MACON, Ga.-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.
