Blue Bird Corporation

Thank you for attending today's Bluebird fiscal 2026 first quarter earnings call. My name is William and I'll be your moderator today. All lines will be muted during the presentation portion of the call with an opportunity for questions and answers at the end. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. At this time, I would now like to pass the conference over to our host, Mark Benfield, Bluebird's head of investor relations. Mark.

Thank you and welcome to Bluebird's fiscal 2026 first quarter earnings conference call. The audio for our call is webcast live on blue-bird.com under the investor relations tab. You can access the supporting slides on our website by clicking on the presentations box on the IR landing page. Our comments today include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks that could cause actual results to be materially different. Those risks include, among others, matters we have noted on the following two slides and in our filings to SEC. Bluebird disclaims any obligation to update the information in this call. This afternoon, you will hear from Bluebird's president and CEO, John Weiskill, and CFO, Razvan Radulescu. Then we'll take some questions. Let's get started. John?

Thanks, Mark, and good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining us today. It's great to be here and we are excited to share with you our fiscal 2026 first quarter financial results. Once again, the Bluebird team delivered outstanding Q1 sales and adjusted EBITDA, and we are off to a great start. Razvan will take you through the details of our financial results shortly, but I will walk you through some of the key takeaways for the first quarter on slide six. First, Bluebird beat guidance on all metrics for the quarter. This is despite the impact and volatility associated with the administration's policy on tariffs. We continue to navigate this situation well and have beat guidance for the last 13 quarters, validating the strength in our management and business model. Order intake for the period was exceptionally strong. Our Q1 order intake was up 45% from the first quarter of 2025, which pushed our backlog to a seasonally strong 3,400 units. This is a great start to the year, especially as we come into the order season. Operationally, we continue to perform with all metrics pointing in the right direction. And the team has been able to execute on a day-to-day basis while simultaneously developing detailed manufacturing plans for the future. In terms of pricing, we remain extremely disciplined. Us prices remain higher than the previous year and the previous quarter. As I've communicated before, this process is just how we manage the business. In the alt power segment, our dominance continues. Our EV backlog is now into 2027. We remain exclusive in propane, which has the lowest total cost of operation, and our gas variant continues to be a leader. Alt power is a segment we created more than 15 years ago, and we continue to maintain our lead position. We continue to develop our investment thesis as explained before. Our manufacturing strategy encompasses many factory of the future concepts that will be rolled into our new assembly plan. During the quarter, we completed our analysis of automation use cases and have locked in on a roadmap. The initiative has a strong return, but this strategy also creates a path for ongoing cost improvement through other industry 3.0 and 4.0 opportunities. And finally, we continue to manage the impact of the administration's executive orders and tariff volatility. We are fortunate to be well positioned to navigate this situation to a margin neutral outcome. Consistent with past communications, it is our objective to position this business to be a strong long-term investment. Let's turn the page and take a closer look at the financial and key business highlights for the quarter on slide seven. We sold 2,135 buses in Q1 and recorded revenue of $333 million, 6% ahead of last year. On the EV side, we sold 121 vehicles, 6% of unit volume, and our long-term outlook for EVs remains optimistic. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter came in at $50 million, $4 million stronger than last year, and free cash flow came in at an outstanding $31 million. Razvan will talk more to this and our outlook later in the call. Turning to the right side of the page, I'll touch on a few points. With the strong order intake I spoke about earlier, our backlog finished the quarter at 3,400 units. This puts us in a good position coming into the order season. And I continue to reiterate the overall market fundamentals are still there. The fleet is aging. We are coming into a heavy replacement cycle. And there's been industry supply issues the last few years, leaving pent up demand. The horizon ahead looks very good for school bus volumes. In January, we also took our first order for commercial chassis. The market remains excited about this product. We are continuing with the testing, validation and normal engineering change loops. We are projecting to start production in late Q4, which pushes sales into fiscal 2027. Our emphasis is to get this product right from a design, cost, and quality perspective, and not force timing that can jeopardize any one of those elements. Back to school bus, year-over-year selling price for buses was up almost $8,800 per unit. But of course, this also includes tariff recovery as part of our margin-neutral strategy. With tariffs excluded, pricing was still up year-over-year, and part sales totaled $25 million for the quarter. All power buses represented a strong 48% of mix for unit sales in the quarter. Our powertrain strategy is a differentiator in the market and allows us to maintain strong emergence, but we are not dependent on it. If you look at Q1, RL power mixed it below 50%, but there was no compromise in profitability. At the end of the quarter, we had 121 EVs booked and 855 EVs in our order backlog, pushing into 2027. Our updated guidance reflects approximately 800 EV unit sales for fiscal 2026. Again, we remain optimistic on EVs in the school bus sector. EVs are a perfect fit for school buses when you look at the duty cycle, available charging intervals, range, and the proven health benefits for our children. Rounds two and three of the EPA Clean School Bus Program remained intact with funds flowing to our end customers. Earlier this month, it seems there was some misinterpretation of media coverage and quotes that suggested rounds four and five would be discontinued. But I will highlight from our subsequent discussions in Washington, there has been no such indication. It is our understanding that the EPA is still working through how and when these funds will be administered. and that the program is still bipartisan in support. Overall, when you look at state funding and fleet EV mandates, we believe this market will remain relevant, and our short-term guidance is not dependent on federal funding for rounds four and five. And finally, the $80 million MESS contract with the DOE remains intact. This is for their funding towards their new plant in Fort Valley. There's been a lot of rumor in the area of MESS grants, but again, There's been no unfavorable direction provided to us from the DOE. As a reminder, this project adds 400 well-paying American jobs to a century-old company with an iconic brand to build clean school buses, providing our children with the benefits of clean air. As I've said in prior earnings calls, it's a great story. Overall, we beat guidance for the 13th consecutive quarter with a 15% adjusted EBITDA. This continued performance reflects the strength in the entire Bluebird enterprise. I'm very proud of the team's accomplishments. So I'd like to now hand it over to Razvan to walk through our fiscal 26 first quarter financial results, as well as our full year updated guidance in more detail. Razvan?