Blue Bird Corporation (“Blue Bird”), the leading independent designer and manufacturer of school buses, announced today its fiscal 2019 first quarter results.
Compared with prior year, Blue Bird Corporation improved net loss and Adjusted Net Income, up $6.6 million and $1.6 million, respectively. Blue Bird improved Adjusted EBITDA by $0.1 million in the quarter, to $7.2 million, despite lower volumes. Diluted EPS and Adjusted Diluted EPS were significantly higher than last year, up 31 cents and 9 cents, respectively.
“We are pleased with our first quarter performance and our continued progress in key areas of the business,” said Phil Horlock, President and Chief Executive Officer of Blue Bird Corporation. “Maintaining first quarter profitability at about last year’s level, despite significantly higher steel-led commodity prices and lower volume, was a key objective, and we delivered. We achieved significant structural cost reductions from the Transformational Initiatives we started last year, and expect continued gains through FY2019 from the implementation of these plans. The pricing actions we took to offset rapidly-increasing commodity costs late in FY2018 have taken hold as expected, resulting in a 3% increase in net revenue per school bus in the first quarter, compared with last year. We are pleased to reaffirm our FY2019 full-year revenue guidance of $990 – $1,025 million and Adjusted EBITDA guidance of $80 – 85 million.
“We are focused on delivering differentiated and innovative products that customers want and value, as demonstrated by our continued growth in alternative-fuel bus sales. Our year-to-date bookings and firm order backlog in this segment are 25% above the same time last year, representing 42% of our total sales and backlog. With the broadest range of alternative-fuel school bus offerings in the market, offered at the lowest emission levels, we are the clear product and sales leader in the fastest growing segment of the business.
“Despite the significant capital investments that we are making this year in our all-new, robotic paint facility, we will continue to generate positive cash flow and are reaffirming our full year Adjusted Free Cash Flow guidance of $24 – $28 million.”
Blue Bird is the leading independent designer and manufacturer of school buses, with more than 550,000 buses sold since its formation in 1927 and approximately 180,000 buses in operation today. Service and after-market parts are distributed from Blue Bird’s parts distribution center located in Delaware.
