Martin Roper, the Company’s co-Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Our top line growth in the Americas was driven by the strength of our Vita Coco Coconut Water product category, combined with increased net sales from Private Label due to better inventory availability and associated timing of revenue recognition. We also benefited from increased net sales per case equivalents, due to reduced promotional pricing activity within our Vita Coco Coconut Water product category. Our net sales growth was accomplished even with continued inventory constraints on some SKUs related to availability of ocean containers at acceptable prices and increased transit times.”
Roper continued, “Our costs of goods for the quarter continued to be impacted by ocean freight transportation cost increases, which were sequentially worse than in the second quarter. While difficult to predict when the global supply chain will normalize, we believe our costs of goods are likely to remain under pressure for the next several quarters due to inflated freight and transportation costs. In the third quarter, we were able to offset most of these inflationary costs with increased volume and improved price/mix to generate our gross profit and income from operations growth. Our recent IPO solidified our balance sheet and has us well positioned to chase further share gains during these supply chain challenges which we believe will eventually normalize. In anticipation of continued growth, we intend to build our inventories over the winter to support our projected peak summer demand, assuming current year-to-date growth rates are sustained. Our discussions with retailers on increased distribution, new brand innovations and expansion of our Vita Coco coconut milk offering are progressing. Overall, we believe our business is healthy and our commercial platform is in a good position to support our multiple growth initiatives for long-term growth both in our Americas and International segments.”
Third Quarter 2021 Results
Net sales increased $28.3 million, or 32.5%, to $115.7 million for the third quarter ended September 30, 2021, compared to $87.3 million for the third quarter ended September 30, 2020. The increase in net sales was primarily driven by higher case equivalent volumes across both the Americas and International segments, with the Vita Coco Coconut Water product category as the largest contributor to the increase.
Gross profit was $38.5 million for the third quarter of 2021 compared to $29.4 million for the third quarter of 2020. Gross profit margin decreased 36 basis points to 33.3% for the third quarter of 2021 compared to 33.6% in the same period last year. The gross margin erosion in the third quarter of 2021 compared to the prior year period was primarily due to higher ocean freight costs and other logistics costs, partially offset by a reduction in promotional activities. Cost of goods per case equivalent were up 10% for the quarter compared to 8% on a year-to-date basis, primarily driven by continuous rise of ocean freight and logistics costs.
Selling, general and administrative expenses in the third quarter of 2021 were $20.7 million, or 17.9% of net sales, compared to $19.1 million, or 21.8% of net sales, in the prior year period. The increase in expenses was primarily due to the Company incurring costs associated with preparing for being a public company.
Income from operations was up 72.7% to $17.8 million for the third quarter of 2021 compared to $10.3 million for the third quarter of 2020. The increase versus prior year was primarily driven by the increase in gross profit offset by the increase in selling, general and administrative expenses.
Net income attributable to shareholders was $13.0 million, or $0.24 per diluted share, for the third quarter of 2021 compared to net income of $9.0 million, or $0.15 per diluted share, in the prior year period. Third quarter of 2021 included an unrealized non-cash FX loss of $2.0 million related to derivative instruments, compared to an unrealized gain of $0.2 million in the same period last year.