US energy-drink maker Celsius Holdings is continuing its international expansion as sales increase, despite a weakened US consumer and a “slowdown” of the energy category.
Following UK and Canadian launches, Celsius expects sales in Australia, France and New Zealand to start in the second half of this year. In January, Celsius gave Suntory sales and distribution rights for the energy-drinks brand in the UK and Ireland.
Speaking to investors today (6 August), Celsius CEO John Fieldy said: “While we achieve strong space gains, we also began to feel the effects of the same macroeconomic factors that are pressuring same-store sales and affecting consumer purchasing habits.
“Just last week, one of the largest convenience chains noted their same-store sales were down more than 4%. These and other factors contributed to the second-quarter energy-drink category slowdown.”
Fieldy said data the business had seen showed that sports drinks had picked up but the energy category had a “much slower” growth rate compared to the first quarter.
“It looks like, you know, overall in the category, consumers are maybe taking a pause. There's a lot of pressure from interest rates. We know the pressures are out there within the news,” Fieldy said.
The energy drink maker’s CEO said the group was in a strong position given its multi-channel approach, noting that Amazon sales had increased by 41% in the quarter year-on-year to $39.9m. Meanwhile, club channel sales increased 30% to $88m in the second quarter.
Sales through PepsiCo’s foodservice channel accounted for 12.1% of the group’s total US sales in the second quarter.
PepsiCo has distributed Celsius’ products since August 2022, when the Pepsi Max owner bought an 8.5% stake in Celsius.
“So I think we're in a great position, as consumers look to adapt, to the purchasing patterns and some of the channels that they're purchasing in, we're going to capture that,” Fieldy said.
“But those are the dynamics we're looking at. When the consumer is challenged, maybe you think go to more of a unit purchase, right? A lower dollar basket rate versus a larger so those are things we're watching closely.
“There's some challenges within the overall consumer. We're really trying to understand that and we're going to put some additional investments, strategic targeted investments, both on top line and below the line to continue to drive growth within our portfolio,” Fieldy added.
In its second-quarter results ended 30 June, Celsius posted revenues of $402.m, up 23% year-on-year. The group’s adjusted EBITDA for the period was up 29% to $100.4m.
Retail sales of Celsius in the US grew by 36.5% to $382.4m year on year in the second quarter, while international sales hit $19.6m, up 30% on the previous year.
Celsius launched in Canada through PepsiCo in mid-January and said the country “should be a great market”. The move marked the group’s first “major” international launch since PepsiCo took an 8.5% stake in Celsius in 2022.
