Celsius reported a 23.4% rise in revenue in Q2 2024, as the energy drink maker’s growth continued to slow after a prolonged period of significant gains, according to the quarterly earnings report released this morning.
Revenue clocked in at $402 million (compared to $325.9 million in the same period last year), driven largely by 36.5% growth in U.S. retail channel sales. However, that’s still down from 37% growth in Q1 2024 and 95% in Q4 2023. First-half 2024 revenue increased 29% to $757.7 million.
Gross profit increased 32% ($209.1 million) compared to $159 million for the prior-year period.
The brand, which is distributed via a partnership with PepsiCo, reported solid gains outside the U.S., with international sales rising 30% year-over-year (from $15.1 million to $19.6 million). On Amazon, sales jumped 41%, and in the club channel, sales increased 30% to $88 million. In c-stores, average SKUs selling per store increased 43% over the four-week period ending July 14, per Circana.
Unit sales volume was up 30.6% during Q2, taking unit share to 2.8 points. Just in convenience, the company reported a 2.5-point gain (34%).
Even with revenue decelerating, Celsius keeps picking up dollar share: having been the “hird brand to crack a 10% share (after Red Bull and Monster), it’s now up to 11%. Assuming category growth of 3% in 2024 and 5% thereafter, Jefferies analysts estimate that Celsius can reach 15% category share by 2028.
Celsius Essentials, the 16 oz. line introduced last year, is exceeding expectations, having reached 64% ACV and 4.4 average items sold per store (124,602 total doors).
Celsius CEO John Fieldly praised the company’s performance as its “best second-quarter financial results ever, delivering records in revenue, gross profit and gross margin.”
“Celsius continued to lead the energy drink category, contributing 47% of all second-quarter growth, and we believe that we are well-positioned to capture incremental category dollar share,” Fieldly said. “Celsius innovation is giving consumers great tasting, better-for-you energy drink products that are filling a whitespace and bringing new consumers to an evolving energy drink category.”
Wall Street analysts responded positively to the company’s Q2 performance. Jefferies analyst Kaumil Gajrawala called it “a solid quarter,” with commentary around pricing “quite positive.”
The earnings report comes against declining volumes in the category: energy drink volumes fell 1.8% over the two-week period and gained 0.1% for the 12 weeks (up 3.1% for 52 weeks) ended July 13, per the latest NielsenIQ numbers.