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E BLUE BIRD BLUE BIRD REPORTS FISCAL 2021 THIRD QUARTER RESULTS FOCUSED ON MARGIN EXPANSION AND EV GROWTH IMPACTED BY SUPPLY CHAIN DISRUPTIONS Net Sales of $ 196.7M and GAAP Net Income of $ 4.3M Firm Order Backlog of 4,000+ units Electric Bus Backlog at 380+ units Adjusted EBITDA of $ 13.2M with 2,024 Buses Sold Macon , GA , August 12 , 2021 - Blue Bird Corporation ( “ Blue Bird " ) ( Nasdaq : BLBD ) , the leading independent designer and manufacturer of school buses , announced today its fiscal 2021 third quarter results . GAAP net income for the quarter of $ 4.3 million was $ 3.0 better than the same FY2020 fiscal period . Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $ 13.2 million , $ 0.7 million above last year . Supply chain disruptions resulted in approximately 550 fewer bookings than planned in the period . Order backlog is strong at more than 4,000 buses , filling all remaining production slots for FY2021 and now filling production slots in FY2022 . Highlights ( in millions except Unit Sales and EPS data ) Unit Sales GAAP Measures : Revenue Net Income Diluted Earnings per Share Non - GAAP Measures¹ : Adjusted EBITDA Adjusted Net Income Adjusted Diluted Earnings per Share 1 Reconciliation to relevant GAAP metrics shown below Three Months Ended July 3 , 2021 B / ( W ) 2020 Nine Months Ended July 3 , 2021 2,024 76 4,768 B / ( W ) 2020 ( 1,234 ) SA SASA $ 196.7 $ 4.3 $ 0.16 $ SASASA $ 7.5 $ 491.8 $ ( 106.0 ) $ 3.0 $ 2.1 $ 1.9 0.11 $ 0.08 $ 0.07 SA SASA $ 13.2 $ 0.7 $ 26.5 $ ( 6.3 ) $ $ 5.2 $ 0.19 $ 0.9 $ 6.6 $ ( 2.2 ) 0.03 $ 0.24 $ ( 0.09 ) " The third quarter result for Blue Bird was impacted by numerous supply - chain disruptions , " said Phil Horlock , Chief Executive Officer of Blue Bird Corporation . " Despite these temporary disruptions , new order rates were well ahead of where we anticipated as the school bus industry is rebounding strongly , and we have built a substantial order backlog of more than 4,000 buses , comprising of both our traditional internal combustion engine buses and electric buses . The Blue Bird team managed through the supply issues well and we increased our gross margin by 2.2 pts . compared with last year , with improved performance in both bus and parts . " With the school - bus industry recovery well underway since the beginning of the second half of our fiscal year , I am really encouraged by our progress in improving our underlying business structure , which is key to achieving our near - term EBITDA margin target of at least 10 % . We realized manufacturing efficiency improvements , despite the supplier disruptions we experienced ; we benefited from lower operating expenses as a result of cost control actions that we implemented last year ; and we recently increased all vehicle prices by 5 % in response to the global escalation in commodity prices . Our alternative- powered bus sales mix was a record 56 % in the quarter , a full 10 pts . above last year . We expect our full - year alternative power sales mix to exceed 50 % of total sales , supported by a very strong order backlog for our new and class - leading 7.3L V8 engine , and we are the clear leader in North American market share in both electric and propane - powered school buses , at around 70 % . 1