Blue Bird Reports Fiscal 2024 Second Quarter Record Results; Raises 2024 Guidance and Long-Term Outlook

MACON, Ga. , May 08 /Businesswire/ - Blue Bird Corporation (“Blue Bird”) (Nasdaq: BLBD), the leader in electric and low-emission school buses, announced today its fiscal 2024 second quarter results.

Highlights

"I am incredibly proud of our team’s achievements in delivering another outstanding result in the second quarter,” said Phil Horlock, CEO of Blue Bird Corporation. “The Blue Bird team continued to execute ahead of plan, improving operations and throughput, driving new order growth, and expanding our leadership position in alternative-powered buses. The market demand for our school buses remains very strong with just over 5,900 units in our order backlog. Unit sales in the quarter were down slightly from a year ago, however we grew revenue by 15%, to a record $346 million in a quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was an all-time second quarter record of $46 million, reflecting a 13% margin; that’s an outstanding increase of $25 million over last year.

In expanding our leadership position in alternative-powered school buses, we achieved another record quarter of deliveries of our electric-powered buses. Additionally, at quarter-end, we had nearly 500 electric school bus orders in our backlog. We saw strong growth in EV orders from the EPA’s Clean School Bus Program, which awarded nearly $1 billion in funding in 2023 from Phase 1 of its $5 billion program. We are excited for new EV orders over the next year from the recently-announced Phase 2 (A and B) of the 5-year program, which provides at least $1.5 billion in grant and rebate funding for electric school buses. We’ve been working aggressively with our dealers and school districts in submitting applications and we are confident that continued, exciting growth is ahead for Blue Bird on the EV front!

Based on our strong start to the year and additional visibility into the 2024 operating environment, we have increased our full year financial guidance for Adjusted EBITDA to $155 million, with a 12% margin. That will be an all-time full-year record for Blue Bird, and we look forward to sustained profitable growth in the coming years, particularly as the global supply-chain recovery progresses.”

FY2024 Guidance Increased and Long-Term Outlook Raised

“We are very pleased with the second quarter results, with the highest ever second quarter Adj. EBITDA,” said Razvan Radulescu, CFO of Blue Bird Corporation. “Our business transformation continues to yield great results, and ahead of plan. With better line-of-sight into the balance of 2024, we are raising our full-year guidance for Net Revenue to $1.275-1.325 Billion, Adj. EBITDA to $145-165 million (11.5% - 12.5% margin) and Adj. Free Cash Flow to $70-80 million. Additionally, we are raising our long-term profit outlook towards an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 14%+ on ~$2 billion in revenues.”

Fiscal 2024 Second Quarter Results

Net Sales

Net sales were $345.9 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2024, an increase of $46.1 million, or 15.4%, from the second quarter of last year. Bus sales increased $44.5 million, reflecting a 18.8% increase in average sales price per unit, resulting from pricing actions taken by management as well as product and customer mix changes, and was slightly offset by a 2.2% decrease in units booked. In the second quarter of fiscal 2024, 2,254 units were booked compared with 2,304 units booked for the same period in fiscal 2023. The slight decrease was primarily due to product mix changes as well as a slight increase in supply chain constraints impacting the Company's ability to produce and deliver buses due to shortages of critical components during the second quarter of 2024 relative to the second quarter of fiscal 2023. Additionally, Parts sales increased $1.6 million, or 6.1%, for the second quarter of fiscal 2024 compared with the second quarter of fiscal 2023. This increase is primarily attributed to price increases, driven by ongoing inflationary pressures, as well as higher fulfillment volumes and slight variations due to product and channel mix.

Gross Profit

Second quarter gross profit of $63.6 million represented an increase of $28.0 million from the second quarter of last year. The increase was primarily driven by the $46.1 million increase in net sales, discussed above, and partially offset by an increase of $18.1 million in cost of goods sold. The increase in cost of goods sold was primarily driven by increased inventory costs, as the average cost of goods sold per unit for the second quarter of fiscal 2024 was 9.6% higher compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2023, primarily due to increases in manufacturing costs attributable to a) increased raw materials costs resulting from ongoing inflationary pressures and b) ongoing supply chain disruptions that resulted in higher purchase costs for components.

Net Income

Net income was $26.0 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2024, which was a $18.9 million increase from the second quarter of last year. The increase was primarily driven by the $28.0 million increase in gross profit, discussed above. Partially offsetting this was the corresponding $6.9 million increase in income tax expense.

Adjusted Net Income

Adjusted net income was $29.3 million, representing an increase of $20.7 million compared with the same period last year, primarily due to the $18.9 million increase in net income, discussed above.

Adjusted EBITDA

Adjusted EBITDA was $45.8 million, which was an increase of $24.7 million compared with the second quarter last year. This increase primarily results from the $18.9 million increase in net income as a result of the factors discussed above, as well as the corresponding $6.9 million increase in income tax expense.

Full Year Fiscal 2024 Results

Net Sales

Net sales were $663.6 million for the six months ended March 30, 2024, an increase of $128.0 million, or 23.9%, compared with the same period in fiscal 2023. Bus sales increased $124.7 million, or 25.6%, reflecting a 22.1% increase in average sales price per unit, primarily driven by pricing actions taken by management in response to increased inventory purchase costs, and a 2.9% increase in units booked. There were 4,383 units booked in the six months ended March 30, 2024 compared with 4,261 units booked during the same period in fiscal 2023. The increase in units sold was primarily due to slight improvements in supply chain constraints impacting the Company's ability to produce and deliver buses due to shortages of critical components during the first half of fiscal 2024 relative to the same period in fiscal 2023. Parts sales increased $3.4 million, or 6.9%, for the six months ended March 30, 2024 compared with the six months ended April 1, 2023. This increase is primarily attributed to price increases, driven by ongoing inflationary pressures, as well as higher fulfillment volumes and slight variations due to product and channel mix.

Gross Profit

Gross profit for the six months ended March 30, 2024 was $127.2 million, an increase of $84.1 million compared with the same period in the prior year. The increase was primarily driven by the $128.0 million increase in net sales, discussed above. This was partially offset by an increase of $43.9 million in cost of goods sold, primarily driven by the 2.9% increase in units booked and increased inventory costs, as the average cost of goods sold per unit for the six months ended March 30, 2024 was 6.2% higher compared to the six months ended April 1, 2023, primarily due to increases in manufacturing costs attributable to a) increased raw materials costs resulting from ongoing inflationary pressures and b) ongoing supply chain disruptions that resulted in higher purchase costs for components.

Net Income

Net income was $52.2 million for the six months ended March 30, 2024, which was a $56.3 million increase from the same period in the prior year. The increase in net income was primarily driven by the $84.1 million increase in gross profit, discussed above. This was partially offset by a corresponding $18.3 million increase in income tax expense, as well as a $13.1 million increase in SG&A, primarily driven by an increase in labor cost.

Adjusted Net Income

Adjusted net income for the six months ended March 30, 2024 was $59.0 million, an increase of $60.1 million compared with the same period last year, primarily due to the $56.3 million increase in net income, discussed above.

Adjusted EBITDA

Adjusted EBITDA was $93.4 million for the six months ended March 30, 2024, an increase of $75.8 million compared with the same period in the prior year. This is primarily due to the $56.3 million increase in net income, discussed above, and the corresponding $18.3 million increase in income tax expense.

Conference Call Details

Blue Bird will discuss its second quarter 2024 results in a conference call at 4:30 PM ET today. Participants may listen to the audio portion of the conference call either through a live audio webcast on the Company's website or by telephone. The slide presentation and webcast can be accessed via the Investor Relations portion of Blue Bird's website at www.blue-bird.com.

• Webcast participants should log on and register at least 15 minutes prior to the start time on the Investor Relations homepage of Blue Bird’s website at http://investors.blue-bird.com. Click the link in the events box on the Investor Relations landing page.
• Participants desiring audio only should dial 404-975-4839 or 833-470-1428

A replay of the webcast will be available approximately two hours after the call concludes via the same link on Blue Bird’s website.

About Blue Bird Corporation

Blue Bird (NASDAQ: BLBD) is recognized as a technology leader and innovator of school buses since its founding in 1927. Our dedicated team members design, engineer and manufacture school buses with a singular focus on safety, reliability, and durability. School buses carry the most precious cargo in the world – 25 million children twice a day – making them the most trusted mode of student transportation. The company is the proven leader in low- and zero-emission school buses with more than 20,000 propane, natural gas, and electric powered buses in operation today. Blue Bird is transforming the student transportation industry through cleaner energy solutions. For more information on Blue Bird's complete product and service portfolio, visit www.blue-bird.com.

Key Non-GAAP Financial Measures We Use to Evaluate Our Performance

This press release includes the following non-GAAP financial measures “Adjusted EBITDA,” "Adjusted EBITDA Margin," "Adjusted Net Income," "Adjusted Diluted Earnings per Share," “Free Cash Flow” and “Adjusted Free Cash Flow”. Adjusted EBITDA and Free Cash Flow are financial metrics that are utilized by management and the board of directors to determine (a) the annual cash bonus payouts, if any, to be made to certain members of management based upon the terms of the Company’s Management Incentive Plan, and (b) whether the performance criteria have been met for the vesting of certain equity awards granted annually to certain members of management based upon the terms of the Company’s Omnibus Equity Incentive Plan. Additionally, consolidated EBITDA, which is an adjusted EBITDA metric defined by our Amended Credit Agreement that could differ from Adjusted EBITDA discussed above as the adjustments to the calculations are not uniform, is used to determine the Company's ongoing compliance with several financial covenant requirements, including being utilized in the denominator of the calculation of the Total Net Leverage Ratio. Accordingly, management views these non-GAAP financial metrics as key for the above purposes and as a useful way to evaluate the performance of our operations as discussed further below.

Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income or loss prior to interest income; interest expense including the component of operating lease expense (which is presented as a single operating expense in selling, general and administrative expenses in our U.S. GAAP financial statements) that represents interest expense on lease liabilities; income taxes; and depreciation and amortization including the component of operating lease expense (which is presented as a single operating expense in selling, general and administrative expenses in our U.S. GAAP financial statements) that represents amortization charges on right-of-use lease assets; as adjusted for certain non-cash charges or credits that we may record on a recurring basis such as share-based compensation expense and unrealized gains or losses on certain derivative financial instruments; net gains or losses on the disposal of assets as well as certain charges such as (i) significant product design changes; (ii) transaction related costs; (iii) discrete expenses related to major cost cutting and/or operational transformation initiatives; or (iv) costs directly attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. While certain of the charges that are added back in the Adjusted EBITDA calculation, such as transaction related costs and operational transformation and major product redesign initiatives, represent operating expenses that may be recorded in more than one annual period, the significant project or transaction giving rise to such expenses is not considered to be indicative of the Company’s normal operations. Accordingly, we believe that these, as well as the other credits and charges that comprise the amounts utilized in the determination of Adjusted EBITDA described above, should not be used in evaluating the Company’s ongoing annual operating performance.

We define Adjusted EBITDA Margin as Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net sales. Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin are not measures of performance defined in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The measures are used as a supplement to U.S. GAAP results in evaluating certain aspects of our business, as described below.

We believe that Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA margin, Adjusted Net Income, and Adjusted Diluted Earnings per Share are useful to investors in evaluating our performance because the measures consider the performance of our ongoing operations, excluding decisions made with respect to capital investment, financing, and certain other significant initiatives or transactions as outlined in the preceding paragraph. We believe the non-GAAP measures offer additional financial metrics that, when coupled with the GAAP results and the reconciliation to GAAP results, provide a more complete understanding of our results of operations and the factors and trends affecting our business.

Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA margin, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Diluted Earnings per Share should not be considered as alternatives to net income or GAAP earnings per share as an indicator of our performance or as alternatives to any other measure prescribed by GAAP as there are limitations to using such non-GAAP measures. Although we believe the non-GAAP measures may enhance an evaluation of our operating performance based on recent revenue generation and product/overhead cost control because they exclude the impact of prior decisions made about capital investment, financing, and other expenses, (i) other companies in Blue Bird’s industry may define Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA margin, Adjusted Net Income, and Adjusted Diluted Earnings per Share differently than we do and, as a result, they may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies in Blue Bird’s industry, and (ii) Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA margin, Adjusted Net Income, and Adjusted Diluted Earnings per Share exclude certain financial information that some may consider important in evaluating our performance.

We compensate for these limitations by providing disclosure of the differences between Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA margin, Adjusted Net Income, and Adjusted Diluted Earnings per Share and GAAP results, including providing a reconciliation to GAAP results, to enable investors to perform their own analysis of our operating results.

Our measures of “Free Cash Flow” and "Adjusted Free Cash Flow" are used in addition to and in conjunction with results presented in accordance with GAAP and free cash flow and adjusted free cash flow should not be relied upon to the exclusion of GAAP financial measures. Free cash flow and adjusted free cash flow reflect an additional way of viewing our liquidity that, when viewed with our GAAP results, provides a more complete understanding of factors and trends affecting our cash flows. We strongly encourage investors to review our financial statements and publicly-filed reports in their entirety and not to rely on any single financial measure.

We define Free Cash Flow as total cash provided by/used in operating activities as adjusted for net cash paid for the acquisition of fixed assets and intangible assets. We use Free Cash Flow, and ratios based on Free Cash Flow, to conduct and evaluate our business because, although it is similar to cash flow from operations, we believe it is a more conservative measure of cash flow since purchases of fixed assets and intangible assets are a necessary component of ongoing operations.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements relate to expectations for future financial performance, business strategies or expectations for our business. Specifically, forward-looking statements include statements in this press release regarding guidance, seasonality, product mix and gross profits and may include statements relating to:

• Inherent limitations of internal controls impacting financial statements
• Growth opportunities
• Future profitability
• Ability to expand market share
• Customer demand for certain products
• Economic conditions (including tariffs) that could affect fuel costs, commodity costs, industry size and financial conditions of our dealers and suppliers
• Labor or other constraints on the Company’s ability to maintain a competitive cost structure
• Volatility in the tax base and other funding sources that support the purchase of buses by our end customers
• Lower or higher than anticipated market acceptance for our products
• Other statements preceded by, followed by or that include the words “estimate,” “plan,” “project,” “forecast,” “intend,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “seek,” “target” or similar expressions

These forward-looking statements are based on information available as of the date of this press release, and current expectations, forecasts and assumptions, and involve a number of judgments, risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date, and we do not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. The factors described above, as well as risk factors described in reports filed with the SEC by us (available at www.sec.gov), could cause our actual results to differ materially from estimates or expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements.

BLUE BIRD CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(Unaudited)
(in thousands of dollars, except for share data)	March 30, 2024				September 30, 2023
Assets
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	$	93,096			$	78,988
Accounts receivable, net		11,425				12,574
Inventories		145,401				135,286
Other current assets		19,495				9,215
Total current assets	$	269,417			$	236,063
Property, plant and equipment, net	$	94,487			$	95,101
Goodwill		18,825				18,825
Intangible assets, net		44,489				45,424
Equity investment in affiliate		25,948				17,619
Deferred tax assets		—				2,182
Finance lease right-of-use assets		683				1,034
Other assets		2,633				1,518
Total assets	$	456,482			$	417,766
Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity
Current liabilities
Accounts payable	$	138,847			$	137,140
Warranty		6,779				6,711
Accrued expenses		37,549				32,894
Deferred warranty income		8,721				8,101
Finance lease obligations		898				583
Other current liabilities		21,973				24,391
Current portion of long-term debt		5,000				19,800
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