History of Americold
While the name Americold only dates to 1997, the company itself can trace its history back to 1903, with the formation of the Atlantic Ice & Coal Company. Originally the company controlled thee cold storage warehouses, but soon diversified into selling plate ice. In 1917, the company was renamed Atlantic Company, and by the mid-1930’s they further diversified into beer production. This trend of diversification continued into the mid-20th century, with the opening of convenience stores under the brand name EZ in the late 1950’s, and of fried chicken stores under the brand Wishbone Fried Chicken in the early 1960’s. Accompanying this diversification was a series of mergers, culminating in the company being renamed Jackson-Atlantic in 1962, and being publicly listed in 1968. This process of growth through mergers and acquisitions continued over the following decades, until finally in 2010 the acquisition of Versacold made Americold the largest temperature-controlled warehousing and distribution services provider in the world.Financial performance
The company’s net revenue recovered after decreasing in recent years, from about 1.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2013 to 1.6 billion in 2020. Their total assets increased from 2.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2015 to over 7.8 billion U.S. dollars after acquiring Agro Merchants Group at the end of 2020. As of 2020, around 78 percent of Americold’s total revenue was generated from their warehouse operations, with the remainder being comprised of: management services for warehouses owned by third parties, transportation, and their marble quarry in Carthage, Missouri. In turn, 84 percent of Americold’s revenue from their warehouse operations was generated in the United States.
