Craft beer is making an impact on the top line at Anchor Glass Container Corp., with around 23% of the company's US$ 576M in revenue in 2014 coming from this sector, according to a Moody's Investor's Service report assessing Anchor's re-capitalisation. Anchor, a Tampa-based company that manufactures glass containers, secured a US$ 4M term loan, according to a recent press release. It is using the proceeds to pay down existing debt, support growth, and fund a US$ 150M dividend to stockholders, including private equity firm KPS Capital Partners, which bought Anchor last year. Anchor faces both challenges and opportunities, Moody's said in the June report, which was issued before the new loan was finalised. The company has a high concentration of sales, with 40% of its sales coming from two customers and 88% of sales from its top 10 customers. Just under half of total sales are attributed to beer - 23% from craft beer and 24% from mass-market beer, but volumes have decreased in mass beer for the last two years and are projected to continue to be sluggish, Moody's said. On the plus side, 98% of Anchor's business is under long-term contracts with full cost-pass through provisions. The company has long-standing relationships, averaging 20 years with its top customers, many of whom are blue-chip customers. The company also expects the transfer of profitable business from its former owner and has won some new business over the past year. Moody's assigned a stable rating outlook to the new loan, which has a B3 rating, considered speculative with some credit risk.
