MACON, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Blue Bird Corporation (“Blue Bird”) (Nasdaq: BLBD), the leader in electric and low-emission school buses, announced today its fiscal 2024 fourth quarter and full year results.

“I am incredibly proud of our team’s outstanding achievement in delivering a record profit in fiscal 2024, more than double last year’s then-record result,” said Phil Horlock, President & CEO of Blue Bird Corporation. “The Blue Bird team continues to exceed expectations, by improving productivity and throughout, driving new orders, and expanding our leadership in alternative-powered buses. Market demand for Blue Bird buses remains very strong with a 16 percent increase in orders over last year and more than 4,800 units in our order backlog. Unit sales were up 6% from last year, revenue grew by 19% to $1.35 billion, and Adjusted EBITDA hit a record $183 million with a 13.6% margin. That’s an outstanding 6 percentage point growth in margin from just a year ago.

“In our push to expand our leadership in alternative-powered school buses, we delivered over 700 electric-powered buses this year, nearly 30% more than last year. We also saw strong growth in EV orders from the EPA’s Clean School Bus Program, ending the year with over 630 EV orders in our backlog, representing an impressive 13% mix of our total backlog. Following the nearly $1 billion funding from Round 1 of the $5 billion Clean School Bus Program, we’re excited for new EV orders over the next few quarters from Rounds 2 and 3, which provide almost $2 billion in new funding. These buses need to be delivered by mid-2026 calendar year, and we’re working aggressively with our dealers, school districts and fleets to support deliveries.

“With an all-time record performance in fiscal 2024, substantially above last year, we have significant momentum and look forward to sustained profitable growth in the coming years.”

FY2025 Guidance Increased and Long-Term Outlook Raised

“We are very pleased with the fiscal 2024 results, with the highest ever Revenue, Adj. EBITDA and Net Income,” said Razvan Radulescu, CFO of Blue Bird Corporation. “Our business transformation continues to yield great results, and ahead of the plan we have been messaging. We are updating our fiscal 2025 full-year guidance for Net Revenue to $1.4 -1.5 Billion, Adj. EBITDA to $190-210 million (13.6% - 14.0% margin) and Adj. Free Cash Flow to $40-60 million, which includes ~$50 million of extraordinary CAPEX related to expansion of our manufacturing footprint. Additionally, we are raising our long-term profit outlook towards an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 15%+ on ~$2 billion in Revenue.”

Fiscal 2024 Fourth Quarter Results

Net Sales

Net sales were $350.2 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, an increase of $47.2 million, or 15.6%, from the fourth quarter of last year. Bus sales increased $45.8 million, primarily due to a 16.5% increase in units booked. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, 2,466 units were booked compared with 2,116 units booked for the same period in fiscal 2023. The increase in units sold was primarily due to customer and product mix changes, as well as slight improvements in supply chain constraints impacting the Company's ability to produce and deliver buses due to shortages of critical components during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 compared to the same period in fiscal 2023. Additionally, Parts sales increased $1.4 million, or 5.6%, for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 compared with the fourth 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

Fourth quarter gross profit of $59.6 million represented an increase of $9.6 million from the fourth quarter of last year. The increase was primarily driven by the $47.2 million increase in net sales, discussed above, and partially offset by an increase of $37.6 million in cost of goods sold. The increase in cost of goods sold was primarily driven by increase in units booked, discussed above.

Net Income

Net income was $24.7 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, which was a $6.0 million increase from the fourth quarter of last year. The increase was primarily driven by the $9.6 million increase in gross profit, discussed above.

Adjusted Net Income

Adjusted net income was $25.8 million, representing an increase of $4.5 million compared with the same period last year, primarily due to the $6.0 million increase in net income, discussed above.

Adjusted EBITDA

Adjusted EBITDA was $41.3 million, which was an increase of $0.6 million compared with the fourth quarter last year.

Fiscal 2024 Full Year Results

Net Sales

Net sales were $1,347.2 million for the twelve months ended September 28, 2024 ("fiscal 2024"), an increase of $214.4 million, or 18.9%, compared with the twelve months ended September 30, 2023 ("fiscal 2023"). Bus sales increased $208.3 million, or 20.1%, reflecting a 13.6% increase in average sales price per unit, primarily driven by pricing actions taken by management in response to increased inventory purchase costs, and a 5.7% increase in units booked. There were 9,000 units booked in fiscal 2024 compared with 8,514 units booked during fiscal 2023. The increase in units sold was primarily due to product and customer mix changes as well as slight improvements in supply chain constraints impacting the Company's ability to produce and deliver buses due to shortages of critical components during fiscal 2024 relative to fiscal 2023. Parts sales increased $6.1 million, or 6.2%, for the twelve months ended September 28, 2024 compared with the twelve months ended September 30, 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 fiscal 2024 was $256.2 million, an increase of $117.3 million compared to fiscal 2023. The increase was primarily driven by the $214.4 million increase in net sales, discussed above. This was partially offset by an increase of $97.1 million in cost of goods sold, primarily driven by the 5.7% increase in units booked and increased inventory costs, as the average cost of goods sold per unit for fiscal 2024 was 4.2% higher compared to fiscal 2023, primarily due to product and mix changes as well as 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 $105.5 million for fiscal 2024, which was an $81.7 million increase from fiscal 2023. The increase in net income was primarily driven by the $117.3 million increase in gross profit, discussed above. This was partially offset by a corresponding $24.3 million increase in income tax expense.

Adjusted Net Income

Adjusted net income for fiscal 2024 was $115.3 million, an increase of $80.8 million compared with fiscal 2023, primarily due to the $81.7 million increase in net income, discussed above.

Adjusted EBITDA

Adjusted EBITDA was $182.9 million for fiscal 2024, an increase of $95.0 million compared with fiscal 2023. This is primarily due to the $81.7 million increase in net income, discussed above, and the corresponding $24.3 million increase in income tax expense. Among other smaller offsetting items, these increases were partially offset by the $10.5 million decrease in net interest expense, primarily due to a decrease in the stated term loan interest rate from 10.0% at September 30, 2023 to 6.9% at September 28, 2024, as well as lower outstanding borrowings during fiscal 2024 when compared with fiscal 2023.

Conference Call Details

Blue Bird will discuss its fourth quarter and full year fiscal 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. Access code: 960650

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, as and when applicable, to determine (a) the annual cash bonus payouts, if any, to be made to certain employees 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; or (iii) discrete expenses related to major cost cutting and/or operational transformation initiatives. 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.