Greetings, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Americold Realty Trust First Quarter Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are only listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the phone presentation. Should anyone who require operator assistance, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Mr. Scott Henderson. Thank you. You may begin. Good afternoon. We would like to thank you for joining us today, for Americold Realty Trust First Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call. In addition to the press release distributed this afternoon. We have filed a supplemental package, with additional detail on our results. Which is available in the Investors section on our website at www.americold.com. On today's call, management's prepared remarks, and answers to your questions, may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements address matters that are subject to risks, and uncertainties. That may cause actual results, to differ from those discussed today. A number of factors could cause actual results, to differ materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, assumptions, and beliefs. As well as information available to us. At this time, and speak only as of the date they are made. And management undertakes no obligation to update publicly. Any of them in light of new information or future events. During this call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. Including Core EBITDA, Core FFO, and AFFO. The full definitions of these non-GAAP financial measures, and reconciliations. To the comparable GAAP financial measures, is contained in the supplemental information package available on the company's website. We also would like to note, that numbers presented in today's prepared remarks. Have been rounded to the nearest million, with the exception of per share amounts. This afternoon's conference call is hosted by Americold's Chief Executive Officer, Fred Boehler. And Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Marc Smernoff. Management will make some prepared comments. After which we will open up, the call to your questions. I will turn the call over to Fred. Thank you, and welcome to our First Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call. We hope everyone on this call is well. This afternoon, I will summarize our first quarter 2021 results. Our current view of market conditions, and our external growth activity. Marc will then review our quarterly results in more detail. As well as our recent capital markets activity, and guidance for 2021. After our prepared remarks, we'll open the call for your questions. For the first quarter of 2021, Global Warehouse segment revenue was $485 million. Which reflects growth of 27% year-over-year. Global Warehouse segment NOI was $146 million, which reflects growth of 15%. For the first quarter 2021, our Global Warehouse same-store revenue. Decreased by 3.8% on a constant currency basis. Our Global Warehouse same-store NOI, decreased by 6.9% on a constant currency basis. I'll note that, if we normalize for the acquisitions. That were added into our same-store pool this quarter, and the COVID surge. From the first quarter of last year. Our same-store results would've been essentially flat on revenue, a nd slightly positive on NOI. As discussed on the last earnings call, we fully anticipated continued supply chain disruption. As such, quarterly comps will be less relevant over the course of the year. We factored in supply chain variability, food service levels well below historic norms. Elevated retail activity, food production at less than full capacity, and continued sanitation PPE costs. We are reaffirming our annual guidance for the year. Let me provide a bit more perspective. Entering into first quarter 2021, existing inventory in cold storage, w as below prior years' levels. While demand continues to remain steady. Manufacturers have not yet gotten back up, to full pre-COVID production levels. As such, their safety stock. Which is represented by our physical inventory, is literally being eaten into. As the quarter progressed, conversations with our food manufacturing customers. Have indicated that production volumes, are expected to increase. And many of them are seeking, to improve their inventory positions. To better support their customers. Who are the retailers, and food service companies. We continue to be optimistic, about global demand. For all types of food production in our diverse portfolio, and we are confident that food manufacturers. Will return to pre-COVID inventory levels. As end consumer demand remains firmly intact. Our commercial business processes, including our fixed commitment contracts. Mitigate some, but not all of this impact. While we continue to make progress, we would remind you. That nearly all of our recent acquisitions, over the past few years. Did not initially have a meaningful number, of fixed commitment structures. Further, while almost all categories of food manufacturers' production lines, h ave been impacted by COVID. Certain subsets, such as protein, have been impacted more. As a reminder, PortFresh, Cloverleaf, Lanier, MHW, Nova Cold, and Newport. Are all part of our same-store pool, but were not in Q1 2020. These acquisitions are indexed greater towards protein. That said, we are actively working with our customers. To bring these acquisitions, onto our commercial standards. This is how we continue to enhance value for customers, and shareholders. Finally, we are comparing to the first quarter 2020. Where we saw buildup of inventory for export activity. And more importantly, the historic COVID-related surge. As a reminder, the first half of the year is typically lighter, than the second half. We all remember the hurricane effect, we experienced in the food supply chain. When the global stay-at-home orders, went into effect at the end of the first quarter 2020. This makes the year-over-year comparisons far less meaningful. The quarterly cadence of our results in 2020 was very unique. As previously discussed, we expect it will continue to be so in 2021. Starting late in the first quarter 2021. We have seen food manufacturer activity, start to ramp up. Our recent conversations with our customers, have been very positive. As the vaccine continues to roll out, and reopenings expand. We expect this will continue, to help manufacturers with their staffing, and processes. Which should enable them, to continue to ramp up production. To more normalized levels, and inventory positions. Further, individual states, regions, and countries. Are continuing to progress, through the various stages of reopening. Though we would note this, has been very uneven. We expect this return to the norm, to happen very gradually over 2021, and into 2022. Through it all, we continue to benefit from our portfolio's diversity, and scale. The effectiveness of the Americold Operating System, and our commercial processes. Barriers to entry remain high in our business, and our integrated global platform. Which now spans four continents. Would be difficult, if not impossible, to replicate. Finally, we expect that food consumption will remain stable, and in line with historical trends. For these reasons, we feel confident that our business will remain steady on an annual basis. Which is reflected in our full year 2021 guidance targets. Now, let me turn to our external growth activity. We continue to execute on strategic development, and acquisitions. That will help us better serve our customers, and their supply chain needs on a global scale. In specific, we completed two transactions since the start of the year, totaling $118 million. We have entered into a purchase agreement. For an additional acquisition for $102 million, expected to close this month. As we have said previously, strategic tuck-in acquisitions. Meaningfully, enhance our existing network. Just as important, all of these transactions bring opportunity. To drive NOI growth, as we commercialize existing business. And implement the Americold Operating System. On March 1st, we closed on the acquisition of Liberty Freezers in Canada for $46 million. Liberty consists of four assets, totaling 10 million cu ft. Two owned facilities in Montreal and London, and two leased facilities in Toronto. This acquisition grows our exposure, with several of our top 100 customers. As well as adds some new customers, and is a mix of protein, consumer packaged goods, bakery, and dairy. The greater Toronto area is one of Canada's most important distribution markets. And this transaction increases our existing footprint in Toronto by nearly 40%. Finally, this transaction includes approximately 20 buildable acres of land. Across the three cities, to support additional development. On May 5th, we closed on the acquisition of KMT Brrr!, in Southern New Jersey for $71 million. KMT consists of two owned facilities, totaling 13 million cu ft. Supporting the Ports of Philadelphia and Wilmington. KMT also has a transportation business, that provides less-than-truckload services. To support its customers in the two warehouses. This acquisition increases our exposure. To both new, and current customers. And is a mix of produce, protein, seafood, and bakery. This transaction grows our New Jersey footprint by 15%, and complements our current portfolio in the region. Which grew significantly through the Agro, and Hall's acquisitions. As we stated, when we acquired Agro. We continue to find opportunities, to build our network in Europe. Subsequent to quarter end, we entered into a purchase agreement to acquire Bowman Stores. Which operates a single campus located in Spalding, England, for $102 million. The campus aggregates 10 million cu ft. Along with four buildable acres of land, to support additional development. Nearly, all of the customers in this facility are new to Americold. And the commodity mix is distributed between protein, prepared foods, and produce. The facility is also one of the few businesses in the U.K., with a protein export license to China. The asset is located approximately 100 mi north of London, and complements our existing Whitchurch site. Please see pages 34, and 35 of our IR supplement, f or more detail on these three acquisitions. Finally, we continue to be very active on the ESG front. We recently posted our 2020 sustainability report, to our corporate website. We encourage everyone listening to review it, and learn about the progress on this important effort. As we noted in our report, we implemented 55 sustainability projects in 2020. In 2021, we look forward to pursuing additional sustainability projects. As well as increase, our GCCA Energy Excellence certifications. I'm very proud of the accomplishments, across our organization with respect to ESG. In closing, it has been another busy quarter here at Americold. We continue to work to support our customers, and their global supply chains. Through COVID-related disruptions, as we look to return to normal. We thank our associates for their continued hard work, and dedication. I'll now turn the call over to Marc. Who will provide more details on our results, balance sheet, and outlook for 2021. Thank you, Fred, and good afternoon, everyone. For the first quarter, we reported total company revenue of $635 million. And total company NOI of $157 million. Which reflects a 31.1% increase, and a 16% increase year-over-year, respectively. Core EBITDA was $118 million for the first quarter of 2021, an increase of 13.1% year-over-year. This was driven by our 2020 acquisitions, and recent developments over the past year. This was partially offset by lower revenue, due to volumes impacted by COVID. Higher COVID-related costs, and incremental corporate SG&A. Related to our recent acquisitions. Our Core EBITDA margin declined, by 295 basis points to 18.6%. This margin decline was primarily driven. By the increase in revenue, and NOI from our transportation segment. Due to our acquisition activity, and a reduction in our same-store Global Warehouse segment revenue. As you know, the transportation segment. Has lower NOI margins, than our primary warehouse business. For the first quarter of 2021, we reported a net loss of $14 million. Compared to net income of $24 million, for the same quarter of the prior year. The net loss was driven by an increase in acquisition, and integration costs. As a reminder, these expenses are excluded from Core EBITDA, Core FFO, and AFFO. Our first quarter Core FFO was $63 million, or $0.24 per diluted share. Our first quarter AFFO was $76 million, or $0.30 per diluted share. For the first quarter of 2021, Global Warehouse segment revenue was $485 million. Which reflects growth of 27% year-over-year. Global Warehouse segment NOI was $146 million, which reflects growth of 15%. Global Warehouse segment NOI margin, was 30.1% for the first quarter. A 316 basis points decrease compared to the same quarter of the prior year. The NOI growth was primarily due to our acquisitions, and developments. That stabilized over the past year, as well as contractual rate escalation. This was partially offset, by softness in our same-store pool. Including reduced throughput, due to lower food production. And food service volume driven by continued COVID impacts. We are also impacted by lower holdings, as compared to the inventory held for export. During the first quarter of 2020, and ongoing COVID-related expenses. At quarter end, rent, and storage revenue from fixed commitment storage contracts. Increased on an absolute dollar basis, to $307 million from the sequential quarter. On a combined pro forma basis, we derived 36.5% of rent, and storage revenue. From fixed commitment storage contracts. Which is a 420-basis point decrease from the sequential quarter. Primarily, driven by our acquisition activity. As a reminder, our acquisitions have had a very limited percentage, of fixed commitment contracts. The opportunity, to commercialize business is part of the value. We create through our platform, but this value is realized over time. For example, we are pleased to announce. That we recently converted another top five customer, to a fixed commitment contract. The impact of which will be seen starting in the second quarter. At quarter end, our global portfolio consisted of 242 facilities. Including the four we acquired from Liberty Freezers. Our total facility count includes 233 facilities, i n our Global Warehouse segment portfolio. And nine facilities, in our third-party managed segment. I'll turn to our same-store results, in our Global Warehouse segment. We count a facility as same-store, if it meets our definition at the beginning of the year. Same-store for 2021, consists of 162 facilities. Our same-store pool in 2021, now includes the facilities. Acquired from the PortFresh, Cloverleaf, Lanier, MHW, Nova Cold, and Newport acquisitions. In the aggregate, these facilities have a meaningful protein component. And comparatively low levels, of fixed commitment contracts. This is seen in our same-store results. Additionally, our comparables this quarter, include the impact in the first quarter of 2020. Of both a buildup in protein inventory, related to increased export activity. As well as the historic retail surge. We are actively working, to commercialize our acquisitions. As our fixed commitment structure, provides enhanced stability in our results. For the first quarter of 2021, our same-store Global Warehouse segment revenue was $355 million. Which reflects a decrease, of 1.8% year-over-year. And a decrease of 3.8% on a constant currency basis. Same-store Global Warehouse NOI was $118 million. Which reflects a decrease of 5.2% year-over-year, and a decrease of 6.9% on a constant currency basis. Our revenue was impacted by lower rent, and storage revenue, and services revenue. Primarily due to the ongoing impact, of reduced food production volume, and food service activity. Partially, offset by elevated retail activity. As a reminder, first quarter 2020 benefited from approximately $6 million of incremental NOI. Due to elevated inventory, and the historic surge related to COVID. Same-store Global Warehouse NOI margin, decreased 120 basis points to 33.3%. Due to the reduced economic occupancy, and throughput volumes. For the first quarter, same-store global rent, and storage revenue. Decreased 2.4% year-over-year, and by 3.5% on a constant currency basis. This was driven primarily, by a decline in economic occupancy. Our same-store economic occupancy was 76.7%, which reflects a decrease of 597 basis points. From last year's strong first quarter economic occupancy. As we were impacted by reduced food production levels, yet stable consumer demand. Our same-store global rent, and storage NOI. Decreased by 5.9% year-over-year, and decreased by 7% on a constant currency basis. This was due to lower occupancy, as well as increased costs year-over-year. Including increased property insurance expense, higher property taxes, and COVID-related sanitation expenses. Partially, offset by lower power expenses, and embedded rate escalation. Same-store rent, and storage NOI margin decreased 247 basis points, to 65.9% due to the same factors. Same-store Global Warehouse services revenue for the first quarter. Decreased by 1.3% year-over-year, and decreased by 4.1% on a constant currency basis. Our same-store Global Warehouse services NOI, decreased by 1.5% year-over-year, or 6% on a constant currency basis. This decrease in NOI, was driven by fewer throughput pallets. And incremental COVID PPE costs, and inefficiencies. Same-store warehouse services NOI margin was 9.7% for the quarter. Which was roughly flat with prior year. The disciplined cost control embedded in the Americold Operating System. Helped to maintain our margins, given we were able to reduce labor, and other service expenses. We continue to work, to enhance the diversity of our customer base. While growing our wallet share with our key customers. Within our Global Warehouse segment, our top 25 customers account for approximately 48%. Of our Global Warehouse revenue on a pro forma basis. While this is down approximately, 959 basis points from first quarter 2020. Our actual wallet share, with these customers continues to rise. Our acquisition strategy continues to benefit, the portfolio with increased diversity. Additionally, our churn rate was approximately 3.5%, of total warehouse revenue. Corporate selling, general, and administrative expense. Totaled $45 million for the first quarter of 2021. As compared to $37 million, for the comparable prior year quarter. The increase was driven by SG&A absorbed net of synergies. Through our recent acquisitions, to support our global platform. We remain on track to deliver the synergies from the Hall's, and Agro acquisitions. Now, let me update you on our external growth activity. With respect to our developments. We invested approximately $70 million, o n expansion development capital during the first quarter. We are making progress, on all in-process developments. We remain on track to complete Atlanta and Auckland, New Zealand on time, and on budget. Regarding our acquisition activity, as Fred mentioned. We completed two transactions, since the start of the year. And we entered into a purchase agreement for another acquisition. Which is expected to close this month. All these were, or will be funded using our multicurrency revolver. In March, we acquired Liberty Freezers in Canada. For a total investment of CAD 58 million, or approximately $46 million. This transaction translates into a net entry NOI yield of 7%. Which assumes the consolidation of the two Toronto facilities. At lease expiration, of the smaller facility in September. Subsequent to the quarter end, in May, we acquired KMT Brrr! for a total investment of $71 million. This translates into a net entry NOI yield of 9%. The warehouse business generates 60% of the NOI, and the transportation business generates the balance. Additionally, as part of this acquisition, we are assuming approximately $1.8 million in SG&A. Which implies an in-place EBITDA yield of approximately 6.5%. Of this $1.8 million in SG&A, we believe that we can eliminate approximately half, over the next 12 months. In addition, we entered into a purchase agreement to acquire Bowman Stores in the U.K., for a total investment of GBP 74 million. This translates to $102 million, and is expected to close this month. This translates into a net entry NOI yield of 6.8%. We continue to execute on our strategic growth plan in Europe. Please see pages 34, and 35 of our IR supplement, for more detail on these acquisitions. Pro forma for these acquisitions, our portfolio consists of 245 facilities. Turning to our balance sheet, and capital markets activity. We continue to believe maintaining a low-leveraged, flexible balance sheet. Provides a competitive advantage as we seek to drive internal, and external growth over the long term. In January, we completed an amendment to our credit facility. And increased the capacity on our revolver, from $800 million to $1 billion. We concurrently paid down the balance, on our U.S. dollar term loan A. from $325 million- $125 million using the cash on the balance sheet. We did not utilize our ATM program, during the first quarter. As of March 31st, we had 252.5 million shares outstanding. At quarter end, total debt outstanding was $2.8 billion. Our real estate debt, had a weighted average remaining term of 7.5 years. And carries a weighted average contractual interest rate of 3.1%. We had total liquidity of approximately $1.5 billion. Consisting of cash on hand, revolver availability, and $388 million of outstanding equity forwards. Our net debt to pro forma Core EBITDA, was approximately 4.8x. Let me discuss our outlook for 2021. We are maintaining our guidance, for AFFO per share in the range of $1.36-$1.46. As a reminder, we look at our business on an annual, not a quarterly basis. We continue to expect that, the quarterly cadence of this year will be unique. And we are impacted by a very difficult comp in the first quarter. We have also factored in uncertainty around reopening trends, and consumer behavior. At the same time, we know that food consumption remains relatively consistent. And we benefit from the scale, and diversity of our portfolio. As well as our strong market share. Please refer to our supplemental, for detail on the assumptions embedded in this guidance. Please keep in mind that our guidance, does not include the impact of acquisitions, dispositions, or capital markets activity. Beyond that which has been previously announced. Let me turn the call back to Fred, for some closing remarks. Thanks, Marc. Americold remains a mission-critical part, of the global temperature-controlled food supply chain. Our global network has produced stable, and consistent growth over many years. And we expect it, will continue to do so. We also recently took opportunities, to complete several acquisitions. And would like to welcome the Liberty, KMT, and Bowman Stores to the Americold family. Finally, we again want to thank all of our associates. Especially, our frontline associates for their hard work, and dedication. Thanks again for joining us today, and we will now open the call for your questions. Operator? Thank you, Fred. Before we take questions, you may have noticed. We posted our earnings release today, at approximately 3:30 P.M. Eastern Time. Due to a technical issue, with our third-party website provider. All of our materials are now posted, and have been filed as appropriate. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you'd like to ask a question. Please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line, has been placed in the queue. You may press star two, if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up the handset, before pressing the star keys. One moment please, while we call for questions. Our first question comes from the line of Dave Rogers, with Robert W. Baird. Please proceed with your question. Yeah, good afternoon, everyone. Fred, wanted to start with you. On the protein impact to the same-store pool, and your overall kind of guidance. Starting with the protein, I think when we talked last year. You had made it, I thought, fairly clear that there was kind of a rolling impact. But it wasn't that severe, and it just kind of happens from time to time. I think your comments today, suggest that it has not normalized, and won't be normal for most of 2021. I guess I'm wondering, what changed in that kind of view? That you guys had shared last year, if anything. I guess the second question is maybe for Marc. Is can you give us a sense of, what the core legacy cold same-store portfolio delivered, versus the contribution? You only grew the portfolio, by about 20% on the same-store side. And it seems like, it might have had an outsized impact. First of all, on the protein piece, there's many products. I think we talk about protein, as kind of being the lead indicator. From what we've seen, given the disproportionate amount of protein. That came with the acquisition. Really, all manufacturers have been impacted by a slowdown in manufacturing. We've talked about that the last couple quarters. Everybody's affected. Anybody that runs a manufacturing operation. Is impacted by having to mitigate their line speeds, and such. As a result, that's eaten into kind of the physical inventory. Which is their safety stock. Think about it, demand for the consumers remains steady. As I say, we're always going to eat, right? That demand has remained steady. The problem is the manufacturers, have been unable to keep up with that demand. Hence the reduction in our physical inventory. We use protein as an example, because it's been the most public, out there in the marketplace. In terms of, what's been going on through some of their manufacturing operations? And supported by the USDA report. It's one industry that does a pretty good job, of putting public information out there. Talks about the declines, and the pressure. On that particular part of the food supply chain. That's why we're using it as just a barometer, to get a sense. As it pertains to the same-store pool, again, we did over-index. If you will, on the acquisitions that we made. Particularly Cloverleaf, and that's now part of our same-store pool. The impact on that particular segment, hits them a little bit more than others. I will remind folks, that if you go back. We talk about protein, we talk about substitutability, and such. This is unique that COVID, is impacting all manufacturers. Regardless of what they're processing. Usually, when one protein's down, the other one's up. And it kind of stabilizes through our network. But this is a bit different, and unprecedented. Because it has more to do, with just manufacturing overall. Marc? Yeah. I think Fred said it best. If you look at our same-store results, and you pull out the acquisitions. The protein-heavy piece, which Fred just discussed. And you pull out, what we called out last year as the historic surge. Our overall portfolio revenue on the same-store, would've been slightly down or flat, sorry. And then NOI would've been slightly positive, in the 1% range. Okay, that's helpful. With reiterating the guidance overall, I guess two questions. One is, can you give us a peek into April, and May. In terms of are you seeing continued improvement off, of what was maybe a low point in the first quarter? Then Marc, I guess to get to that midpoint of your guidance for the year. You're looking at about 14% year-over-year growth. For the remaining three quarters of the year, against a pretty tough comp. Big picture, big pieces that contribute. To that you have a lot of confidence in, color there would be helpful. Thank you. Yeah, I think I'll give a little prelude, and then let Marc pick up on it. As we talked about in our prepared remarks, we are seeing a little bit of an uptick. We're seeing manufacturers start to come back. As the vaccinations are rolling out, and restrictions are starting to free up a little bit. Manufacturers are gearing back up. At some point, and this is just the way the food industry works. That inventory's going to get built back up. Nobody's happy, with their inventory levels. They're struggling to keep up with retailer, and distributor demands for fill. They're gonna rebuild those inventories. As those manufacturing lines, start to get more and more productive. We expect to see that build in inventory. As we've talked about, the build in inventory, and storage is the more profitable part of our business. We expect that to gradually increase, as we go throughout the year. Whereas it was down quite a bit last year. Gradually, declined over the course of last year. Yeah. As it relates to the full year, and the outlook. I think Fred really said it best. His prepared remarks, and his just recent remarks is. We're seeing renewed activity from our manufacturing clients. Which gives us encouragement, that we're gonna see improved activity. As you move throughout the balance of this year. I would remind people, we look at our business on a full year basis. We knew going into this year, that given all the activity in Q1 last year. And the strength, t hat that was a tough comp. When we look for the balance of the year, with this renewed activity. We're very confident that we'll be able to deliver, within our guidance range. Fred, Marc, thank you. All right, thanks, Dave. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Manny Korchman with Citi. Please proceed with your question. Hey, guys. Fred, you sort of just touched on this, in response to Dave's question. Maybe I'll ask it a different way, i s there the risk? That the manufacturers are actually gonna take advantage of this situation, and say, "Maybe we were paying too much, for the storage of our product before. We've learned to become leaner, meaner. We've got better systems in place. We found spots that maybe we don't need as much product, or space or however you want to look at it." There's a new normal, if you will. Between sort of old inventory levels, and the new ones. Yeah, thanks Manny. Fair question. The answer is no. Like I said, we talked to all of the food manufacturers. I was just with a couple of, big ones earlier this week. They are scrambling like crazy, to rebuild inventory. They are failing to meet, the needs of the retailers today. Their line fills, so a customer orders 10. They're only able to fill eight. Their line fills are horrible. They're getting penalized by retailers, as a result of not being able to service it. The retailers are upset, because they never want a customer. To walk into their store, and have a stock out. That's why the safety stock exists, and has existed for decades. I fully expect it to get back. Nobody's happy with where those levels are. This is not the type of industry, that can be run just in time. Right. Just in terms of competition in the space, whether that be for acquisitions or for customer agreements. Have you seen any changes over the last few months or quarters? No, it's really been pretty steady. Obviously, on the acquisition front. We run into the usual suspects. I haven't really seen any new entrants into that. In terms of customer contracts, we reported our churn rate again. As being at a low 3.5%, and it's pretty steady there. That just goes to show you, that we're not losing any of our big deals to competition. Matter of fact, it's quite opposite most of the time. Maybe one last quick one from me. It looks like one of these deals came, with more transportation services. Yeah. Is that a business that you'd maintain, grow, shrink, otherwise? I'd say that we're evaluating it. It's kind of a gift with purchase, if you will. Lots of companies aren't pure play warehouse companies. They do have some ancillary aspects of their business. This particular business is focused on consolidation. Which is what we believe is the real strength of transportation. That's where we're able to pool lots, of smaller customers together. And create full truckloads going to the retailers, and the food service guys. That's the most efficient, it's the most ESG friendly. That's the good transportation engine, that we continue to drive. As for other ancillary, we'll get in there. We'll assess the profitability, and we'll determine how we move forward with it? By no means do we have a desire to, become a transportation company. That is not our core. We are more brokers of consolidation. Thanks, everyone. Sure. Thanks, Manny. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Nate Crossett with Berenberg. Please proceed with your question. Hey, good evening, guys. Maybe just a follow-up on, the previous questions in form of clarification. When are you guys kind of underwriting, that you expect to see pre-COVID inventory levels? Is it at any point later this year? Or is it still a 2022 event? I know it's incredibly difficult. What does your guidance, and underwriting kind of assume right now? Yeah. As we look at it, and based on the conversation we're having with our customers. We're really seeing getting close to pre-COVID levels. Coming into the back half of the year, really going into the seasonal build. We're encouraged, as we said. We're encouraged by the conversations, we're having with our clients. We're encouraged by what we see, and hear them doing in terms of adding additional production lines? And really doing their best, to try to ramp up production. Because as Fred mentioned earlier, they're struggling to meet their customers' needs. We think those bode well for us. As we've said, this isn't an industry that runs just in time, and needs. Sufficient safety stock through the different nodes to run efficiently. Yeah. Nate, I think if you think about our guidance, right?. That we're reaffirming here, it's fairly wide, if you will. When we built that guidance? We did so without being able to pinpoint exactly, when we'd reach pre-COVID levels? We knew supply chains were going to be disrupted, over the course of the year. The way I would look at things, is if manufacturers ramp up faster. Remember, we have 5,000 customers, so all of them are in a different location. Different restrictions, different type of situation. If they all ramp up, and it happens faster than we think. That would obviously push us towards the top end. If it lags a little bit, and takes a little bit longer to get up to those levels. We believe we'll be at the low end. We think we have that kind of flexibility, and really there's just no lens. That we can see other than, what we've seen happen in the recent weeks? In terms of an uptick, that makes us feel comfortable. That we're going to be able to hit the range. Hope that helps. Okay. Yeah. Is there any large disparity between, what you're seeing in the U.S. versus Europe customers? Yeah. The vaccine's rolling out quicker in the U.S. I didn't know, if that's kind of translating to customer behavior for you guys? Yeah. It's very similar. It's shocking, how similar it is really around the entire world. We're seeing the same type of phenomenon. Okay. Just one quick one on inflation. What are you guys seeing in terms of input costs, just for development and like? Is this going to have any impact on, maybe the yields that you can execute on? If you do have higher build costs? Does that kind of impact how customers think about, maybe outsourcing more development to you guys? Yeah, No, good question, Nate. I'll take the inflation in two pieces, just so we cover them both. The inflation to our base business is pretty non-existent, really. If you think about it, we're all labor and utility. So we don't really have raw materials, and those types of goods. That you'll undoubtedly see inflation. As we've talked about in the past, labor rates haven't increased yet. I would expect that, we'll see some pressure on that. But we do have protections, and the ability. To be able to pass that on through. We feel pretty comfortable, both on the labor, and on the utilities front. As for development, the biggest impact. It's not impacting any of our existing current development projects. However, we do see it impacting some of the new projects, that we're working on. And it is definitely, having an impact on the cost of that construction. In terms of the returns, that we get on that, look. We build all that into our models, and we pass it through. To try to protect the margin, that we want. In other words, we will price that into our pricing. With our customers, to be able to protect that return on that investment. We feel very comfortable, that we're capable of doing that. As for insource versus outsource, look, all of our customers. Are going to experience the exact same cost. It really doesn't change the equation, because it's neutral. It's affecting everybody. Okay. Thank you. Sure. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Michael Carroll, with RBC Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question. Yeah, thanks. Talking a little bit about the manufacturing side. Can you kind of quantify, how much has activity improved? I think in the press release it said that activity improved in the back half of 1Q, and into 2Q. How big of an improvement was that? Well, we really try to stay away from monthly information. I will just say that we're seeing an uptick. Again, we guide on a full annual basis, not on a quarterly basis. We believe that uptick has given us the confidence. To be able to deliver, within that full year. Volume is picking up. We are seeing it. All signs are pointing to a recovery. Both from our customers, and externally. If you look at the macroeconomic climate right now, especially here in the U.S. Okay. Then, I guess, will this cause your same-store trend. To kind of trend, towards the lower end of that long-term range? I guess while manufacturing will pick up, that will help your throughput. You'll probably regain that throughout the year. But you're probably, going to lose the storage revenue, right? From the lower inventories in the first quarter. How big of a deal will that, have on the full year results? I think, what we're saying is? While the manufacturers pick up, yes, that will help with throughput. Throughput's kinda, it's not lagging as much as storage, if you will. Again, the throughput is coming out of storage. Instead of literally going through the building, and not hitting inventory. We expect inventory to start building back up, as the manufacturers come up. We think that they're gonna produce pretty aggressively, to refill those stocks. The lost inventory revenue, though, that you had in 1Q. From the lost storage revenues from the lower inventory in 1Q, that's the bigger margin, right? That's something you're not going to be able to regain. But the throughput you'll be able to regain, on the full year result, at least. We'll be able to regain on the storage as well. If all things go as, what we're seeing? If you recall, last year, it was a steady decline. Of physical inventory over the course of the year. We'll see an opposite trend this year, as that recovers. Okay. Can you remind us, about the J- curve for acquisitions? I know that you're talking, about the acquisitions. Were heavily protein related, so I guess those trends. Are going to be lower probably, in the second year after acquiring them. How should we typically think about that? PortFresh, for example, had a net entry NOI of 6%-7%. But a stabilized NOI between 9%-12%. How long, or I guess, what does that yield look like in year two and three? Before you get to that stabilized yield in year three. Yeah, I think if you look at our supplement, and the guidance. Our acquisitions really don't have a J- curve, right? The J implies, that you're gonna go negative or below that yield. The way that we guide on acquisitions is that. Typically, there's kind of a three-year run, right? The first year is relatively neutral-ish. We are investing in the business, as well as taking cost out of the business. In years two, three, we start ramping up 100 basis points-200 basis points on top of that yield. That's our typical guidance, and typical trajectory. That we see with all of our acquisitions. That said, I will call out that we did give. A little bit different guidance on the Agro deal. Where we made it a five-year. We said two years, kind of even on the inbound yield. And then ramp up that 100 basis points- 200 basis points, over the course of those following three years. The reason why that was different is just. Number one, the size and the number of entities contained within Agro. As well as, at the time that we did that acquisition. We were starting to hear things, and sure enough, it happened with COVID. Well, not starting to hear things, we were in the middle of COVID. Yeah. We weren't sure exactly, when we were going to be able to get over there. And how aggressive, we would be able to get after it. That's why we gave ourselves five years, on that integration effort. Okay, great. Thanks. Sure. Thank you. Our next question comes, from the line of Ki Bin Kim with Truist. Please proceed with your question. Thanks. Good afternoon, everyone. I was wondering, if you can go back to the comments. About manufacturing output, being lower for your top tenants. Just help us understand, what that really means? Yeah. Not for the throughput volume, but what are we talking about here? In terms of how much lower? And how much has that actually impacted, to your tenants in April? If you think about it, I don't have exact numbers here. But I would point you, and tell you. To take a look at, some of the USDA information that's out there? Which talks about pork stocks, and beef stocks, and poultry stocks, et cetera. I think, if you look at something like pork. I don't have it right in front of me, but I want to say their stock. Their inventory levels are like 30% down. That is a function of the manufacturers not being able to produce, to meet the demand. What is happening is they're? Again, I'll keep using the phrase, eating into the safety stock. Their inventory levels that are in our storage, are meant to do two things. Number one, to be able to make sure, that they're able to deliver. To customers as they need it, and have that inventory ready to go. Within a moment's notice. Number two, to be able to weather storms. Literally like hurricanes, and disruptions in the marketplace. Plant shutdowns, and that type of thing. That's why they have inventory in the first place. What they're being impacted by, is an elongated plant disruption, if you think about it. Let's talk about that hurricane effect, right? It's elongated. Instead of just being a month, it's a year. If consumer demand is the same, let's say the demand pool is 100 units. And they have 30 units in inventory. And the manufacturers, are only able to produce at 90 units. They're 10 units shy, of the 100 in demand. That 10 units comes out of the physical inventory. Which is our safety stock, or their safety stock, our physical inventory. That's what's happening. Due to the lower production, not only do I see lower. Throughput coming through from the manufacturers, but the bigger impact is I'm losing inventory space. Now, that gets mitigated a little bit. With those customers, that we have fixed commitments with. We're protecting their space, and locking in their space. As we've discussed, that's not holistic around all 5,000 of our customers. And all 100% of our physical inventory, or economic occupancy. That's kind of the dynamics at play here, Ki Bin. Using that particular example, if a pork manufacturer's output is down 30%. I guess it makes sense that to your business, the impact is probably greater than 30%. Because of the inventory drawdown. Am I thinking about that correctly? Probably a little bit less. Kind of goes the opposite way, because they're actually able to produce some product. But they're taking down the inventory. Right. Right. Net, it's going down. Net down. Yeah. Yes. Net is down. Okay. After you Ki Bin, you see that on a macro basis. And what the USDA is reporting? As Fred said, overall big categories. Frozen poultry down 17% March to March. Frozen fruit stocks down 17% March to March. Pork supplies down 27% March to March. That just shows you, demand has been stable. Us as consumers, we continue to eat. You hear Fred, talk about this famous saying. The consumer demand is stable, but what we have seen. Is the fact that the manufacturers, haven't been able to keep up. To support that steady demand, which is why we're seeing our safety stock? The physical inventory within our network. Be drawn down in order to satisfy, that stable demand. That's the beauty here. If you think about our model. Most companies when they have down periods of time, it's because the demand is not there. The demand is here. The demand is steady, and it always will be. Because we're talking about food, and food consumption. That's the beauty here. We're just artificially hampered right now. Because of the manufacturer's ability, to be able to produce. Given the COVID environment that we're in. Again, as we come out of COVID, as things start to loosen up. They'll start to get back up to production, and the business snaps back. That's the positive outlook, that you're hearing from us. Ki Bin, just also keep in mind. Most of our acquisitions, aren't going to have fixed commitments in place. Right. As we commercialize the business, like our legacy business. You'll see those fixed commitments come into place. Okay. The second part to that question. When you talk about, these type of tenants showing improvement? What kind of magnitude are we talking about? I don't mean your guidance for throughput pallets. I'm talking about from your tenant perspective. Yeah, no, look, as Fred mentioned, they're struggling to meet their end customer demand. They're trying to get their inventory production back. Where they can safely satisfy, their customer demand? And the fill rates required to meet, the terms of their contracts with their end customers. Yes. I don't know. Look, again, 5,000 customers. Some customers are going to be a little bit more skittish, and they're going to over-index. I think you'll see them, go with larger inventory pools. As we head into the future. I would say as for the rest of the customers, that don't over-index. At a minimum, they're going to get back to their norms. I don't see anybody, and I can't think of a single customer. That is happy with where their inventory positions are? And feel that they can run on lower inventory at this point. Okay. Thank you very much. Sure. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Joshua Dennerlein, with Bank of America. Please proceed with your question. Hey, guys. Hope you're all well. Good. In the past, you've mentioned some inefficiencies, from social distancing within your warehouses. Yeah. Does your guidance assume, that those inefficiencies hold throughout the year? Yeah. We did embed those into our plans. Both the inefficiencies, with labor as well as the extra PPE costs. Associated with sanitation, and some of that aspect. As we've discussed in the past, we believe some of those practices. That were actually put in place, are best practices for us to carry forward. We think that it will help us in the future. With absenteeism around things like the flu. The more sanitized areas that we can have, and safer work environments. We believe will stem turnover, and help ensure. That we have our regular employees at work. When our regular employees are at work, we're more productive. A lot of those are going to stay with us, and we will embed. That whole cost structure, and impact into our activity-based costing models. Which we already have, and so we price all new business accordingly. Yeah. The other thing I would add, is this was Q1 of 2021. Was the last quarter, where we were comping a period this year? Where we had COVID-related PPE, and sanitation costs. More materially, than last Q1 we did not. Going as we move into Q2, and beyond. Those costs really, were spread in our cost structure. Okay. That's good to know. Are there any other kind of moving pieces, t hat we should be aware of for same-store for next quarter? Any like base effects? The holiday shift. The one big thing I would just call out. In Q2 of last year, is the quarter that we paid. An appreciation bonus to our frontline workers. That was just something, I would just call out. I think it was in aggregate, about $5 million for the total company. Yeah. Okay. Outside of that, the business, every other aspect of the business is really normal. It's simply a function, of getting manufacturing capacity back up. Okay. Maybe on, you mentioned that if you normalized. For the pandemic, and the change in the same-store pool. That I think NOI would just be down a little bit, and revenues would be flat. Yeah. Is there any way to quantify? How much of that normalization would be driven, by the pandemic versus the change in same-store pool? I think, we actually tried to do that. Just to be clear, as Fred mentioned in his prepared remarks. Adjusting for those two items, stripping out the acquisitions. And adjusting for kind of the COVID related, upside we saw last year. Revenues would be flat, and NOI would be slightly up. We said, the COVID surge impact, we quantified that. As roughly, about half of our overall growth last year. If you think about the impact this year, it's about $6 million. That we have called out related, to Q1's results last year. Yeah. Think about that. Outside of the surge, if you will. The first quarter last year, was relatively normal course. A little bit of buildup in some inventory, for export in anticipation to China. It was, for all intents and purposes. Until the end of that quarter, a fairly normal quarter. We had the surge, that kind of really boosted us up, right? If you think about that, stripping that surge away. And looking at like for like same-store, to that first quarter. The fact that we're up on NOI, with so much less physical inventory, is actually pretty good performance. Again, we're looking at a full quarter of COVID impact. This quarter versus really no impact last year other than a positive. That's why I stripped that out to say, "Hey, look, we're actually positive on NOI, with that much less physical inventory." Okay. Awesome. Maybe one just final one. I think, the Toronto acquisition, if I read the press release correctly. It sounded like, it came with warehouse operations. Was that like actual warehouse, like regular dry industrial boxes or something else? No, they're all temperature-controlled. They're all temperature-controlled. Yeah. Oh, okay. Yep. Okay. All right. Thanks, guys. Appreciate the time. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Vince Tibone, with Green Street Advisors. Please proceed with your question. Hi, good afternoon. How do you think cold storage cap rates, have changed over the past six months? If you were buying the Hall's portfolio today, for example. How different do you think that cap rate would be? Over the last six months, Last? Yeah, I would say. Maybe that's that 25 basis points higher. As you can see, there's a lot of interest in our category. In our space, and I think you've seen that. You can see some of it, as you look in our M&A results. And you go through the different deals, and you see the overall yields. Tighten from a couple of years ago. In terms of the last six-month movement, it's probably in the 25 basis points to flat range. Just to clarify, 25 basis points lower or higher? Sorry, I wasn't clear on your comment. Oh, sorry. Lower. Got it. One more. Can you just provide an overview of the supply landscape today? Are you seeing an acceleration of supply nationally? Are there any markets, where overbuilding is a concern? Yeah, no. Look, the industry as a whole, still remains very disciplined. There's some noise out there, from a couple of developers here and there. But very few shovels in the ground. There's a lot of conversations going on, but like I said. The barriers into this industry, are very difficult. Nobody's starting up new cold storage companies. Unless they're legacy cold storage individuals. The reason for that is, again, we talk about food safety being so critical, and so fundamental. We talk about brand recognition being so global. Food manufacturers aren't going to entrust, a newbie into this industry. And put all of that at risk, and stake. You don't see that happening. The developers that are talking about developing. Remember, the difficulty here is our business is not just about the asset. It's about the full business. It's about the services, and the infrastructure. They go hand in hand. Developers building infrastructure, doesn't really do a whole lot. And isn't worth a whole lot, unless somebody's running it. The two largest players really aren't interested in leasing space. We're more interested, obviously, in owning our infrastructure. And we're not really interested in buying from developers, quite frankly. Because we have our own builders to build, and we don't have to pay a middleman. I see a lot of talk about it. As Marc said, there's a lot of interest in our space, and I get it. It's just more complex, than building industrial buildings. Thank you. That's really helpful color. Just maybe if you could just provide, a ballpark estimate. Because supply data for the sector, is tough to come by. Where do you think construction, is as a percentage of existing stock? 1%-1.5% maybe, with all the development going on. Remember, we're the majority of that development right now. We are, I think, developing more than anybody else right now, in terms of active projects. There's a fair amount of construction going on. If you look at the GCCA, they're probably the best reference point. In terms of talking about, what that existing landscape looks like, and the growth year-over-year. They can probably give you the best input. Great. Thank you. Sure. Thanks, Vince. Thank you. Our next question comes, from the line of Mike Mueller with JPMorgan. Please proceed with your question. Yeah, hi. I think you mentioned in the comments. That you picked up a top five customer, and moved them to fixed commitment. I'm just curious, out of the top 10 or so. How many aren't on fixed commitments? Two. If you look at our top 25, it's probably five. Yeah. Got it. And some of that is. And then. Yeah, go ahead. Sorry. Oh, no. Sorry, go ahead. 88%, Mike, if you look at our most recent deck, utilize fixed commitments. There you go. Of our top 25. When you're thinking about Europe, and just how that's going? Can you talk about the receptivity there? Yeah. So far so good. I would say that most of our work, has been done remotely. A lot of it is getting alignment internally. I would say, that we're very inwardly focused right now on SOX compliance. And getting all of that rolled together, getting our structure in place organizationally. That's going really well. We are definitely making progress there. We're starting to have those conversations. To get those introductions to the customers. I think I mentioned on the last call, that we're very excited. We've got two individuals, that know the Americold playbook, b y the back of their hand. One from the operations side, and one from the business development side. Those two individuals, will be going into leadership roles in Europe, to help lead that effort. I think by having, that expertise is going to help us make progress. A bit faster, than if we were to try to manage that from the States. And educate, and train the European team on how to do that. Having somebody on the ground full time, every single day, 24/7. I think, is going to help move us a bit faster. Got it. Okay, that was it. Thank you. Yep, thanks. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions. I would like to turn the conference back, to Fred Boehler for closing comments. Yes, thanks, everyone, for participating this evening. Apologize for the minor snafu earlier today, with the press release getting out there. Hopefully, that doesn't cause any issues. Look, the business fundamentals remain intact. And I think that's the key message, that we want to get through today. Our business, it's imperative that you look at it on a full year basis. Last year was a perfect example, as to why that is so critically important. This hit us out of nowhere last year. After the first quarter, we repeatedly confirmed guidance. And delivered that guidance. We obviously, felt some pressure this quarter. As compared to the first quarter, because the first quarter last year. Was a non-COVID environment, until the last couple of weeks. And this quarter, was a full COVID environment. We are bullish, and optimistic as to the way that the business is seeming to pick up. The way manufacturers, are starting to get back to normal. The way the criteria, the stay-at-home orders. And all of those things, are starting to loosen up around the United States. Gives us great confidence, that we'll be able to deliver again in the year. Again, on the strength of steady, stable consumer demand. Thank you again this evening. Have a great night. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.