases.

The supply and price of green coffee and tea are subject to volatility and are influenced by numerous factors which are beyond our control and can be affected by factors such as weather, politics, currency fluctuations and economics within the countries that export coffee. For most, but not all of our customers, increases in the cost of raw materials can be passed on to our customers in the form of higher prices.

Our hedging strategy is a vital element of our business model as it allows us to fix raw materials costs for inventory needed to serve our customers and grow our business, while minimizing the margin volatility associated with fluctuations in commodities prices. While our derivatives strategy is designed to mitigate the impacts of changing prices, no strategy can eliminate pricing risks, and we would generally remain exposed to supply risk in the event of non-performance by the counterparties in any one of our physical contracts. Failure to properly execute an effective hedging strategy may materially adversely affect our business and operating results.

We have a rigorous Quality Assurance protocol to ensure that our raw materials meet both Company and customer specifications and therefore do not inhibit our ability to meet the finished goods specifications of our clients. Prior to taking ownership, we validate physical and sensory compliance of green coffee. We also check finished goods for packaging, labeling, physical, and sensory compliance with our internal and external specifications prior to shipment.

We maintain long-term partnerships with our vendors that include rigorous and integrated quality and transparency programs. We procure only the highest quality ingredients. Our supplier approval and monitoring programs ensure that we can consistently deliver and exceed our customers’ expectations.

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Competition

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The coffee, tea, flavors, extracts, and ingredients industry is highly competitive. As a scaled global beverage solutions provider with capabilities across several product categories and industries served, we generally view our competition based on product lines and geography.

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We seek to differentiate ourselves from other providers by (i) sourcing coffee via traceable and transparent supply chains, (ii) providing our customers best-in-class product development and consumer insights across broad product offerings, and (iii) maintaining a large manufacturing footprint in varied geographic locations both in the U.S. and abroad which drives cost efficiencies due to scale and customer proximity to our products.

Intellectual Property

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We own several U.S. trademarks and service marks that have been registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. We also own other trademarks and service marks for which we have filed applications for U.S. registration. The duration of trademark registrations varies; however, trademarks are generally valid and may be renewed indefinitely as long as they are in use and/or their registrations are properly maintained. We believe our trademarks and service marks are integral to customer identification of our products. It is not possible to assess the impact of the loss of such identification. In addition, we own numerous registered domain names, and copyrights, trade secrets, proprietary technology, know-how, and other proprietary rights that are not registered.

Seasonality

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The coffee and tea market is subject to some seasonal variations. Sales of hot coffee products are typically higher during the winter months compared to the summer months. Most of our customers define “coffee season” as mid-September through April. However, sales of cold brew, iced tea and extract products during the summer months helps mitigate the impact of this seasonality. In addition, the growing trend to “more than hot black coffee” is regulating seasonal variances.

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Human Capital Management

As of December 31, 2022, we had 1,327 employees located around the globe, of which 1,013 employees were located in the United States. Of our employees located in the United States, 579 were hourly production employees. Our non-U.S. workforce of 314 employees was employed in Rwanda, Germany, Malaysia, South Korea, Peru, England and Ethiopia.

Total Compensation and Rewards. We provide competitive compensation and benefits which include market-based pay that is competitive for our geographies and our industry. We offer a full complement of health and welfare benefits such as health, dental, vision, life insurance, AD&D and other provisions comparable to most manufacturing companies in our space. A 401(k)-retirement plan is offered.

Workforce Culture. We focus on building a workforce that is responsive to customer needs, attentive to being efficient and cost conscious for our financial stakeholders, and innovative in seeking to create new products and services in the industry. We actively recruit for diverse talent and seek to build a culture reflective of the desires and the needs of the customers we partner with and serve. We actively support equal opportunity employment, enjoy stable labor relations, and provide a working environment of equity and inclusion for all members of our workforce.

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Employee Health and Safety. We maintain a qualified staff of professionals to oversee, manage and apply all standards related to food safety, environment safety, and workplace safety standards by agencies that audit our facilities throughout the United States.

COVID-19 Mitigation. We have a COVID-19 response committee that monitors the impact of COVID-19 on the workforce’s health and on Company production. We responded to the pandemic by following generally accepted COVID-19 mitigation guidelines intended to ensure that personal protective equipment and distancing protocols are used in our production facilities across the entire enterprise. As a result, we have not experienced a material impact in workforce attendance, nor have we experienced a material impact on our ability to safely manufacture and deliver products to our customers.

To abate the spread of COVID-19 when individual cases are identified, employees are required to quarantine at home if there is contact, positive testing, and/or confirmed infection. To meet our production needs we schedule unaffected healthy employees to work overtime to cover staffing needs. Overtime is used primarily to cover increased product orders.

We believe we are prepared to address and follow government mandates that might become law in the future.

Regulatory Environment

As a leading manufacturer of coffee, tea, flavors, extracts, and ingredients, we comply with the Good Manufacturing Practices promulgated by the FDA as part of our commitment to produce safe and high-quality beverage products. We are registered with the FDA, and we satisfy all legal and compliance requirements under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and applicable state regulations. Our facilities are certified under the GFSI schemes and operate under a Quality Management System to assure that we comply with all regulatory and customer requirements. Our quality management systems are periodically reviewed using an internal audit system to assure that our employees understand our commitment to food safety and high quality. We are also subject to the general industry requirements applicable to manufacturers, including the safety standards of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the environmental standards of the Environmental Protection Agency.

In addition to regulatory compliance, our comprehensive compliance program is designed to assure that our business is conducted in accordance with the highest ethical standards. We regularly conduct training on such matters as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act so that our employees understand what is expected of them and how to raise issues of concern.

Available Information

The Company’s website address is www.westrockcoffee.com. Our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and any amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) are available on our website, free of charge, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such materials with the SEC. Our Exchange Act Filings can also be found at www.sec.gov.

Item 1A. Risk Factors

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An investment in our Common Shares involves a variety of risks, some of which are specific to us and some of which are inherent to the industry in which we operate. The following risks and other information in this report or incorporated in this report by reference, including our consolidated financial statements and related notes and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” should be read carefully before investing in our securities. These risks may adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations or liquidity. Many of these risks are out of our direct control, though efforts are made to manage those risks while optimizing financial results. These risks are not the only risks we face. Additional risks and uncertainties that we are not aware of or focused on or that we currently deem immaterial may also adversely affect our business and operations. This Annual Report on Form 10-K is qualified in its entirety by all these risk factors.

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Summary of Risk Factors

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The following is a summary of the principal risks that could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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Risks Related to Our Business

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Risks Related to Our Industry

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Risks Related to General Economic Conditions

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Risks Related to Our Business

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We have incurred net losses in the past, may incur net losses in the future, and may not achieve or maintain profitability in the future.

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In the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, we incurred net losses of $55.5 million, $21.3 million and $128.9 million, respectively. These losses could continue for the next several years as we expand our product offering and continue to scale our commercial operations. Even if we are able to increase sales of our products, there can be no assurance that we will ever be profitable.

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We may incur significant net losses for the foreseeable future as we:

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If our products do not achieve sufficient market acceptance, our revenue growth rate may be slower than we expect, we may not be able to increase revenue enough to offset the increase in operating expenses resulting from investments, and we will not become profitable. There can be no assurance that we will ever achieve or sustain profitability.

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Any failure to retain key personnel or recruit qualified personnel could adversely impact our financial condition, results of operations and cash flow.

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Our success depends on the contributions of key personnel and a consistent workforce, including production workers, support staff and executive team members. The competition for talent in the markets in which we compete is extremely high and candidates’ preferences and expectations are evolving. We must continue to recruit, retain, motivate and develop management and other employees sufficiently to maintain our current business and support our projected growth and strategic initiatives. This may require that we adapt to evolving labor conditions and make significant investments in our employees, including through coaching, training or other professional development activities. Activities related to identifying, recruiting, hiring and integrating qualified individuals require significant time and attention. We may also need to invest significant amounts of cash and equity to attract talented new employees, the returns on which we may never fully realize. In this competitive environment, our business could be adversely affected by increased labor costs, including wages and benefits, cost increases triggered by compensation-related regulatory actions concerning wages, worktime scheduling and benefits; increased healthcare and workers’ compensation insurance costs; increased wages and costs of other benefits necessary to attract and retain high quality employees with the appropriate skill sets and increased wages, benefits and costs related to any COVID-19 resurgence. In addition, our wages and benefits programs may be insufficient to attract and retain talented employees.

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Our ability to achieve our key strategic objectives may be adversely affected if we are unable to successfully retain our talented employees, which may impact our financial condition and operating results. For example, our founder, Mr. Scott T. Ford, is an important leader for the business and any loss of service resulting from his absence would disrupt our business and likely adversely impact our operating performance. Further, any unplanned turnover or failure to develop or implement an adequate succession plan for our senior management and other key employees, could deplete our institutional knowledge, erode our competitive advantage, and negatively affect our business, financial condition and operating results. We do not maintain key person life insurance policies on any of our executive officers.

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We do not currently have written contracts with certain of our co-manufacturers. The loss of these co-manufacturers or the inability of these co-manufacturers to fulfill our orders would adversely affect our ability to make timely deliveries of our products and could have a material adverse effect on our business.

For the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, 7.1%, 7.8% and 9.6% of our revenue was derived from products manufactured at manufacturing facilities owned and operated by our co-manufacturers. We do not currently

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have written manufacturing contracts with co-manufacturers who represented 5.0% of our revenue for the year ended December 31, 2022. In the absence of a written contract, any of such co-manufacturers could seek to alter or terminate its relationship with us at any time, leaving us with periods during which we have limited or no ability to manufacture our products. If we need to replace a co-manufacturer, there can be no assurance that additional capacity will be available when required on acceptable terms, or at all.

An interruption in, or the loss of operations at, one or more of our co-manufacturing facilities, which may be caused by work stoppages, disease outbreaks or pandemics, acts of war, terrorism, fire, earthquakes, flooding or other natural disasters at one or more of these facilities, could delay, postpone or reduce production of some of our products, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition until such time as such interruption is resolved or an alternate source of production is secured.

We believe there are a limited number of competent, high-quality co-manufacturers in the industry that meet our strict quality and control standards, and as we seek to obtain additional or alternative co-manufacturing arrangements in the future, there can be no assurance that we would be able to do so on satisfactory terms, in a timely manner, or at all. Therefore, the loss of one or more co-manufacturers, any disruption or delay at a co-manufacturer or any failure to identify and engage co-manufacturers for new products and product extensions could delay, postpone or reduce production of our products, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Further consolidation among our customers or the loss of any key customer could negatively affect our sales, profitability and future growth.

We have a number of large national account customers and the loss of or reduction in sales to one or more of them would likely have a material adverse effect on our operating results. For the fiscal years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, our top five customers accounted for approximately 37%, 35% and 34%, respectively, of our net sales. To the extent that we do not have written contracts with customers, they can stop purchasing our products at any time without penalty and are free to purchase products from our competitors. There can be no assurance that our customers will continue to purchase our products in the same mix or quantities or on the same terms as they have in the past. Our customers may also take actions that we cannot control or anticipate, such as changing their business strategy or introducing products that may compete with ours.

Additionally, industry consolidation has generally led to our customers becoming larger and more sophisticated buyers of our products, leveraging their buying power and negotiating strength to improve their profitability through more favorable contractual terms. To the extent we provide contractual concessions such as lower prices or more favorable trade terms, our margins would be reduced. Over time, our inability to extend such concessions may negatively impact our sales revenue. Our customers may also face financial difficulties, bankruptcy or other business disruptions that may affect their ability to pay for our products, which could adversely affect our sales and profitability.

If we are unable to anticipate customer preferences and successfully develop new products, or if we fail to effectively manage the introduction of new products, our business will suffer.

Our business depends on our ability to satisfy our customers with our beverage products. In order for us to maintain or improve Westrock’s operating results and grow its revenue, it is important that our customers continue purchasing our products. Our customers generally have no obligation to continue or otherwise extend their purchasing, and there can be no assurance that our customers will continue or otherwise extend their purchasing for similar periods or for the same amount of our products.

The rate at which we retain our customers may decline or fluctuate as a result of a number of factors, including our end-use customers’ changing preferences, the shift among millennial coffee drinkers from hot brew towards cold brew and extracts (or any reversion thereof), satisfaction with our products and their prices, the prices of competing products, mergers and acquisitions affecting our direct customers, the effects of global economic conditions, and reductions in customers’ spending levels. If our customers do not continue purchasing our products, our revenues would decline, and we may not realize improved operating results from our customer base.

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Our accounts receivable represents a significant portion of our current assets and a substantial portion of our trade accounts receivables relate principally to a limited number of customers, increasing our exposure to bad debts and counterparty risk, which could potentially have a material adverse result on our results of operations.

A significant portion of our trade accounts receivable are from five customers, which represented approximately 54% and 35% of our trade accounts receivable for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The concentration of our accounts receivable across a limited number of parties subjects us to individual counterparty and credit risk as these parties may breach our agreement, claim that we have breached the agreement, become insolvent and/or declare bankruptcy, thereby delaying or reducing our collection of receivables or rendering collection impossible altogether. Some of these parties use third-party distributors or do business through a network of affiliate entities which can make collection efforts more challenging and, at times collections may be economically unfeasible. Adverse changes in general economic conditions and/or contraction in global credit markets could lead to liquidity problems among our debtors. This could increase our exposure to losses from bad debts and have a materially adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our estimated addressable market is subject to inherent challenges and uncertainties. If we have overestimated the size of our addressable market, our future growth opportunities may be limited.

Our total addressable market in the United States is calculated based on an estimated percentage of households that purchase coffee products at least once per year, which we generally estimate based on internal and third-party market research, historical surveys and interviews with market participants. As a result, our addressable market is subject to significant uncertainty and is based on assumptions that may not prove to be accurate. Our estimates are based, in part, on third-party reports and are subject to significant assumptions and estimates. These estimates, as well as the estimates relating to the size and expected growth of the markets in which we operate, and our penetration of those markets, may change or prove to be inaccurate. While we believe that the information on which we base our addressable market estimates is generally reliable, such information is inherently imprecise. In addition, our expectations, assumptions and estimates of future opportunities are necessarily subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors, including those described herein. If third-party or internally generated data prove to be inaccurate or we make errors in our assumptions based on that data, our future growth opportunities may be affected. If our addressable market, or the size of any of the various ancillary markets in which we operate, proves to be inaccurate, our future growth opportunities may be limited, and there could be a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our growth depends, in part, on our continued penetration and expansion into additional markets, and we may not be successful in doing so.

We believe that our future growth depends not only on serving existing customers, but also on continuing to get new customers and expanding our distribution base in the United States and internationally. In new geographic markets, we may face challenges that are different from those we currently encounter, including competitive, merchandising, distribution, hiring, legal and regulatory, and other difficulties. Although we continue to evaluate sales and marketing efforts and other strategies to expand our supplier, customer and distribution bases, there is no assurance that we will be successful. If we are not successful, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to U.S. and international laws and regulations that could adversely affect our business, including anti-corruption laws and trade controls laws, and noncompliance with such laws could subject us to criminal or civil liability.

We are subject to various federal, state, local and foreign laws that affect how we conduct our business, including the manufacturing, safety, sourcing, labeling, storing, transportation, marketing, advertising, distribution and sale of our products, our relations with distributors and retailers, and our employment, environmental, privacy, health and trade practices. These laws and regulations and interpretations thereof are subject to change as a result of political, economic or social events. Any new laws and regulations or changes in existing laws or their interpretations could result in

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increased compliance costs, capital expenditures, incremental investments and other financial obligations for us and our business partners, which could affect our profitability.

Additionally, our expanding international business will also expose us to additional regulatory regimes, which may be very different from the ones we are used to complying with domestically, and these foreign laws may occasionally conflict with domestic laws. Aside from the regulatory risks of doing business in foreign countries, our business in these countries is also subject to certain U.S. laws, regulations and policies, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or “FCPA,” as well as trade control laws such as economic sanctions, customs and import laws, and export control laws and regulations. The FCPA generally prohibits companies from making direct or indirect improper payments to non-U.S. government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business or obtaining an improper business advantage. Both the SEC and U.S. Department of Justice have aggressively enforced the FCPA in recent years. Our operations in foreign countries may place us in contact with persons who may be considered “foreign officials” under the FCPA, resulting in greater risk of potential violations of the FCPA (or other applicable public corruption regimes). We also have activities in jurisdictions that are perceived to present heightened risks of public corruption. The FCPA also requires that we keep accurate books and records and maintain a system of adequate internal controls. In addition to the FCPA’s prohibitions on public corruption, the UK Bribery Act 2010, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009, and other anti-corruption laws that could apply to our international activities also prohibit commercial bribery and requesting or accepting bribes. U.S. trade control laws prohibit certain transactions and dealings involving sanctioned countries, governments, persons, without a license or other appropriate authorization. As we increase our international sales and business, our risks of non-compliance with the FCPA and U.S. trade control laws may increase. Although we have implemented policies and procedures designed to ensure that we, our employees and our intermediaries comply with the FCPA, other applicable anti-corruption or anti-bribery laws, and applicable trade control laws, there is no assurance that such policies or procedures will prevent illegal acts by our employees or intermediaries, or protect us against liability under the FCPA, other anti-corruption regimes, or trade sanctions laws.

Our business must also be conducted in compliance with applicable economic and trade sanctions laws and regulations, such as those administered and enforced by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the United Nations Security Council and other relevant sanctions authorities. Our global operations expose us to the risk of violating, or being accused of violating, economic and trade sanctions laws and regulations. Despite our compliance efforts and activities, we cannot assure compliance by our employees or representatives for which we may be held responsible, and any such violation could materially adversely affect our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.

Changes in international tax treaties or international trade policy, or the imposition of increased or new tariffs, quotas or trade barriers on key commodities, could also adversely affect our business.

Violations of these laws or regulations could have a material adverse effect on us, by imposing substantial financial penalties or significant operational limitations, diverting management’s attention and resources and incurring significant defense costs and other professional fees. Investigations of potential violations of these laws by local, state, federal or foreign authorities could also harm our reputation and have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We have in the past and may in the future acquire companies, which can divert our management’s attention and we may also be unable to integrate such businesses or identify and achieve their projected benefits.

Our future success will depend, in part, on our ability to grow in the face of changing customer demands and competition. A core part of our strategy is to grow through acquisitions. We successfully completed the acquisition of S&D Coffee, Inc. (“S&D”) in February 2020, our de-SPAC merger transaction with Riverview in August 2022 and our acquisition of Kohana Coffee in November 2022, and we expect to pursue additional acquisitions. However, we may be unable to identify and consummate additional acquisitions, and we may incur significant transaction costs for acquisitions that we do not complete. Furthermore, the identification of suitable acquisition candidates can be difficult, time-consuming and costly, and we may not complete acquisitions on favorable terms, if at all. Such acquisitions may

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disrupt our ongoing business operations, divert management from their primary responsibilities, increase our expenses and subject us to increased regulatory requirements. Risks we face in connection with acquisitions include:

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In addition to the above risks, we may not successfully integrate and manage businesses that we acquire or fully achieve anticipated cost savings and synergies from acquisitions in the timeframe we anticipate or at all and projections of the anticipated benefits of any acquisition can be negatively affected by intervening events beyond our control. Projected growth opportunities could also require a greater-than-anticipated amount of trade and promotional spending. There can be no assurance that we will successfully or efficiently integrate any businesses that we may acquire in the future, and the failure to do so could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

If we continue to grow rapidly, we may not be able to effectively manage the growth and increased complexity of our business and, as a result, our business, financial condition and operating results could suffer.

Our rapid growth has placed, and may continue to place, significant demands on our organizational, administrative and operational infrastructure, including manufacturing operations, supply chain, quality control, regulatory support, customer service, sales force management and general and financial administration. Further, we have a limited history of operating our legacy business and the acquired S&D business as a combined company. As we continue to grow and potentially acquire other businesses, we will need to continue building our operational, financial and management controls as well as our reporting systems and procedures. Managing our planned growth effectively may require us to:

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If our operations continue to grow rapidly, we may experience challenges in obtaining sufficient raw materials and manufacturing capacity to produce the products we sell, along with delays in production and shipments. We could also be required to continue to expand our sales and marketing, product development, and distribution capabilities or further expand our workforce. Any such expansion could strain our resources, expose us to new legal risks in new jurisdictions, and cause operating difficulties. If we are unable to manage our growth and increased complexity effectively, we may be unable to execute our business plan, which could lead to a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

Fluctuations in our operating results adversely affect our financial condition and cash flow, and may make it difficult to project future results and meet the earnings expectations of securities analysts or investors.

Our rapid growth makes it difficult for us to forecast our future operating results, which have fluctuated in the past and are expected to fluctuate in the future due to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control. In addition to the other risks described herein, such factors include changes in accounting principles, fluctuations in the selling prices of our products, research reports and changes in financial estimates by analysts about us, our competitors or our industry,

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strategic decisions by us or our competitors, such as acquisitions, capital investments or changes in business strategy, the depth and liquidity of the market for Common Shares, activism by any large stockholder or group of stockholders, speculation by the investment community regarding our business, actual or anticipated growth rates relative to our competitors, terrorist acts, natural disasters, pandemics (including COVID-19), perceptions of the investment opportunity associated with Common Shares relative to other investment alternatives, competition, changes in consumer preferences and market trends (including, for example, an acceleration in any shift from hot coffee to cold brews and extracts), seasonality, our ability to retain and attract customers, our ability to manage inventory and fulfillment operations and maintain gross margin. The effects of any of these and other factors could, either individually or in the aggregate, negatively impact our operating results and cause the market price of Common Shares to decline.

Disruption in operations at any of our production and distribution facilities could affect our ability to manufacture or distribute products and could adversely affect our business and sales.

Our sales and distribution network requires a large investment to maintain and operate, and we rely on a limited number of production and distribution facilities. Our production capacity is currently concentrated in our Concord, North Carolina, North Little Rock, Arkansas, Richmond, California and Johor Bahru, Malaysia facilities, and will soon be supplemented by our planned production expansion at our new Conway, Arkansas facility. If we were to experience a prolonged disruption in the operation of these facilities due to damage from fire, natural disaster, power loss, labor shortages, or a failure of production equipment or information technology systems supporting our production processes, we may not have sufficient capacity at our other facilities to meet our customers’ demands. If demand increases more than we forecast, we will need to either expand our capabilities internally or acquire additional capacity. Alternative facilities with sufficient capacity or capabilities may not be available, may cost substantially more than existing facilities or may take a significant time to start production, which would have an adverse impact on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

We also rely on the timely and free flow of goods through open and operational ports from our suppliers and manufacturers. Labor disputes or disruptions at ports, our common carriers, or our suppliers or manufacturers could create significant risks for our business, particularly if these disputes result in work slowdowns, lockouts, strikes, or other disruptions during periods of significant importing or manufacturing, potentially resulting in delayed or canceled orders by customers, unanticipated inventory accumulation or shortages, and harm to our business, results of operations, and financial condition. In addition, we rely upon independent freight carriers for product shipments from our distribution centers to our customers. We may not be able to obtain sufficient freight capacity on a timely basis or at favorable shipping rates and, therefore, may not be able to receive products from suppliers or deliver products to customers in a timely and cost-effective manner.

In addition, we use a significant amount of electricity, gasoline, diesel and oil, natural gas and other energy sources to operate our production and distribution facilities. An increase in the price, disruption of supply or shortage of fuel and other energy sources that may be caused by increased demand or by events such as climate change, natural disasters, power outages, cyberattacks or the like, could lead to higher electricity, transportation and other commodity costs, which could negatively impact our profitability, financial condition or results of operations.

We may not complete the construction of our new production facility in Conway, Arkansas in time or at all and may incur additional expenses in the process, which could hamper our ability to satisfy demand and meet revenue targets.

In 2021, we purchased a 524,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Conway, Arkansas with the intent to build out the capacity and capabilities needed to meet our customer demand. Construction on the facility began in late 2022 and we are in active discussions with prospective customers related to price, terms, volume and commitments. If the completion of this facility is delayed or otherwise not completed, or if we incur additional expenses in the process of opening this facility, it might hamper our ability to satisfy customer demand and meet revenue targets, which could cause our profitability to suffer.

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Future litigation or disputes could lead us to incur significant liabilities or harm our reputation.

We have in the past and/or may in the future become subject to legal proceedings, disputes, claims, investigations, regulatory proceedings, or similar actions that arise in the ordinary course of business, such as claims brought by our customers in connection with commercial matters, or employment claims brought by our employees. Further, state or federal regulators could make inquiries and/or conduct investigations with respect to one or more of our products.

We may become a defendant in class action litigation, including litigation regarding employment practices, product labeling, public statements and disclosures under securities laws, antitrust, advertising, consumer protection and wage and hour laws. Plaintiffs in class action litigation may seek to recover amounts that are large and may be indeterminable for some period of time. We evaluate litigation claims and legal proceedings to assess the likelihood of unfavorable outcomes and estimate, if possible, the amount of potential losses. We will establish a reserve as appropriate based upon assessments and estimates in accordance with our accounting policies. We will base our assessments, estimates and disclosures on the information available to us at the time and rely on legal and management judgment. Actual outcomes or losses may differ materially from assessments and estimates.

Even if any such litigation or claims lack merit, the process of defending against these claims may result in substantial costs to the business and divert management’s attention and resources, which can harm our business, operating results and financial condition. Any adverse publicity resulting from allegations made in litigation claims or legal proceedings may also adversely affect our reputation, which in turn could adversely affect our operating results.

Our failure to comply with applicable transfer pricing and similar regulations may harm our business and financial results.

In many countries, including the United States, we are subject to transfer pricing and other tax regulations designed to ensure that appropriate levels of income are reported as earned and are taxed accordingly. Although we believe that we are in substantial compliance with all applicable regulations and restrictions, we are subject to the risk that governmental authorities could audit our transfer pricing and related practices and assert that additional taxes are owed. In the event that the audits or assessments are concluded adversely to our positions, we may be required to pay additional taxes, interest, and penalties and we may or may not be able to offset or mitigate the consolidated effect of foreign income tax assessments through the use of U.S. foreign tax credits. As a result, our operations may be negatively impacted, our effective tax rate may increase, and our cash flows may be materially adversely affected. Because the laws and regulations governing U.S. foreign tax credits are complex and subject to periodic legislative amendment, we cannot be sure that we will in fact be able to take advantage of any foreign tax credits in the future. We may not always be in compliance with all applicable tax laws, including transfer pricing laws, despite our efforts to be aware of and to comply with such laws. In such case, we may need to adjust our operating procedures and, as a result, our financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

We are increasingly dependent on information technology and our ability to process data in order to operate and sell our products, and if we are unable to protect against software and hardware vulnerabilities, service interruptions, data corruption, cyber-based attacks, ransomware or security breaches, or if we fail to comply with our commitments and assurances regarding the privacy and security of such data, our operations could be disrupted, our ability to provide our products could be interrupted, our reputation may be harmed and we may be exposed to liability and loss of customers and business.

We rely on information technology networks and systems and data processing (some of which are managed by third-party service providers) to market, sell and deliver our products, to collect, receive, store, process, generate, use, transfer, disclose, make accessible, protect, secure, dispose of and share personal information, confidential or proprietary information, financial information and other information, to manage a variety of business processes and activities, for financial reporting purposes, to operate our business, to process and fulfill orders, for legal and marketing purposes and to comply with regulatory, legal and tax requirements. These information technology networks and systems may be vulnerable to data security and privacy threats, cyber and otherwise. Moreover, the risk of unauthorized circumvention of our security measures or those of third parties on whom we rely has been heightened by advances in computer and software capabilities and the increasing sophistication of hackers who employ complex techniques, including, without

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limitation, “phishing” or social engineering incidents, ransomware, extortion, account takeover attacks, denial or degradation of service attacks and malware. Further, breaches experienced by other companies may also be leveraged against us. For example, credential stuffing attacks are becoming increasingly common and sophisticated actors can mask their attacks, making them increasingly difficult to identify and prevent. We have technology security initiatives and disaster recovery plans in place to mitigate our risk to these vulnerabilities, but these measures may not be adequately designed or implemented to ensure that our operations are not disrupted or that data security breaches do not occur. If our information technology networks and systems or data processing suffer damage, security breaches, vulnerabilities, disruption or shutdown, and we do not effectively resolve the issues in a timely manner, they could cause a material adverse impact to our business, reputation and financial condition.

Hackers and data thieves are increasingly sophisticated and operate large-scale and complex automated attacks, which may remain undetected until after they occur. Despite our efforts to protect our information technology networks, systems and information, we may not be able to anticipate or to implement effective preventive and remedial measures against all data security and privacy threats. Our security measures may not be adequate to prevent or detect service interruption, system failure data loss or theft, or other material adverse consequences. No security solution, strategy or measures can address all possible security threats. Our applications, systems, networks, software and physical facilities could have material vulnerabilities, be breached or personal or confidential information could be otherwise compromised due to employee error or malfeasance, if, for example, third parties attempt to fraudulently induce our personnel or our customers to disclose information or usernames and/or passwords, or otherwise compromise the security of our applications, systems, networks, software and/or physical facilities. We cannot be certain that we will be able to address any such vulnerabilities, in whole or part, and there may be delays in developing and deploying patches and other remedial measures to adequately address vulnerabilities and taking such remedial steps could adversely impact or disrupt our operations. We expect similar issues to arise in the future as our products are more widely adopted, we continue to expand the features of existing products and introduce new products and we process, store, and transmit increasingly large amounts of personal and/or sensitive data.

An actual or perceived breach of our security systems or those of our third-party service providers may require notification under applicable data privacy regulations or for customer relations or publicity purposes, which could result in reputational harm, costly litigation (including class action litigation), material contract breaches, liability, settlement costs, loss of sales, regulatory scrutiny, actions or investigations, loss of confidence in our business, diversion of management’s time and attention, and significant fines, penalties, assessments, fees and expenses.

The costs to respond to a security breach and/or to mitigate any security vulnerabilities that may be identified could be significant, and our efforts to address these problems may not be successful. These costs include, but are not limited to, retaining the services of cybersecurity providers; compliance costs arising out of existing and future cybersecurity, data protection and privacy laws and regulations; and costs related to maintaining redundant networks, data backups and other damage-mitigation measures. We could be required to fundamentally change our business activities and practices in response to a security breach or related regulatory actions or litigation, which could have an adverse effect on our business. Additionally, most jurisdictions have enacted laws requiring companies to notify individuals, regulatory authorities, and others of security breaches involving certain types of data. Such mandatory disclosures are costly, could lead to negative publicity, may cause our customers to lose confidence in the effectiveness of our security measures and require us to expend significant capital and other resources to respond to and/or alleviate problems caused by the actual or perceived security breach.

We may not have adequate insurance coverage for handling security incidents or breaches, including fines, judgments, settlements, penalties, costs, attorney’s fees and other impacts that arise out of incidents or breaches. The successful assertion of one or more large security incident or breach-related claims against us that exceeds our available insurance coverage, or results in changes to our insurance policies (including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or co-insurance requirements), could harm our business. In addition, we cannot be sure that our existing insurance coverage will continue to be available on acceptable terms or that our insurers will not deny coverage as to all or part of any future claim or loss. Moreover, our privacy risks are likely to increase as we continue to expand, grow our customer base, and process, store, and transmit increasingly large amounts of personal and/or sensitive data. In addition, our cybersecurity risk could be increased as a result of the ongoing military conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the related sanctions imposed against Russia. We utilize a third-party monitoring service that constantly surveils for

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developing threats as part of our normal security programs, including with respect to any new cybersecurity threats that may be presented by the unfolding conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

The unauthorized access, theft, use or destruction of personal, financial or other confidential information relating to our customers, suppliers, employees or business could expose us to reputational damage and operational risk, negatively affect our business and expose us to potential liability.

The protection of our customer, supplier, employee, and business data and confidential information is critical. We are subject to new and changing privacy and information security laws and standards that may require significant investments in technology and new operational processes. The use of electronic payment methods and collection of other personal information exposes us to increased risk of privacy and/or security breaches. We rely on commercially available systems, software, tools, and monitoring to provide security for processing, transmitting, and storing personal information from individuals, including our customers, suppliers and employees, and our security measures may not effectively prohibit others from obtaining improper access to such information. We also rely on third-party, cloud-based technologies, which results in third-party access and storage of business data and confidential information. Employees or third parties with whom we do business or to whom we outsource certain information technology or administrative services may attempt to circumvent security measures in order to misappropriate such information and may purposefully or inadvertently cause a breach involving such information. If we experience a data security breach of any kind or fail to respond appropriately to such incidents, we may experience a loss of or damage to critical data, suffer financial or reputational damage or penalties, or face exposure to negative publicity, government investigations and proceedings, private consumer or securities litigation, liability or costly response measures. In addition, our reputation within the business community and with our customers and suppliers may be affected, which could result in our customers and suppliers ceasing to do business with us, which could adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We may become subject to intellectual property disputes or be forced to defend our intellectual property rights, which can be costly and may subject us to significant liability and increase our costs of doing business.

Third parties may be able to successfully challenge, oppose, invalidate, render unenforceable, dilute, misappropriate or circumvent our trade secrets, trademarks, copyrights and other intellectual property rights. Our success depends, in part, on our ability to develop and commercialize our products and services without infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating the intellectual property rights of third parties. However, we may not be aware that our products or services are infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating third-party intellectual property rights, and such third parties may bring claims alleging such infringement, misappropriation or violation.

Actions we may take to enforce or defend our intellectual property rights may be expensive and divert management’s attention away from the ordinary operation of our business, and our inability to secure and protect our intellectual property rights could materially and adversely affect our brand and business, operating results, financial condition and prospects. Furthermore, such actions, even if successful, may not result in an adequate remedy or protection. In addition, many companies have the capability to dedicate greater resources to enforce their intellectual property rights and to defend claims that may be brought against them. If a third party is able to obtain an injunction preventing us from selling allegedly infringing products or services, or if we cannot license or develop alternative technology for any infringing aspect of our business, we would be forced to limit or stop sales of our products or services or cease business activities related to such intellectual property.

We cannot predict the outcome of lawsuits and cannot ensure that the results of any such actions will not have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. Such claims could subject us to significant liability for damages and could result in our having to stop selling a product or service found to be in violation of a third party’s rights. Further, we might be required to seek a license for third-party intellectual property, which may not be available on reasonable royalty or other terms. Alternatively, we could be required to develop an alternative non-infringing product or service, which could require significant effort and expense. If we cannot license or develop an acceptable alternative for any infringing aspect of our business, we would be forced to limit our products or services, which could affect our ability to compete effectively. Any of these results would harm our business, operating results, financial condition and prospects.

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Our future levels of indebtedness could materially and adversely affect our financial position, including reducing funds available for other business purposes and reducing our operational flexibility.

As of December 31, 2022, we had outstanding total indebtedness of $216.9 million and $175.0 million of undrawn borrowings available under our Revolving Credit Facility (other than $2.6 million of standby letters of credit outstanding). As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, no borrowings have been made under the Delayed Draw Term Loan Facility.

Any subsequent additions to our indebtedness could impact our financial flexibility due to increased cash flows required to make required interest and principal payments. Greater demands on our funds may limit our ability to invest in our growth, including inhibiting our ability to meet working capital requirements, make capital expenditures or fund acquisitions. Increased indebtedness may also limit our ability to adjust to rapidly changing market conditions, making us more vulnerable to general adverse industry and economic conditions, which could create a competitive disadvantage relative to our competitors.

In addition, outstanding indebtedness under the Credit Agreement bears interest at a variable rate, making us vulnerable to increases in the market rate of interest. If the market rate of interest increases substantially, we will have to pay additional interest on this indebtedness, which would reduce cash available for our other business needs.

Failure to make payments or comply with covenants under our applicable debt instruments could result in an event of default. If an event of default occurs and the lender accelerates the amounts due, we may need to seek additional financing, which may not be available on acceptable terms, in a timely manner or at all. In such event, we may not be able to make accelerated payments, and the lender could seek to enforce security interests in the collateral securing such indebtedness, which includes substantially all of our assets.

The Credit Agreement contains covenants that may restrict our ability to operate our business.

The Credit Agreement contains various affirmative and negative covenants that may, subject to specified significant exceptions, restrict our ability, including specified material subsidiaries, to incur debt and our ability, including specified material subsidiaries, to, among other things, have liens on our property, merge or consolidate with any other person or sell or convey assets above a specified minimum threshold to any one person, and engage in sale-and-leaseback transactions depending on the characterization of the proceeds. Our ability, including specified material subsidiaries, to comply with these provisions may be affected by events beyond our control. Failure to comply with these covenants could result in an event of default, which, if not cured or waived, could accelerate our repayment obligations and could result in a default and acceleration under other agreements containing cross-default provisions. Under these circumstances, we might not have sufficient funds or other resources to satisfy all of our obligations.

If the financial institutions that are lenders under the Credit Agreement fail to extend credit under the facility, our liquidity and results of operations may be adversely affected.

Each financial institution that is or becomes a lender under the Credit Agreement will be responsible on a several but not joint basis for providing a portion of the loans to be made under the facility. If any participant or group of participants with a significant portion of the commitments under the Credit Facility fails to satisfy its or their respective obligations to extend credit under the facility and we are unable to find a replacement for such participant or participants on a timely basis (if at all), our liquidity may be adversely affected.

Operating and growing our business may require additional capital, and if capital is not available to us, our business, operating results, financial condition and prospects may suffer.

Operating and growing our business is expected to require further investments in our capabilities and operations. We may be presented with opportunities that we want to pursue, and unforeseen challenges may present themselves, any of which could cause us to require additional capital. If our cash needs exceed our expectations or we experience rapid growth, we could experience strain in our cash flow, which could adversely affect our operations in the event we are unable to obtain other sources of liquidity. If we seek to raise funds through equity or debt financing, those funds may

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prove to be unavailable, may only be available on terms that are not acceptable to us or may result in significant dilution to our then-existing stockholders or higher levels of leverage. If we are unable to obtain adequate financing or financing on terms satisfactory to us, when we require it, our ability to continue to pursue our business objectives, to grow both organically and through acquisitions, and to respond to business opportunities, challenges or unforeseen circumstances, could be significantly limited, and our business, operating results, financial condition and prospects could be materially and adversely affected.

Exercise of redemption rights by the holders of our Series A Preferred Shares may adversely affect the cash that we have available for other purposes and our ability to execute our business strategy.

After February 26, 2028 (i.e. the five-and-half year anniversary of the Closing), any holder of Series A Preferred Shares may require Westrock to redeem all or any whole number of such holder’s Series A Preferred Shares in cash, subject to applicable law and the terms of any credit agreement or similar arrangement pursuant to which a third-party lender provides debt financing to Westrock or its subsidiaries, at a redemption price per share equal to the greater of (a) the liquidation preference and (b) the product of (i) the number of Common Shares that would have been obtained from converting one Series A Preferred Share on the redemption notice date and (ii) the simple average of the daily volume-weighted average price per Common Share for the ten (10) trading days ending on and including the trading day immediately preceding the redemption notice date. Assuming that the liquidation preference of the Series A Preferred Shares remains $11.50 per share and all 23,587,952 Series A Preferred Shares remain outstanding after February 26, 2028, we estimate an aggregate redemption payment of at least approximately $271.3 million. If Westrock was required by the holders to redeem a significant number of Series A Preferred Shares, Westrock may not have enough cash available (including through draws on its credit facility) for other purposes such as servicing its debt, paying dividends on the Common Shares, repurchases of Common Shares, financing acquisitions or other expansions, paying employee incentives and executing its business strategy. An outflow of a significant amount of cash from Westrock as a result of redemptions of the Series A Preferred Shares may cause a deterioration in the financial condition of Westrock and our ability to pay our other obligations and/or execute our business strategy. The impact of such redemptions on Westrock will depend, among other things, on the financial condition of Westrock at the time of such redemptions, including the amount of available cash on hand and ability to draw on Westrock’s credit facilities or obtain other sources of financing, the business strategies and objectives of Westrock at that time and the magnitude of such redemptions. Additionally, we may reserve cash, refrain from pursuing other business objectives and/or direct cash away from other business objectives to ensure that we have sufficient available cash to satisfy holder redemptions and this may adversely affect our business, financial condition and ability to execute our business strategy.

A change in the assumptions used to value our goodwill or other intangible assets, or the impairment of our goodwill or intangible assets, could negatively impact our financial condition and operating results.

Goodwill represents the excess of cost over fair value of net assets acquired in a business combination. Impairment may result from significant changes in the manner of use of the acquired assets, negative industry, or economic trends, and/or any changes in key assumptions regarding our fair value. At December 31, 2022, we had $114.0 million of goodwill on our Consolidated Balance Sheet. Any further deterioration in our business related to the COVID-19 pandemic, rising costs due to persistent inflationary impacts, continued increases in interest rates, or other market, industry, or operational trends, could result in further impairment of our goodwill, which would negatively impact our financial conditions and results of operations.

Our insurance and reserves may be insufficient to cover future claims and liabilities.

The premiums associated with our insurance continue to increase. General liability, fire, workers’ compensation, directors’ and officers’ liability, life, employee medical, dental and vision, and automobile risks present a large potential liability. While we accrue for this liability based on historical claims experience, future claims may exceed claims we have incurred in the past. Should a different number of claims occur compared to what was estimated or the cost of the claims increase beyond what was anticipated, reserves recorded may not be sufficient, and the accruals may need to be adjusted accordingly in future periods. A successful claim against us that is not covered by insurance or is in excess of our reserves or available insurance limits could negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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We maintain finished goods product coverage in amounts we believe to be adequate. However, we cannot assure stockholders that we will not incur claims or liabilities for which we are not insured or that exceed the amount of our insurance coverage. Moreover, claims or liabilities of this sort might not be covered by our insurance or by any rights of indemnity or contribution that we may have against others. A product liability judgment against us or a product recall or the damage to our reputation resulting therefrom could have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated financial condition, results of operations or liquidity.

Exposure to additional income tax liabilities could negatively affect our future profitability.

We are subject to income taxes in the United States and in various jurisdictions outside the United States. Our effective tax rate and profitability could be subject to volatility or adversely affected by a number of factors, including:

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In addition, we may be subject to audits of our income, sales and other taxes by U.S. federal, state and local and non-U.S. taxing authorities. Outcomes from these audits could have a material and adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

Changes in tax laws may adversely affect us, and the IRS, other tax authorities, or a court may disagree with our tax positions, which may result in adverse effects on our financial condition or the value of our Common Shares.

Our tax position could be impacted by changes in U.S. federal, state and local and non-U.S. tax laws and changes in taxing jurisdictions’ administrative interpretations, decisions, policies, and positions. Any of the foregoing changes may have a material adverse impact on our results of operations, cash flows, and financial condition.

There can be no assurance that future tax law changes will not increase the rate of the corporate income tax significantly, impose new limitations on deductions, credits or other tax benefits, or make other changes that may adversely affect our business, cash flows or financial performance. The likelihood of such changes being enacted or implemented is unclear. Any of these developments or changes in federal, state and local and non-U.S. tax laws could adversely affect our effective tax rate and our operating results. In addition, the administrative interpretations, decisions, policies and positions of the IRS and various other taxing authorities with respect to current and future tax laws may be subject to significant change and such guidance could ultimately increase or lessen the impact of such tax laws on our business and financial condition. In the absence of such guidance, we will take positions with respect to a number of unsettled issues. There is no assurance that the IRS, any other tax authorities, or a court will agree with the positions taken by us, in which case tax penalties and interest may be imposed that could adversely affect our business, cash flows or financial performance.

Westrock has identified material weaknesses in its internal control over financial reporting, which may result in material misstatements of Westrock’s consolidated financial statements or cause Westrock to fail to meet its periodic reporting obligations.

As further described in Item 9A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, Westrock has identified material weaknesses in its internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim consolidated financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. As a result, management has concluded that, because of these material weaknesses, our internal control over financial reporting and our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of December 31, 2022. As further discussed in Item 9A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, Westrock has taken and is taking certain measures to remediate the material weaknesses.

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Notwithstanding these measures or efforts, there is no assurance that any remediation efforts will ultimately have the intended effects. Additionally, these remediation measures will be time consuming, will result in Westrock incurring significant costs, and will place significant demands on our financial and operational resources.

If we fail to complete the remediation of these material weaknesses, or after having remediated such material weakness, thereafter fail to maintain the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting or our disclosure controls and procedures, we could be subjected to regulatory scrutiny, civil or criminal penalties or shareholder litigation, the defense of any of which could cause the diversion of management’s attention and resources, we could incur significant legal and other expenses, and we could be required to pay damages to settle such actions if any such actions were not resolved in our favor. Continued or future failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could also result in financial statements that do not accurately reflect our financial condition or results of operations. There can be no assurance that we will not conclude in the future that the existing material weaknesses continue to exist or that we will not identify any significant deficiencies or other material weaknesses that will impair our ability to report our financial condition and results of operations accurately or on a timely basis.

Westrock may identify additional material weaknesses in the future or fail to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, which may result in material misstatements of Westrock’s consolidated financial statements. As a result, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy of our financial reports, which would harm our business and the trading price of our Common Shares.

To comply with the requirements of being a public company, Westrock has undertaken various actions, and will take additional actions, such as remediating the material weaknesses described above, implementing additional internal controls and procedures and hiring internal audit staff or consultants. Testing and maintaining internal controls can divert our management’s attention from other matters that are important to the operation of our business. Additionally, when evaluating internal controls over financial reporting, Westrock may identify additional material weaknesses that it may not be able to remediate in time to meet the applicable deadline imposed upon us for compliance with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. If Westrock identifies any additional material weaknesses in its internal control over financial reporting or is unable to remediate the material weakness described above or comply with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in a timely manner or if Westrock’s independent registered public accounting firm is unable to express an unqualified opinion as to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting once it is no longer an emerging growth company, or if Westrock is unable to conclude in our quarterly and annual reports that our disclosure controls and procedures are effective, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of Westrock’s financial reports and the market price of our Common Shares could be negatively affected, and Westrock could become subject to investigations by the stock exchange on which our securities are listed, the SEC or other regulatory authorities, which could require additional financial and management resources. In addition, if Westrock fails to remediate any material weakness, including the material weakness described above, our financial statements could be inaccurate and Westrock could face restricted access to capital markets.

Changes in laws or regulations, or a failure to comply with any laws and regulations, may adversely affect Westrock’s business, investments and results of operations.

Westrock is subject to laws and regulations enacted by national, regional and local governments. In particular, it is required to comply with SEC and other legal requirements. Compliance with, and monitoring of, applicable laws and regulations may be difficult, time consuming and costly. Those laws and regulations and their interpretation and application may also change from time to time and those changes could have a material adverse effect on Westrock’s business, investments and results of operations. In addition, a failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, as interpreted and applied, could have a material adverse effect on Westrock’s business and results of operations.

The accuracy of Westrock’s financial statements and related disclosures could be adversely affected if the judgments, assumptions or estimates used in Westrock’s critical accounting policies are inaccurate.

The preparation of financial statements and related disclosure in conformity with GAAP requires us to make judgments, assumptions and estimates that affect the amounts reported in Westrock’s consolidated financial statements and related notes. Westrock’s critical accounting policies, which are included in the section captioned “Management’s Discussion

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and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in this Annual Report, describe those significant accounting policies and methods used in the preparation of Westrock’s consolidated financial statements that Westrock considers “critical” because they require judgments, assumptions and estimates that materially affect Westrock’s consolidated financial statements and related disclosures. As a result, if future events differ significantly from the judgments, assumptions and estimates in Westrock’s critical accounting policies, those events or assumptions could have a material impact on Westrock’s consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.

In addition, changes in accounting interpretations or assumptions could impact Westrock’s financial statements and Westrock’s ability to timely prepare Westrock’s financial statements. Westrock’s inability to timely prepare Westrock’s financial statements in the future could materially and adversely affect Westrock’s share price.

Westrock’s board of directors and management have significant control over Westrock’s business.

As of December 31, 2022, Westrock’s directors and executive officers beneficially own, directly or indirectly, in the aggregate, approximately 41,573,543 shares of Common Shares, representing an aggregate of approximately 42.0% of the combined voting power of Westrock’s outstanding capital stock (excluding any Warrants, options or other securities exercisable for Common Shares). As a result, in addition to their day-to-day management roles, Westrock’s executive officers and directors are able to exercise significant influence on Westrock’s business as stockholders, including influence over election of members of the board of directors and the authorization of other corporate actions requiring stockholder approval.

Certain provisions in Westrock’s certificate of incorporation and bylaws, the Investor Rights Agreement and of Delaware law may prevent or delay attempts to acquire a controlling interest in Westrock, which could decrease the trading price of Common Shares.

Westrock’s certificate of incorporation and bylaws contain, and Delaware law contains, provisions that are intended to deter coercive takeover practices and inadequate takeover bids by making such practices or bids unacceptably expensive to the bidder and to encourage prospective acquirers to negotiate with our board of directors rather than to attempt a hostile takeover. These provisions include, among others, those establishing:

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On April 4, 2022, Westrock entered into the Investor Rights Agreement with (i) Westrock Group, LLC, The Stephens Group, LLC, Sowell Westrock, L.P. and any affiliate of Joe T. Ford, Scott T. Ford, Witt Stephens, Jim Sowell or their respective families that becomes an owner of any shares of Westrock’s common stock from another WCC Investor and

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becomes a party to the Investor Rights Agreement, so long as such person remains an affiliate of Joe T. Ford, Scott T. Ford, Witt Stephens, Jim Sowell or their families (the “WCC Investors”) (ii) BBH Capital Partners V, L.P., BBH Capital Partners V-A, L.P., BBH CPV WCC Co-Investment LLC, and any controlled affiliate of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. (the “BBH Investors”) that becomes an owner of any shares of Westrock’s common stock or the Series A Convertible Preferred Stock from another BBH Investor and becomes a party to the Investor Rights Agreement, so long as such person remains a controlled affiliate of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. and (iii) Riverview Sponsor Partners, LLC (“Riverview Sponsor”), which also contains certain provisions that may prevent or delay attempts to acquire a controlling interest in Westrock. These include the following provisions:

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In addition, because Westrock does not elect to be exempt from Section 203 of the DGCL, this provision could also delay or prevent a change of control that you may favor. Section 203 of the DGCL provides that, subject to limited exceptions, a person that acquires, or is affiliated with a person that acquires, more than 15% of the outstanding voting stock of a Delaware corporation (an “interested stockholder”) must not engage in any business combination with that corporation, including by merger, consolidation or acquisitions of additional shares, for a three-year period following the date on which the person became an interested stockholder, unless (i) prior to such time, the board of directors of such corporation approved either the business combination or the transaction that resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder; (ii) upon consummation of the transaction that resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder, the interested stockholder owned at least 85% of the voting stock of such corporation at the time the transaction commenced (excluding for purposes of determining the voting stock outstanding (but not the outstanding voting stock owned by the interested stockholder) the voting stock owned by directors who are also officers or held in employee benefit plans in which the employees do not have a confidential right to tender or vote stock held by the plan); or (iii) on or subsequent to such time the business combination is approved by the board of directors of such corporation and authorized at a meeting of stockholders by the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the outstanding voting stock of such corporation not owned by the interested stockholder.

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Westrock is an “emerging growth company,” and the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies may make the Common Shares less attractive to investors.

Westrock is an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act. Westrock could continue to be considered an emerging growth company for up to five years, although Westrock would lose that status sooner if Westrock’s gross revenues exceed $1.235 billion, if it issues more than $1 billion in nonconvertible debt in a three-year period, or if the fair value of Common Shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the last business day of our most recently completed second fiscal quarter (and Westrock has been a public company for at least 12 months and has filed one annual report on Form 10-K). For as long as Westrock continues to be an emerging growth company, Westrock may take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements that apply to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies, including reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in Westrock’s periodic reports and proxy statements and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. It is unclear whether investors will find Common Shares less attractive because Westrock may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find Common Shares less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for Common Shares, and Westrock’s stock price may be more volatile.

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In addition, the JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of an extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards. This allows an emerging growth company to delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. Westrock has elected to avail itself of this exemption from new or revised accounting standards and, therefore, while Westrock is an emerging growth company, Westrock will not be subject to new or revised accounting standards at the same time that they become applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. As a result, Westrock’s financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements as of public company effective dates, and Westrock will incur additional costs in connection with complying with the accounting standards applicable to public companies at such time or times as they become applicable to Westrock.

Any proceeds that we may receive from the exercise of the Warrants is highly dependent on the price of our Common Shares.

As of December 31, 2022, we have 19,372,916 outstanding warrants to purchase our Common Shares (the “Warrants”), which expire on the earliest to occur of August 26, 2027 (i.e. the five year anniversary of the Closing), redemption or liquidation. The exercise of Warrants, and any proceeds we may receive from their exercise, are highly dependent on the price of our Common Shares and the spread between the exercise price of the Warrant and the price of our Common Shares at the time of exercise. For example, to the extent that the price of our Common Shares exceeds $11.50 per share, it is more likely that holders of our Warrants will exercise their Warrants. If the price of our Common Shares is less than $11.50 per share, it is unlikely that such holders will exercise their Warrants. As of December 30, 2022 (the last trading day of 2022), the closing price of our Common Shares was $13.36 per share, which is greater than the Warrant exercise price of $11.50. Even if our Warrants are in the money, there can be no assurance that Warrant holders will exercise their Warrants prior to their expiration.

Our Warrants that are listed on the NASDAQ (the “Public Warrants”), under certain conditions as described in their warrant agreement, are redeemable by the Company at a price of $0.01 per warrant or exercised on a cashless basis. Our Warrants that are not listed on the NASDAQ (the “Private Placement Warrants”) are not redeemable so long as they are held by Riverview Sponsor or its permitted transferees (except as otherwise set forth herein). As such, it is possible that we may never generate any or only very limited cash proceeds from the exercise of our Warrants.

Risks Related to Our Industry

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Increases in the cost of green coffee may not be able to be passed through to customers, which could adversely impact our gross margins and profitability.

Our primary raw material green coffee is an exchange-traded agricultural commodity that is subject to price fluctuations, depending on a variety of factors, including outside speculative influences such as indexed and algorithmic commodity funds, climate patterns in coffee-producing countries, economic and political conditions affecting coffee-producing countries such as unrest and armed conflict, foreign currency fluctuations, real or perceived supply shortages, crop disease (such as coffee rust) and pests, general increase in farm inputs and costs of production, an increase in green coffee purchased and sold on a negotiated basis rather than directly on commodity markets in response to higher production costs relative to “C” market prices, acts of terrorism, pandemics or other disease outbreaks (including the COVID-19 pandemic), government actions and trade barriers or tariffs, and the actions of producer organizations that have historically attempted to influence green coffee prices through agreements establishing export quotas or by otherwise limiting coffee supplies. Additionally, specialty green coffees tend to trade on a negotiated basis at a premium above the “C” market price. Such premium, depending on the supply and demand at the time of purchase, may be significant.

Depending on contractual limitations, we may be unable to pass these costs on to our customers by increasing the price of products. If we are unable to increase prices sufficiently to offset increased input costs, or if our sales volume decreases as a result of price increases, our operating results and financial condition may be adversely affected. Additionally, if we are unable to purchase sufficient quantities of green coffee due to any of the factors described herein or a worldwide or regional shortage, we may not be able to fulfill the demand for our products, which could have an adverse impact on our business and financial results.

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We have historically utilized, and expect to continue to utilize, various types of derivative instruments, including forward contracts, futures contracts, and option contracts to hedge our exposure to the commodities price variability of green coffee. Our hedging strategy is an important part of our business model as it allows us to fix raw materials costs for inventory needed to grow our business, while minimizing the margin volatility associated with fluctuations in the prices of green coffee. As part of that strategy, we track the spread between sales price and material costs as a means of determining the efficiency of our pricing strategy. While our derivatives strategy may mitigate the impacts of volatile green coffee prices, no strategy can eliminate all pricing risks, and we generally remain exposed to supply risk in the event of nonperformance by the counterparties in any one of our physical contracts. Failure to properly execute an effective hedging strategy with respect to the price of green coffee may materially adversely affect our business and operating results.

Recently, there has been heightened volatility in the “C” market price that has driven prices, at times, to five-year highs. This volatility has been driven by uncertainty over several factors, including the impact of weather patterns in coffee producing regions, global supply chain constraints and shipping shortages, and speculative trading. Specifically, severe frosts and drought in Brazil threaten to negatively impact crop yields for multiple harvests, which could reduce supply and increase costs. As noted above, while these derivative instruments allow us to hedge the “C” market price volatility for a portion of our green coffee supply, our hedging strategy cannot completely mitigate our exposure to the “C” market price risk.

Fluctuations in other commodity prices and in the availability of certain of our ingredients and packaging materials could negatively affect our margins and profitability.

In addition to green coffee, our other commodity inputs are also exposed to the risk of cost fluctuations. These inputs include tea, spices, and the materials used in our packaging, such as carton board and plastic. Although these commodities are available from a number of sources, we have very little control over the factors that can influence the prices we pay, including economic and political conditions, foreign currency fluctuations, transportation and storage costs, export restrictions, weather conditions and global climate patterns, and natural disasters (including floods, droughts, frosts, earthquakes and hurricanes). Changes in the prices we pay may take place on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis depending on the product and supplier. We do not purchase any derivative instruments to hedge cost fluctuations in these other commodities like we do with respect to green coffee, but we may do so in the future. As a result, to the extent we are unable to pass along such costs through price increases, our margins and profitability will decrease. High and volatile commodity prices can also place more pressures on short-term working capital funding. Additionally, if as a result of these factors, we are unable to obtain these commodities, we may not be able to fulfill the demand for our products, which could have an adverse impact on our business and financial results.

We are subject to risks associated with operating a coffee trading business and a coffee exporting business, including those associated with the availability and prices of green coffee.

Falcon, our coffee trading business headquartered in the United Kingdom, operates as a separate subsidiary, and we maintain a coffee exporting business in Peru. RTC, our coffee exporting business headquartered in Rwanda, is also operated as a separate subsidiary. As a purchaser and reseller of coffee, Falcon engages in commodity hedging and is reliant on third-party logistics suppliers to fulfill its commitments. Disruptions in Falcon’s supply chain could result in the failure to deliver on commitments, which could adversely impact Falcon’s business, cash flows and financial performance. Both RTC and Falcon rely on third party financing sources to purchase coffee for resale, and in each case, the failure to maintain an adequate source of working capital would have a material adverse impact on their respective businesses, cash flows and financial performance. The availability and prices of green coffee are subject to wide fluctuations, including impacts from factors outside of our control such as changes in weather conditions, climate change, rising sea levels, crop disease, plantings, government programs and policies, competition, and changes in global demand. These price fluctuations can adversely affect the business of each of Falcon and RTC.

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We are exposed to risks associated with the interruption of supply and increased costs as a result of our reliance on third-party transportation carriers for shipment of our products.

Our ability to maintain our high-quality coffee product offering depends in part on our ability to acquire ingredients that meet our specifications from reliable suppliers. To date, notwithstanding the current supply chain disruptions which we believe have contributed to increased costs, deliveries have been consistent and not a source of material disruption to our business. However, shortages or interruptions in the supply of ingredients caused by unanticipated demand, problems in production or distribution, coffee bean contamination, inclement weather or other conditions could adversely affect the availability and quality of our ingredients in the future, which could harm our business, financial condition or results of operations. If any of our distributors or suppliers performs inadequately, or our distribution or supply relationships are materially disrupted for any reason, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be adversely affected. If we cannot replace or engage distributors or suppliers who meet our specifications in a short period of time, that could increase our expenses and cause coffee shortages, which could cause a customer to purchase less of our coffee products. If that were to happen, affected customers could experience significant reductions in sales during the shortage or thereafter, if coffee drinkers change their preferences as a result. This reduction in sales could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

In addition, our approach to competing in the beverage industry depends in large part on our continued ability to provide coffee products that are sustainably sourced. As we increase our use of these ingredients, the ability of our suppliers to expand output or otherwise increase their supplies to meet our needs may be constrained. We could face difficulties to obtain a sufficient and consistent supply of these ingredients on a cost-effective basis.

The industry for coffee and liquid extract consumables is highly competitive, resulting in a high degree of competitive pressure on our products. Our inability to maintain or grow market share through continued differentiation of our products and competitive pricing could adversely affect our financial condition, operating results and cash flow.

Our industry is highly competitive, including with respect to price, product quality and sourcing techniques, and competition could become increasingly intense due to the relatively low barriers to entry and industry consolidation. We face competition from many sources that vary in size and sophistication, including institutional foodservice divisions of multinational manufacturers of retail products, wholesale foodservice distributors, regional and national coffee roasters, specialty coffee suppliers, and retail brand beverage manufacturers, many of which have greater financial and other resources than we do and may have lower fixed costs and/or are substantially less leveraged than our company.

Competitive pressures can, among other things, restrict our ability to increase prices and maintain price increases in response to commodity and other cost increases. Our inability to effectively assess, timely adapt and properly set pricing may negatively affect our ability to achieve the objectives of such price increases.

We consider our roasting and blending methods essential to the flavor and richness of our coffees. Because our roasting methods cannot be patented, we would be unable to prevent competitors from copying these methods if such methods became known. In addition, competitors may be able to develop roasting or blending methods that are more advanced than our production methods, which may also harm our competitive position.

Increased competition in coffee or other beverage channels may adversely affect sales of our products. If we do not succeed in differentiating ourselves through our product offerings or if we are not effective in setting proper pricing, then our competitive position may be weakened, we could fail to retain our existing customer base, and our sales and profitability may decline. Our inability to secure an adequate supply of key raw materials, including green coffee and tea, or disruption in our supply chain, could result in increased costs and adversely affect our business.

Our business depends on our relations with key suppliers to maintain a steady supply of green coffee and tea. If any of these supply relationships deteriorate or we are unable to renegotiate contracts with suppliers (with similar or more favorable terms) or find alternative sources for supply, we may be unable to procure a sufficient quantity of high-quality coffee beans, tea and other raw materials at prices acceptable to us or at all which could negatively affect our results of operations. Further, nonperformance by suppliers could expose us to supply risk under coffee purchase commitments for delivery in the future. Additionally, supply is affected by many factors in the coffee-growing countries including

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weather, pest damage, economic conditions, acts of terrorism, as well as efforts by coffee growers to expand or form cartels or associations. Our operations are also exposed to the political and social environment of the emerging and less developed markets from which we source coffee beans, including Africa, Indonesia, and Central and South America. These regions have the potential for civil and political unrest, and such instability could affect our ability to purchase coffee from those regions. If green coffee beans from a region become unavailable or prohibitively expensive, we could be forced to use alternative coffee beans or discontinue certain blends, which could adversely impact our sales. Any material interruption in our supply chain, such as material interruption of roasted coffee supply due to the casualty loss at any of our roasting plants or suppliers, interruptions in service by our third-party logistic service providers or common carriers that ship goods within our distribution channels, trade restrictions, such as increased tariffs or quotas, embargoes or customs restrictions, pandemics, social or labor unrest, natural disasters or political disputes and military conflicts that cause a material disruption in our supply chain could have a negative impact on our business and our profitability. Product shortages could result in disruptions in our ability to deliver products to our customers, a deterioration of our relationship with our customers, decreased revenues or an inability to expand our business.

Quality control problems or food safety issues could adversely affect our sales and brand reputation, lead to product recalls or result in product liability claims.

Selling products for human consumption involves inherent legal risks. Our success depends on our ability to provide customers with high-quality products and service. Although we take measures to ensure that we sell only fresh products, we have no control over our products once they are purchased by our customers. Additionally, clean water is critical to the preparation of coffee, tea and other beverages, and we have no ability to ensure that our customers use a clean water supply to prepare these beverages. Instances or reports of food safety issues involving our products, whether or not accurate, such as unclean water supply, food or beverage-borne illnesses, tampering, contamination, mislabeling, or other food or beverage safety issues, including due to the failure of our third-party co-packers to maintain the quality of our products and to comply with our product specifications, could damage the value of our brands, negatively impact sales of our products, and potentially lead to product recalls, production interruptions, product liability claims, litigation or damages. A significant product liability claim against us, whether or not successful, or a widespread product recall, may reduce our sales and harm our business.

Climate change, severe weather patterns, and water scarcity could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will continue to have an adverse effect on global temperatures, weather patterns, and the frequency and severity of extreme weather events and natural disasters. Coffee growing countries have been dramatically affected by these climate changes. The rainy and dry seasons are becoming unpredictable in their start and length, which is affecting the development of coffee cherries. These weather pattern changes, by reducing agricultural productivity in certain regions, may reduce the supply and quality of important agricultural ingredients for our products and drive up their costs, and this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations. Water is used throughout the production of coffee from growing at the farm, cooling the beans after roasting, and brewing products for consumption. Scarcity of water sources in our supply chain could also constrain our supply and increase costs. In addition to these impacts, more frequently occurring or longer-duration extreme weather events or increased severity of such conditions could disrupt our supply chain, damage our production capabilities and reduce demand for our products. As a result, the changing global climate could adversely affect our long-term performance.

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Our business may fluctuate as a result of seasonality.

The coffee and tea market is subject to some seasonal variations. Sales of hot coffee products are typically higher during the winter months compared to the summer months. Most of our customers define “coffee season” as mid-September through April. Our quarterly operating results may fluctuate as a result of these seasonal trends. If we are unable to adjust our production to these seasonal variations, we may not be able to fulfill demand for our products or we may overproduce our products, either of which could adversely affect our performance.

Risks Related to General Economic Conditions

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A resurgence of the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, and emergence of new variants of the virus could materially adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

In fiscal years 2020 and 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic had a material impact on our financial condition and results of operations. The measures taken around the country to contain the spread of the virus adversely affected our business and those of our customers. The outbreak led to the implementation of restrictive measures by federal, state and local government authorities in an effort to contain COVID-19. These measures included travel bans and restrictions, quarantines, shelter-in-place orders, and shutdowns and constrained our workforce and operations, the operations of our customers, and those of our respective vendors and suppliers. While almost all of these restrictions have been eased, the emergence of new variants or sub-variants of COVID-19 (some of which may be more transmissible or more lethal) may result in the reinstitution of certain of the restrictions and increased economic uncertainty, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Our revenue and profits depend on the level of customer spending for discretionary items, which is sensitive to general economic conditions and other factors.

Our products are discretionary items for end-use customers. Therefore, the success of our business depends significantly on economic factors and trends in consumer spending. There are a number of factors that influence consumer spending, including actual and perceived economic conditions, consumer confidence, disposable consumer income, consumer credit availability, unemployment, and tax rates in the markets where our products are sold to end-use customers. Consumers also have discretion as to where to spend their disposable income and may choose to purchase other items. As global economic conditions continue to be volatile, and economic uncertainty remains, trends in consumer discretionary spending also remain unpredictable and subject to declines. Any of these factors could harm discretionary consumer spending, resulting in a reduction in demand for our products, decreased prices, increased costs to make sales, and harm to our business and results of operations.

Our business and the businesses of our suppliers are subject to macroeconomic conditions that, in the event of deterioration, could adversely affect our financial condition, operating results and cash flow.

Global economic forces and conditions beyond our control affect our business both directly and indirectly through the business of our suppliers. We depend on developing and maintaining close relationships with our suppliers to sell us quality products on favorable terms. These relationships can be harmed by macro-economic factors beyond our control, including a general decline in the economy and economic conditions, the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, and inflation in the costs for goods and services. These events could negatively influence our suppliers, making it more difficult for them to meet their delivery and product-quality obligations to us.

The Westrock board of directors is responsible for overseeing the risks to Westrock related to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The Westrock board of directors has been routinely evaluating with Westrock’s management and its financial advisors the possible impact of such conflict on Westrock, including increased risk of cybersecurity attacks, supply chain disruptions and commodity price increases. As Westrock does not have direct operations or material direct customers in Russia or Ukraine, the direct impact of the ongoing conflict on Westrock is likely to be limited. Nonetheless, global macro-economic effects of the conflict, such as higher interest rates and higher coffee commodity prices may increase our costs, which we may not be able to pass on to our customers.

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These financial and operational difficulties faced by both us and our suppliers could also increase the cost of the products we purchase, the timing of settlement for our obligations to the suppliers, or our ability to source products from them. We might not be able to pass on our increased costs to our customers and, to the extent these difficulties impact the timing of settlement for our obligation to the supplier, we may have a decrease in our cash flow from operations and may have to use our various financing arrangements for short-term liquidity needs.

Supply chain disruptions and cost increases related to inflation are having, and could continue to have, an adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.

In 2021 and 2022, we experienced inflationary cost increases in our underlying expenses, including commodity prices, interest rates, transportation costs and labor. We have also been impacted by global supply chain disruption, which has increased lead times, working capital needs and freight costs. While we have taken steps to minimize the impact of these increased costs by working closely with our suppliers and customers, global supply chain disruption may deteriorate and inflationary pressures may increase further in 2023, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

In 2021 and 2022, the global supply chain disruptions increased lead times for obtaining raw materials coming from outside of the U.S. for use in our Beverage Solutions segment. Overall, we saw ocean freight voyage time increase by upwards of 15 days, with unexpected transshipment stops related to container delays. In addition, these disruptions led to an increase in ocean freight costs as well as over-the-road haulage domestically, that impacted both our Beverage Solutions and Sustainable Sourcing & Traceability segments. To mitigate these disruptions, we worked with vendors to increase the amount of on-hand inventory in U.S. warehouses from 3 weeks to 10 weeks of stock levels. In addition, we continued to purchase on a forward basis, sufficient volumes needed to compensate for ocean freight delays. At the beginning of 2021, we signed a 3-year agreement with our largest U.S. warehouse and over the road haulage vendor that allowed for a fuel surcharge in exchange for a dedicated fleet. While our inbound over-the-road freight rates increased in 2022 compared to 2021, due to fuel price increases, we have not experienced any lack of available trucking assets. We may not be able to pass all of the impact onto our customers, which will negatively impact our results.

Westrock attempts to mitigate the impacts of inflation and supply chain disruptions, wherever possible. Our mitigation strategies, including working with our warehouse and over the road haulage vendors, have provided us the necessary flexibility to respond to the risks, and have ensured that we have adequate access to raw materials to reliably provide our customers with the high-quality products they expect. In addition, where possible, we seek to recover inflation impacted costs by passing these costs onto our customers through periodic pricing increases. However, our pricing increases often lag our cost increases, including increases in commodity costs. At this time, it is too early to determine what impact these inflationary pressures and supply chain disruptions will have on our long-term growth strategies, as there is uncertainty in how long these risks may persist, and to what extent we will be successful in passing these increased costs to our customers.

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Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments

None.

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Item 2. Properties

The following table summarizes the principal properties used by Westrock in connection with its roasting, manufacturing, and distribution operations, by segment as of December 31, 2022.

(1) - The Company is currently completing the build-out of this facility, which is expected to begin commercial production in 2024.

Management believes that the Company’s sites are adequate to support the business and that the properties have been well maintained.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings

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A description of the legal proceedings can be found in Note 21, Commitments and Contingencies, to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of Part II of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and is incorporated into this Item 3.

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Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures

Not applicable.

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PART II

Item 5. Market for the Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Shareholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

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Market Information

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Westrock’s Common Shares and Public Warrants are listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbols “WEST” and “WESTW”, respectively. As of December 31, 2022, there were 81 holders of record of our Common Shares and 2 holders of record of our Public Warrants, which does not include holders whose shares are held in nominee or “street name” accounts through banks, brokers or other financial institutions.

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Dividend Policy

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We have not declared or paid any dividends on our Common Shares as of December 31, 2022. We anticipate that we will retain all of our future earnings, if any, for use in the operation and expansion of our business and do not anticipate paying cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Any decision to declare and pay dividends in the future will be made at the sole discretion of our board of directors and will depend on, among other things, our results of operations, cash requirements, financial condition, contractual restrictions and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant.

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Stock Performance Graph

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The following graph shows the cumulative total shareholder returns for our Common Shares from August 29, 2022 through December 31, 2022, relative to the performance of the Nasdaq Composite Total Return (broad market comparison), the S&P 500 (broad market comparison) and the S&P Food and Beverage Select Industry Index (line of business comparison). The graph assumes $100 was invested in the Company’s Common Shares and each of the indices listed above on August 29, 2022 (and all dividends, if any, were reinvested).

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Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

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During the quarter ended December 31, 2022, there was no share repurchase activity made by or on behalf of the Company.

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Item 6. [Reserved]

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following is a discussion of our financial condition at December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021 and our results of operations for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2022. The purpose of this management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations is to focus on material information relevant to an assessment of our financial condition and results of operations that is not otherwise apparent from the consolidated financial statements and footnotes. This discussion should be read in conjunction with the disclosure regarding “Forward-Looking Information” in Part I, as well as the risks discussed under Part I, Item 1A Risk Factors, and our consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included under Item 8 Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Overview

Westrock Coffee Company, a Delaware corporation (the “Company,” “Westrock,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), is a leading integrated coffee, tea, flavors, extracts, and ingredients solutions provider in the United States, providing coffee sourcing, supply chain management, product development, roasting, packaging, and distribution services to the retail, food service and restaurant, convenience store and travel center, noncommercial account, CPG, and hospitality industries around the world.

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In connection with the closing of our previously announced de-SPAC merger transaction (the “Transaction”) with Riverview Acquisition Corp. (“Riverview”), the Company converted (the “Conversion”) from a Delaware limited liability company to a Delaware corporation and changed its name from “Westrock Coffee Holdings, LLC” (the “Converting Company”) to “Westrock Coffee Company.”

Our platform is built upon four fundamental pillars that enable us to positively impact the coffee, tea, flavors, extracts, and ingredients ecosystems from crop to cup: (i) we operate a fully transparent supply chain, (ii) we develop innovative beverage solutions tailored to our customers’ specific needs, (iii) we deliver a high quality and comprehensive set of products to our customers, and (iv) we leverage our scaled international presence to serve our blue-chip customer base. These four tenets comprise the backbone of our platform and position us as a leading provider of value-added beverage solutions. By partnering with Westrock, our customers also benefit from the benchmark-setting responsible sourcing policies and strong Environmental, Social, and Governance focus surrounding our products, top tier consumer insights, and a differentiated product ideation process. Leading brands choose us because we are singularly positioned to meet their needs, while simultaneously driving a new standard for sustainably and responsibly sourced products.

We operate our business in two segments: Beverage Solutions and Sustainable Sourcing & Traceability (“SS&T”).

Beverage Solutions: Through this segment, we combine our product innovation and customer insights to provide value-added beverage solutions, including coffee, tea, flavors, extracts, and ingredients. We provide products in a variety of packaging, including branded and private label coffee in bags, fractional packs, and single serve cups, as well as extract solutions to be used in products such as cold brew and ready-to-drink offerings. Currently, we serve customers in the United States, Europe, and Asia through the retail, food service and restaurant, convenience store and travel center, non-commercial account, CPG and hospitality industries.

Sustainable Sourcing & Traceability: Through this segment, we utilize our proprietary technology and digitally traceable supply chain to directly impact and improve the lives of our farming partners, tangible economic empowerment and an emphasis on environmental accountability and farmer literacy. Revenues primarily relate to the physical delivery and settlement of forward sales contracts for green coffee.

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Key Business Metrics

We use Adjusted EBITDA to evaluate our performance, identify trends, formulate financial projections, and to make strategic decisions.

Adjusted EBITDA

We refer to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA in our analysis of our results of operations, which are not required by, or presented in accordance with, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”). While we believe that net (loss) income, as defined by GAAP, is the most appropriate earnings measure, we also believe that EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are important non-GAAP supplemental measures of operating performance as they contribute to a meaningful evaluation of the Company’s future operating performance and comparisons to the Company’s past operating performance. Additionally, we use these non-GAAP financial measures in evaluating the performance of our segments, to make operational and financial decisions and in our budgeting and planning process. The Company believes that providing these non-GAAP financial measures to investors helps investors evaluate the Company’s operating performance, profitability and business trends in a way that is consistent with how management evaluates such performance.

We define “EBITDA” as net (loss) income, as defined by GAAP, before interest expense, provision for income taxes and depreciation and amortization. We define “Adjusted EBITDA” as EBITDA before equity-based compensation expense and the impact, which may be recurring in nature, of acquisition, restructuring and integration related costs, including management services and consulting agreements entered into in connection with the acquisition of S&D Coffee, Inc., impairment charges, changes in the fair value of warrant liabilities, non-cash mark-to-market adjustments, certain costs specifically excluded from the calculation of EBITDA under our material debt agreements, such as facility start-up costs, the write off of unamortized deferred financing costs, costs incurred as a result of the early repayment of debt, gains or losses on dispositions, and other similar or infrequent items (although we may not have had such charges in the periods presented). We believe EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are important supplemental measures to net (loss) income because they provide additional information to evaluate our operating performance on an unleveraged basis. In addition, Adjusted EBITDA is calculated similar to defined terms in our material debt agreements used to determine compliance with specific financial covenants.

Since EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are not measures calculated in accordance with GAAP, they should be viewed in addition to, and not be considered as alternatives for, net (loss) income determined in accordance with GAAP. Further, our computations of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to that reported by other companies that define EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA differently than we do.

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The reconciliation of our net loss to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA for the year ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020 is as follows:

(1) - $6.3 million relates to net unrealized gains, representing the effective portion of cash-flow hedges, that were recorded in accumulated other comprehensive income of S&D immediately prior to its acquisition by Westrock, which were to be reclassified into earnings over the next twelve months when inventory was sold. Although these unrealized gains were written-off in purchase accounting, the Company’s debt agreements explicitly allowed for the recognition of these gains in the Company’s determination of Adjusted EBITDA for covenant compliacnce calculations.

Significant Developments

Merger with Riverview Acquisition Corp.

On August 26, 2022, the Company completed the Transaction with Riverview (“Closing”). At Closing, the Company issued 12,868,151 shares of common stock of the Company (“Common Shares”) to public and class B shareholders of Riverview, receiving $49.8 million of the cash held in the trust account of Riverview, which is net of $17.1 million of Riverview transaction expenses offset against proceeds received by the Company at Closing. The 12,868,151 shares include 1,910,000 shares issued to PIPE investors who elected to satisfy their PIPE commitments through the purchase of Riverview Class A Shares on the public market, pursuant to the terms of their respective subscription agreements.

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Substantially concurrently with the Closing, the Company received $205.9 million in cash proceeds (which amount excludes contribution to the Company of certain related party notes as described in Note 12 to our Consolidated Financial Statements) from common stock PIPE investments (the “PIPE Financing”), issued 20,590,000 Common Shares to the PIPE investors (which share amount excludes the conversion of the related party notes as described in Note 12 to our Consolidated Financial Statements), and entered into a credit agreement (the “Credit Agreement”) that includes (a) a senior secured first lien revolving credit facility in an initial aggregate principal amount of $175.0 million (the “Revolving Credit Facility”) and (b) a senior secured first lien term loan facility in an initial aggregate principal amount of $175.0 million (the “Term Loan Facility”). Proceeds from the Transaction and the Term Loan Facility were used to pay off and terminate our then existing term loan and asset-based lending agreements, and to pay expenses related to the Transaction and the Credit Agreement.

PIPE Pre-Funding

In connection with the Transaction, on July 14, 2022, pursuant to the terms of the subscription agreement entered into between the Company and Wooster Capital, LLC (“Wooster”), in which Wooster agreed to subscribe for and purchase, and the Company agreed to issue and sell to Wooster, prior to and substantially concurrently with the Closing, an aggregate of 2,150,000 Common Shares at a purchase price of $10.00 per share, for aggregate gross proceeds of $21,500,000 to the Company, Wooster pre-funded $11.7 million of its commitment (the “Wooster Pre-fund”) and in exchange thereof was issued a subordinated convertible note by the Company (the “Convertible Note”). The Convertible Note had a principal amount of $11.7 million, a maturity of one year and an interest rate of 8% per annum that was payable quarterly on the last business day of each quarter. On August 26, 2022, in connection with the Closing, the Convertible Note automatically converted, in accordance with its terms, into 1,170,000 Common Shares.

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Acquisition of Kohana Coffee, LLC

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On November 14, 2022, Westrock Beverage Solutions, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, acquired one hundred percent (100%) of the equity securities of Richmond, California-based Kohana Coffee, LLC (“Kohana Coffee”), a Texas limited liability company. The acquisition of Kohana Coffee allows Westrock to accelerate the development, production and distribution of ready-to-drink products in cans and multi-serve bottles to meet increasing customer demand and expands the Company’s extraction and packaging capabilities.

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Amendment to Credit Agreement

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On February 14, 2023, the Company entered into an Incremental Assumption Agreement and Amendment No. 1 (the “Amendment”) to its Credit Agreement, which establishes a new class of incremental term loan commitments in the form of a senior secured delayed draw term loan credit facility (the “Delayed Draw Term Loan Facility”) in the aggregate principal amount of $50.0 million, proceeds of which may be used to fund capital expenditures related to our extract and ready-to-drink facility in Conway, Arkansas, or for general corporate purposes.

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The interest rates under the Delayed Draw Term Loan Facility are the same as the interest rates with respect to the initial term loans under the Term Loan Facility, and the commitment fees applying to the unused portion of the Delayed Draw Term Loan Facility are the same as the commitment fees with respect to the Revolving Credit Facility. Any delayed draw term loan funded under the Delayed Draw Term Loan Facility will mature on August 29, 2027. As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, no borrowings have been made under the Delayed Draw Term Loan Facility.

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Acquisition of Bixby Roasting Co.

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On February 28, 2023, the Company completed the acquisition of Bixby Roasting Co. (“Bixby”), a specialty-grade roaster that is a leader in the emerging influencer-led brand space. The acquisition allows Westrock to continue to expand its product marketing and development resources as it capitalizes on shifting consumer consumption trends. The acquisition includes Bixby’s roasting facility in Los Angeles, California. See Note 23 to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional discussion related to the acquisition.

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Falcon Facility

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On March 21, 2023, the Company entered into a $70 million working capital trade finance facility with multiple financial institutions through its subsidiary, Falcon. The facility replaces Falcon’s existing working capital trade finance facility. The new facility is uncommitted and repayable on demand, with certain of Falcon’s assets pledged as collateral against the facility. The new facility will mature one year from inception. Borrowings under the new facility will bear interest at the borrower’s option at a rate equal to i) Term SOFR plus a margin of 4.00% plus a liquidity premium set by the lender at the time of borrowing or ii) the Base Rate (determined by reference to the greatest of i) the Prime Rate at such time, ii) ½ of 1% in excess of the Federal Funds Effective Rate at such time, and iii) Term SOFR for a one-month tenor in effect at such time plus 1%.

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Results of Operations

Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2022 and 2021

The following table sets forth our results of operations expressed as dollars and as a percentage of total revenues for the periods indicated:

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The following table sets forth selected financial information of our reportable segments for the year ended December 31, 2022 and 2021:

Net Sales

Net Sales from our Beverage Solutions segment were $685.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to $551.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, an increase of 24%. The increase was due to a $121.5 million increase in the sale of coffee & tea products, driven by a 50% increase in single serve cup volumes, and an increase in underlying green coffee prices compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, partially offset by a 7% decrease in roast and ground coffee products and a 5% decrease in tea products, driven in part by higher inflation impacting end-consumer demand.

Net Sales from our SS&T segment totaled $182.6 million, net of intersegment revenues, during the year ended December 31, 2022, increasing 24% compared to $147.1 million, net of intersegment revenues, during the year ended December 31, 2021. The increase is driven by an increase in the average sales price per pound, which increased 35% for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021. The increase in the average sales price per pound is directly correlated to the global commodities price. SS&T sales volume decreased 9% for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021.

Costs of Sales

In our Beverage Solutions segment, costs of sales increased to $544.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, from $423.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. The increase in costs of sales is primary due to a $116.7 million increase in green coffee and tea, driven by higher single serve cup sales volume and commodity price increases, specifically related to green coffee.

In our SS&T segment, costs of sales increased $41.1 million to $170.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021. This increase is primarily due to an increase in green coffee costs driven by an increase in underlying commodities pricings. Costs of sales for the year ended December 31, 2022 included $3.5 million of net unrealized losses on forward sales and purchase contracts and mark-to-market adjustment on green coffee inventory compared to $3.6 million of net unrealized gains on forward sales and purchase contracts and mark-to-market adjustments on green coffee inventory for the year ended December 31, 2021.

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Selling, General and Administrative Expense

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Total selling, general and administrative expenses in our Beverage Solutions segment increased $0.2 million to $119.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to the year ended December 31, 2021. The increase is primarily due to a $5.3 million increase in legal and professional fees, which primarily related to additional costs of operations as a public company, and a $1.9 million increase in freight costs, partially offset by a $5.4 million decrease in personnel-related expenses, primarily the reduction of short-term cash incentive compensation, for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021. In our SS&T segment, selling, general and administrative costs increased $1.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, including a $0.4 million increase in personnel-related costs, compared to the year ended December 31, 2021.

Acquisition, Restructuring and Integration Expense

Acquisition, restructuring and integration expenses for the year ended December 31, 2022 were $13.2 million, $5.3 million of which related to the continued integration of the acquired S&D business onto our enterprise resource planning system and $5.6 million of which related to public-company preparedness costs. During the year ended December 31, 2021, we incurred $8.8 million of acquisition, restructuring and integration expenses, $3.2 million of which related to restructuring costs, primarily attributable to optimizing our sales organization, $2.0 million of which related to integration costs related to the acquired S&D business, $1.7 million of which related to the integration of our enterprise resource planning system and $1.0 million of public-company preparedness costs.

Interest Expense

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Interest expense for the year ended December 31, 2022 was $35.5 million compared to $32.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. The increase is primarily due to a $4.3 million write off of unamortized deferred financing fees

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associated with the termination of the Prior Term Loan Facility and Prior ABL Facility and $1.6 million of early termination payments associated with the Prior Term Loan Facility. No such costs were incurred in the year ended December 31, 2021. These increases were partially offset by $4.1 million of cash interest savings as a result of the entry into the Credit Agreement.

Income Tax Expense (Benefit)

Income tax expense for the year ended December 31, 2022 was $0.1 million, resulting in an effective tax rate of (0.20%). Our income tax expense for the year ended December 31, 2022 is primarily comprised of federal and state benefits, at statutory rates, of $13.1 million, offset by $6.2 million of tax expense resulting from the change in fair value of warrants and $7.3 million of expense related to increases in the valuation allowance against our deferred tax assets.

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Income tax benefit for the year ended December 31, 2021 was $3.4 million, resulting in an effective tax rate of 13.6%. Our income tax benefit for the year ended December 31, 2021 is primarily comprised of federal and state benefits, at statutory rates, of $6.0 million, partially offset by $1.2 million of negative impacts related to the impact of changes in foreign tax rates on our tax benefit.

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Results of Operations

Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2021 and 2020

The following table sets forth our results of operations expressed as dollars and as a percentage of total revenues for the periods indicated:

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Our 2020 financial results reflect our ownership of S&D Coffee Inc (“S&D”) (see Note 6 to our Consolidated Financial Statements) for 10 months in fiscal year 2020, while our 2021 financial results reflect our ownership of S&D for the

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entire fiscal year. As such, comparability of our financial results on a year-over-year basis might be impacted by these reporting differences.

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The following table sets forth, for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, selected financial information of our reportable segments.

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Net Sales

Net sales from our Beverage Solutions segment for the year ended December 31, 2021 were $551.0 million, compared to $424.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. $62.6 million of the increase was due to the inclusion of revenues from the acquired S&D business for the full year 2021, compared to only ten months of activity in 2020. The remaining increase is the result of increased volumes of single serve cups sold (up 36%) and increased liquid extract gallons sold (up 13%) compared to the prior year.

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SS&T net sales totaled $147.1 million, net of intersegment revenues, during the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to $125.9 million during the year ended December 31, 2020, primarily due to increases in underlying commodities pricing, as the volume of green coffee sold was essentially flat year-over-year.

Costs of Sales

In our Beverage Solutions segment, costs of sales increased to $423.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $330.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase is primarily due to a $67.5 million increase in green coffee, tea and liquid extracts costs, driven by higher volumes and commodity price increases, specifically related to green coffee. In addition, manufacturing labor costs increased $11.5 million as a result of increased labor rates and staffing level to meet production requirements. However, costs of sales as a percent of segment revenues decreased to 77% for the year ended December 31, 2021, from 78% for the year ended December 31, 2020, primarily due to leveraging our manufacturing costs on higher volumes.

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In our SS&T segment, costs of sales were $129.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, an increase of $16.1 million compared to the year ended December 31, 2020. This increase is primarily due to a $14.0 million increase in green coffee cost driven by an increase in underlying commodities pricings, as volume of green coffee sold was essentially flat year-over-year. Costs of sales as a percent of segment revenues, excluding intersegment revenues, was 88% for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to 90% for the year ended December 31, 2020, primarily due to a

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net increase of $3.6 million in unrealized gains resulting from changes in the fair value of our forward purchase and sales contracts and related green coffee commodity inventory.

Selling, General and Administrative Expense

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Total selling, general and administrative expenses increased $12.9 million year-over-year, primarily due to a $12.1 million increase in costs in our Beverage Solutions segment. This increase is the result of two additional months, or $13.9 million, of costs associated with the acquired S&D business that were incurred in the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the year ended December 31, 2020, as S&D was acquired on February 28, 2020. In addition, during the year ended December 31, 2021, we incurred $4.0 million of incremental freight costs as a result of higher shipping volumes and increased freight prices compared to the prior year. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in personnel related expenses incurred during the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to the year ended December 31, 2020 primarily due to a reduction in average headcount of approximately 250 FTEs year-over-year.

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Acquisition, Restructuring and Integration Expense

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Acquisition, restructuring and integration expense decreased $13.5 million to $8.8 million during the year ended December 31, 2021. The reduction is primarily due to transaction costs associated with the acquired S&D business ($8.5 million), and restructuring costs associated with the shut-down of the acquired S&D Direct-to-Store Delivery (“DSD”) distribution business ($13.9 million) in 2020, which were not incurred in 2021. During the year ended December 31, 2021, we incurred $1.7 million of costs associated with the integration of our enterprise resource planning system, which will be completed in 2022, $2.0 million of integration costs related to the acquired S&D business, which were delayed due to COVID-19, $3.2 million of restructuring costs, primarily attributable to optimizing our sales organization, and

$1.0 million of public-company preparedness costs.

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Impairment Charges

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Due to the negative economic impact that COVID-19 had on our business, we performed a goodwill impairment analysis during the second quarter of 2020, resulting in a $76.9 million goodwill impairment charge recorded in our Beverage Solutions segment. Following the acquisition of S&D, and due to the implications of COVID-19 and its related impact on our distribution operations, we assessed the acquired DSD distribution business and determined to close the DSD distribution business in June 2020. As a result of exiting the business and lost revenues supporting the acquired S&D trademark, we fully impaired the trademark, recording a $5.2 million impairment charge for the year ended December 31, 2020.

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Loss on Disposal of Property, Plant and Equipment

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During the year ended December 31, 2020, we incurred losses on the disposal of property, plant and equipment of $7.8 million, of which $5.8 million related to the disposal of equipment associated with the DSD business, which was closed in June 2020.

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Interest Expense

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