Shares of Tupperware Brands shot up nearly 50% on Friday on the heels of a 90% jump in after-hours trading the previous day after the struggling kitchen storage container maker announced a debt restructuring deal.
The Florida-based company, known for its bright-colored plastic airtight containers, raised doubts in April about its ability to continue as a going concern as it struggles with slumping sales.
On Thursday, Tupperware announced it had struck an agreement with its lenders which will help reduce or reallocate about $150 million of cash interest and fees, and would give it immediate access to a revolving borrowing capacity of about $21 million.
The agreement “provides a lifeline, yet the market environment may prove to be extremely difficult,” said Bartosz Sawicki, market analyst at financial services firm Conotoxia.
After a surge in demand for Tupperware containers to store food during the lockdown, the company has witnessed a slide in sales volumes since 2022.
Tupperware has tapped New York-based turnaround management firm Alvarez & Marsal.
The move will “improve the company’s overall financial position by amending certain credit obligations and extending the maturity of certain debt facilities,” the company said.
Tupperware also announced the reduction of amortization payments required to be paid through fiscal year 2025 by approximately $55 million, and immediate access to a revolving borrowing capacity has been slashed to about $21 million.
“I am confident that this agreement provides us with the financial flexibility to continue executing on our near-term turnaround efforts as well as our long-term strategy to create a global omni-channel consumer brand,” Tupperware CFO Mariela Matute said in the statement
Representatives for Tupperware did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Tupperware shares closed up 36% to $4.77 on Friday, leaving it with a market value of $212.2 million — a stark increase after losing about 63% off its value over the past 12 months.
In 2022, Tupperware recorded revenue of $1.3 billion — a dip from the $1.69 billion it did in sales in 2021 and a hefty drop from the $1.74 billion in 2020.
The company has posted negative sales growth in five of the last six years — a trend that seemed to be accelerating so far this year.
Launched in 1946, Tupperware was the creation of chemist Earl Tupper, whose seal-tight design was inspired by paint cans. The brand was soon a household name.
In the late 1940s, a single Detroit mom named Brownie Wise began hosting get-togethers to peddle Tupperware, inspiring other women to do the same.
Tupperware Ladies and Tupperware Parties became an icon of midcentury suburban living and an early form of multilevel marketing.
In the decades that followed, numerous other brands entered the seal-tight container market. Tupperware enthusiasts have a deep love of the brand, but they admit its best years are in the past.
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