Zevia PBC 2026 Q2 Earnings Call

Thank you. Welcome to Zevia's second quarter of 2026 earnings conference call. On today's call are Alexandre Ruberti, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Girish Satya, Chief Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer. By now, everyone should have access to the company's second quarter 2026 earnings press release and investor presentation made available this afternoon. This information is available on the investor relations section of Zevia's website at investors.zevia.com. Before we begin, please note that all financial information presented on today's call is unaudited. Certain comments made on this call include forward-looking statements which are subject to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs concerning future events, are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements.

Please refer to today's press release and other filings with the SEC for a detailed discussion of the risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements made today. During the call, we will reference certain non-GAAP financial measures as we describe business performance. The SEC filings as well as the earnings press release, presentation slides that accompany today's comments and reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are all available on our website at investors.zevia.com. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Alexandre.

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. It's a privilege to speak with you on my first earnings call as CEO. Before I begin, I would like to thank Amy Taylor for her leadership and her support during this transition. I am excited to lead Zevia as I believe that we have a truly distinct product within the better-for-you beverage category. As a member of the board of directors, I have gained valuable insights into the transformation that has taken place over the last two years, I'm grateful for the opportunity to lead the company into the next chapter. My objective is to build on the work that has strengthened the foundation of our business, drawing from my beverage industry experience to accelerate growth and drive profitability while reinvesting in the future.

We believe that Zevia's truly distinct market position presents a tremendous opportunity that we have yet to capture. We are working aggressively to build a strategic plan that we believe will deliver breakthrough growth, sustainable performance for the business, and drive long-term value for all stakeholders. Before sharing my initial observations, let me briefly highlight our results, which Girish will speak to in more details. For the second quarter, we delivered net sales of $45 million at the high end of our guidance and adjusted EBITDA of a half million dollar above our expectations. We are encouraged by our progress year-to-date and the momentum going into the third quarter. We're continuing to make progress in driving awareness and trial through distribution and completed the rollout of our new packaging and flavors.

That said, we have a significant opportunity to drive improvement in our go-to-market execution, which I will speak to shortly. Turning to marketing, we launched the anticipated 360 campaign of Refreshingly Real, starring Cardi B as our real talk interpreter. The campaign generated tremendous engagement with nearly 29.5 billion social campaign video views. Over 1.7 million engagements on Cardi and Zevia posts, 1.8 billion PR earned media impressions, and 473 media placements. We plan to build on this momentum with additional campaigns, including upcoming Refreshingly Real contests. I look forward to keeping you posted on more upcoming events with Zevia and Cardi B. Now, turning to my observations and priorities. For the last month and a half, I have spent much of my time meeting with our executive team and employees, as well as our customers, suppliers, and investors.

Following my listening tour and a deep dive into the business, my belief in Zevia's potential is greater than ever. I also recognize that there are measures that need to be taken to convert our strengths into sustained momentum in our business. To accomplish this, we need to make Zevia easier to find with a targeted strategic distribution expansion, easier to buy through enhanced in-store execution, and easier to choose by amplifying awareness and brand relevance, and we shall do so with urgency. As we develop a strategic plan for our path forward and drawing from my broad experience, I will be focused on four key areas. First, evolving our go-to-market strategy. Second, sharpening and scaling our brand identity. Third, maintain strong financial discipline and operational efficiency to support our sustainable growth initiatives. And fourth, establishing a performance-driven culture.

I'd like to expand on each of these areas and provide some additional context. Starting with evolving our go-to-market strategy. We see a significant opportunity to expand the reach and productivity of the Zevia brand through three verticals: optimizing our singles platform, expanding distribution, and improving in-store execution. The first and most meaningful value creation opportunity is unlocking the full potential of the singles in-store. We view singles as the most effective vehicle for driving consumer discovery, trial, and ultimately household penetration. Over the past year, we have a focus on refining the product format, optimizing our flavor assorting with the right balance of classic favorites and emerging trends, and improving taste. As consumers increasingly seek healthier beverage alternatives without sacrificing taste, singles represent a powerful entry point into the brand and a catalyst for driving trial and long-term customer acquisition.

Second, with improved product portfolio, we see substantial opportunities to expand distribution and increase brand availability. Despite our good position within the zero-sugar soda category, Zevia remains under-penetrated across several attractive channels, including mass, club, food service, value chain, retail, and e-commerce. We believe our enhanced singles platform improves our ability to secure new distribution gains while increasing visibility and accessibility for consumers. Expanding our presence where consumers shop remains a critical lever for driving both awareness and trial. The third component of our go-to-market strategy is improving productivity within existing doors through a stronger approach to in-store execution, merchandising, and category management. To be frank, we need to do a better job of activating Zevia in store. We believe improved execution can increase velocity, support retailer economics, and strengthen our position as a key growth driver within the beverage category.

This leads to our second strategic focus area, sharpening and scaling our brand identity. Over the past several years, we have made meaningful progress in defining what Zevia stands for, but we believe there is opportunity to further increase the precision and relevance of our positioning. We are moving beyond the broad concept of the health-involved consumer and developing a more focused understanding of our core customer. We see our target consumer as wellness aspirational, younger, digitally engaged families who enjoy beverages and flavors they love, but are increasingly unwilling to compromise on ingredient quality or health considerations. They want the enjoyment of soda without the trade-offs. As we continue to refine our positioning around this consumer, we intend to support it with a disciplined ROI-driven marketing strategy designed to increase awareness, strengthen brand affinity, and improve customer acquisition efficiency.

By pairing a more clearly defined brand identity with a broader distribution and stronger execution, we believe we can meaningfully expand Zevia's addressable market and accelerate sustainable, profitable growth over time. Our third area of focus, financial discipline and operational efficiency. We aim to build on the success of our positive financial momentum and drive profitable innovation across functions. This will be achieved through maximizing or redirecting resources to align with strategic priorities as we reinvest savings from continuing efficiency gains. Our final area of focus is to establish a performance-driven culture within the organization. Delivering results not just for today, but over the mid and long term. We will challenge each other to improve, take ownership, make confident decisions, and learn quickly from setbacks so we can keep raising the bar together without losing the essentials of trust, empowerment, and accountability.

Before I turn it over to Girish, I want to thank everyone for the warm welcome I have received since stepping into this role. I believe we are operating from a better financial position, as shown by improved cash flow and positive EBITDA over the last few quarters. I will share our strategic plan in the coming months with further details on our four key focus areas. As part of this plan, we will outline clear, measurable milestones and provide regular updates on our progress. I look forward to working with our talented team as we realize Zevia's great potential. We have an exciting future in front of us. With that, I will turn it over to Girish.

Thank you, Alexandre. Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining our call today. Before we get into the quarter, I'd just like to take a moment to welcome Alexandre to the Zevia team. It's been a pleasure working more closely with him since he transitioned into the CEO role, and I look forward to the partnership. Echoing his remarks with our vastly improved financial profile, coupled with our increased supply chain efficiencies and cost disciplines, we have a strong foundation from which to build the next phase of growth for the brand. Now turning to our results. For the second quarter, net sales increased 1.1% to $45 million, primarily driven by successful pricing actions.

Our results also reflect the lapping of load-ins to Walgreens and Albertsons in the second quarter of last year, as well as the shift in cadence, with higher volumes anticipated in the first and third quarters versus last year. Notably, net sales in the first half of 2026 increased 10.4% to $91.1 million, including the discontinuation of our tea offering, which began in Q2. Gross margin was 48.9%, a 20-basis point increase from 48.7% in the prior year quarter. The improvement reflects strong price realization, partially offset by increases in aluminum costs, from which we expect to see a bigger impact in the back half of the year. Selling and marketing expenses were $13.1 million, or 29% of net sales in the second quarter of 2026, compared to $13.4 million, or 30% of net sales in the second quarter of 2025.