Tampa bottled water company, amid investor scuffle, grows revenue by 4%

Despite a public spat with a California-based activist investor earlier in the year, Tampa-based Primo Water Corp., which distributes bottled water brands including AquaTerra, PureFlo and Mountain Valley Spring Water, grew its revenue by 4%, to $547 million, in the first quarter of 2023, according to financial results announced in early May.

In a news release, Primo says the revenue growth was driven by an 11% sales increase in its Water Direct and Water Exchange programs and 21% revenue gain in water refill and water filtration services. The gains, however, were offset by the company’s exit from its North American single-use bottled water retail business and exit from its business in Russia, “as well as foreign exchange headwinds,” Primo states in the release.

Also, Primo’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization increased by 8%, to $95 million, in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same period of time last year. According to the release, the performance has led the company to reaffirm its full year 2023 revenue target of between $2.30 billion and $2.35 billion and reaffirms its full year 2023 adjusted EBITDA target of between $450 million and $470 million.

"During the first quarter we once again delivered strong revenue and earnings growth, driven by both pricing and increased customer demand across our Water Your Way platform,” Primo CEO Tom Harrington states in the release. “Our customer base and retention rates remained high as we continued to improve the customer experience through higher service levels and investments in the digital experience, customer satisfaction and operating efficiencies. I am proud of the efforts of our team and their focus on increasing revenue and profit while simultaneously improving the customer experience.”

Primo (NYSE: PRMW) is a leading provider of water and related products — what it calls hydration solutions — throughout North America, Europe and Israel, manufacturing water dispensers and delivering bottled water to millions of homes and businesses. According to its website, Primo sells more than one billion gallons of water every year. It reported gross revenue of $2.07 billion in 2022, up from $1.95 billion in 2021 — an increase of more than 6%, though it posted a loss of $3.2 million.