STATEN ISLAND, New York, U.S. — Coffee Holding Co., Inc. today announced its operating results for the three months and nine months ended July 31, 2020. Net sales totaled $17,344,009 for the three months ended July 31, 2020, a decrease of $4,250,276, or 19.7%, from $21,594,285 for the three months ended July 31, 2019.
Net sales totaled $56,725,386 for the nine months ended July 31, 2020, a decrease of $9,219,197, or 14%, from $65,944,583 for the nine months ended July 31, 2019. The decrease in net sales was due to the COVID-19 pandemic which caused many of the Company’s green coffee customers who service the restaurant and food service industry to either close or suspend their business operations during the period resulting in lost revenues from that segment of the Company’s customer base.
Cost of sales for the three months ended July 31, 2020 was $13,517,482, or 77.9% of net sales, as compared to $17,465,685, or 80.9% of net sales, for the three months July 31, 2019. Cost of sales for the nine months ended July 31, 2020 was $45,287,198, or 79.8% of net sales, as compared to $53,705,272, or 81.4% of net sales, for the nine months July 31, 2019. The decrease in cost of sales was due to Coffee Holding Company’s decreased sales partially offset by its favorable green coffee position.
Gross profit for the three months ended July 31, 2020 amounted to $3,826,527, or 22.1% of net sales, as compared to $4,128,600, or 19.1% of net sales, for the three months ended July 31, 2019. Gross profit for the nine months ended July 31, 2020 amounted to $11,438,188, or 20.2% of net sales, as compared to $12,239,311, or 18.6% of net sales, for the nine months ended July 31, 2019. The increase in gross profits as a percentage of sales is attributable to a change in the Company’s product mix where it sold a higher percentage of branded and private label roasted coffee.
Total operating expenses decreased by $619,127 to $3,252,235 for the three months ended July 31, 2020 from $3,871,362 for the three months ended July 31, 2019. Total operating expenses decreased by $853,598 to $10,530,647 for the nine months ended July 31, 2020 from $11,384,245 for the nine months ended July 31, 2019. The Company’s efforts to control costs through the elimination of redundancy in its operations and the elimination of certain unnecessary variable costs were the primary reasons for this decrease.
Coffee Holding Company had a net income of $391,324, or $0.07 per share basic and diluted, for the three months ended July 31, 2020 compared to net income of $111,494, or $0.02 per share basic and diluted for the three months ended July 31, 2019. The Company had net income of $289,994, or $0.05 per share basic and diluted, for the nine months ended July 31, 2020 compared to net income of $187,741, or $0.03 per share basic and diluted for the nine months ended July 31, 2019. The increase in net income was due primarily to the reasons described above.
“I’m pleased to report our second consecutive profitable quarter, as we earned $.07 per share despite a 19.7% decline in sales as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to negatively impact sales of green coffee. Unlike last quarter, sales of our roasted private label products were unable to offset the lower sales of green coffee. Unfortunately, the surge in overall industry supermarket sales of coffee seen from March through June of this year, which saw overall industry coffee sales throughout the market spike by 8.1% year over year, did not continue into the summer months,” stated Andrew Gordon, President and CEO of Coffee Holding Company.
“However, heading into the September through November period, which have traditionally been our strongest months from a sales perspective, I expect to see a buying surge from our supermarket customers, for both private label and branded products, as our customers’ inventory stockpiles have likely been reduced to pre-pandemic levels.
“In addition, as most states begin to ease restrictions on commercial and recreational activities, I believe we may begin to see increases in sales of green coffee, as our customers begin to reopen their restaurants, cafes and food service operations,” stated Mr. Gordon.
“Also, during this quarter, coffee prices recovered from their bear market levels below $1.00 per pound, and have subsequently traded to one year highs. We expect this to be a tailwind for us once our sales of green coffee normalize at these higher market levels and we will be able to sell from the favorable inventory position we acquired during the first half of 2020. We have also paid down our bank line by almost 50% during the quarter ended July 31, 2020, as we reduced inventory and were able to generate free cash from our profits,” added Mr. Gordon.
“Further, this quarter we continued to have the negative, but non-cash, impact on our profits resulting from our previously established employee option plan. The effect this quarter was $189,769, or an impact on earnings of $.03 per share.
“Lastly, in keeping pace with the times, both myself and my brother, our VP of Operations, will be taking pay cuts of between 5% to 15%, to become effective at the start of our fiscal year 2021. These pay cuts will ensure and promote continued equality within our organization as well as act as a direct cost reduction strategy which will offset any additional sales slowdown due to COVID-19,” concluded Mr. Gordon.
