The Shyft Group Posts Strong Third Quarter Results

NOVI, Mich., Nov. 5, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — The Shyft Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: SHYF) (“Shyft” or the “Company”), the North American leader in specialty vehicle manufacturing, assembly and upfit for the commercial, retail, and service specialty vehicle markets, today reported operating results for the third quarter ending September 30, 2020. 

As part of its transformational strategy to further focus on accelerating growth and profitability, the Company divested its Emergency Response (“ER”) business effective February 1, 2020, as previously announced. Accordingly, the financial results of ER have been classified as discontinued operations for all periods presented. Unless otherwise noted, financial results presented are based on continuing operations. 

Sales for the three and nine-month periods ending September 30, 2019, include $23.0 million and $91.4 million, respectively, of pass-through revenues from the one-time USPS truck body order (USPS order). 

Third Quarter 2020 Highlights from Continuing Operations

For the third quarter of 2020 compared to the third quarter of 2019: 

• Sales of $203.5 million, a decrease of $21.2 million, or 9.4%, from $224.7 million. Sales increased $1.8 million, or 0.9%, excluding the USPS order.
• Gross profit margin of 24.9% of sales, an 800 basis point improvement from 16.9% of sales, driven by product mix, improved material costs and actions taken to improve overall operating efficiency.
• Income from continuing operations of $19.4 million, or $0.54 per share, compared to $13.1 million, or $0.37 per share.
• Adjusted EBITDA of $32.6 million, or 16.0% of sales, an increase of $10.3 million, or 46%, from $22.3 million, or 9.9% of sales. The USPS order reduced adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of sales by approximately 110 basis points in the prior year.
• Adjusted net income of $22.1 million, or $0.62 per share, an increase of $6.2 million, or 39.7%, from $15.9 million, or $0.45 per share.
• Generated $32.4 million of cash from operating activities during the third quarter of 2020, providing $143.7 million of total liquidity
• Consolidated backlog at September 30, 2020, totaled $280.6 million, up $16.9 million, or 6.4%, compared to $263.7 million at September 30, 2019. Since September 30, 2020, consolidated backlog has increased approximately $46 million, to $326 million in October, reflecting strong demand for parcel delivery vehicles.
• Purchased F3 MFG, Inc. (“F3”), a leading aluminum service body and accessory manufacturer of the well-recognized DuraMag® and Magnum® brands, effective October 1, 2020.

“I am extremely proud of our team and of our performance this quarter, as we navigated the pandemic resulting in the most profitable quarter in our Company’s history,” said Daryl Adams, President and Chief Executive Officer.  The strong performance reflects growing momentum from our transformative efforts to focus on higher growth and margin opportunities in parcel delivery supporting ecommerce and specialty vehicles.” 

Fleet Vehicles and Services (FVS)

FVS segment sales were $145.2 million, a decrease of 19.2% from $179.6 million, primarily due to significantly lower truck body sales and upfit volumes being impacted by the pandemic, partially offset by higher walk-in-van volumes.  Sales decreased 7.3%, or $11.4 million, excluding the USPS order. 

Adjusted EBITDA increased $8.5 million to $33.2 million, or 22.9% of sales, from $24.7 million, or 13.7% of sales, a year ago.  The increase was primarily due to product mix, productivity, cost reduction actions, lower healthcare costs, and the USPS order. 

Segment backlog at September 30, 2020, which totaled $228.9 million, has increased $54 million, or 23%, to approximately $282 million as of October 31, 2020.   This compares to $223.8 million at September 30, 2019 and reflects strong demand for vehicles across the entire FVS product portfolio.   

Specialty Vehicles (SV)

SV segment sales were $58.3 million, an increase of 29.2%, from $45.1 million due to higher luxury motor coach chassis sales and the Royal Truck Body (Royal) acquisition completed in September 2019.

Adjusted EBITDA increased $3.1 million to $7.2 million, or 12.3% of sales, from $4.1 million, or 9.0% of sales, a year ago.  The increase was primarily due to volume and the Royal acquisition.

Segment backlog at September 30, 2020, totaled $51.8 million, up 29.6% compared to $39.9 million at September 30, 2019, due to increased luxury motor coach chassis orders.

Liquidity Update

The Shyft Group’s access to capital remains strong at $143.7 million, including $43.1 million of cash on hand at September 30, 2020, a portion of which was used to fund the F3 acquisition on October 1, 2020.  The Company paid down $10.0 million on its revolving credit facility during the third quarter and another $10.0 million in October.  The leverage ratio currently stands at 0.5 times adjusted EBITDA and leaves the Company in a solid position to continue to pursue strategic opportunities.

Outlook – Reinstates Initial 2020 Guidance

Based on our strong third quarter performance, our current growing backlog position and chassis visibility, notwithstanding intensifying pandemic-related issues, the Company is reinstating its previously issued March 2020 guidance, and shifting its profitability targets to the higher end as follows: 

• Revenue to be in the range of $660.0 to $680.0 million
• Adjusted EBITDA of $73.0 to $75.0 million
• Adjusted earnings per share of $1.28 to $1.32

“As we approach the end of the year, I’m pleased to say that our strategy is paying off.  The end markets we serve continue to be strong, fueled of course by the surge in ecommerce parcel deliveries.  As we begin Q4, we are seeing the increase in demand that we expected, and we are encouraged by our interactions with our customers about future growth,” said Adams. “Q3 was incredible for us, due in large part to our ability to pull ahead key builds and produce at optimal levels.  I’m extremely optimistic for what the future has in store for The Shyft Group.”

Conference Call, Webcast, Investor Presentation and Investor Information

The Shyft Group will host a conference call for analysts and portfolio managers at 10 a.m. EST today to discuss these results and current business trends.  The conference call and webcast will be available via:

Webcast: www.TheShyftGroup.com/investor-relations/webcasts  
Conference Call: 1-877-317-6789 (domestic) or 412-317-6789 (international); passcode: 10148648

For more information about The Shyft Group, please visit www.TheShyftGroup.com. 

About The Shyft Group
The Shyft Group is the North American leader in specialty vehicle manufacturing, assembly, and upfit for the commercial, retail, and service specialty vehicle markets.  Our customers include first-to-last mile delivery companies across vocations; federal, state, and local government entities; the trades; and utility and infrastructure segments.  The Shyft Group is organized into two core business units: Shyft Fleet Vehicles and Services and Shyft Specialty Vehicles. Today, its family of brands includes Utilimaster, Royal Truck Body, DuraMag, Strobes-R-Us, Spartan RV Chassis, Builtmore Contract Manufacturing, and corresponding aftermarket provisions. The Shyft Group and its go-to-market brands are well known in their respective industries for quality, durability, and first-to-market innovation. The Company employs approximately 2,900 associates across campuses, and operates facilities in Michigan, Indiana, Maine, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Florida, Missouri, California, Arizona, Texas, and Saltillo, Mexico. The Company reported sales from continuing operations of $757 million in 2019. Learn more about The Shyft Group at www.TheShyftGroup.com.

This release contains several forward-looking statements that are not historical facts, including our revenue and earnings guidance and other statements concerning our business, strategic position, financial projections, financial strength, future plans, objectives, and the performance of our products and operations.  These statements can be identified by words such as “believe,” “expect,” “intend,” “potential,” “future,” “may,” “will,” “should,” and similar expressions regarding future expectations.  Furthermore, statements contained in this document relating to the global outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the impact of which remains inherently uncertain on our financial results, are forward-looking statements.  These forward-looking statements involve various known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict with regard to timing, extent, and likelihood.  Therefore, actual performance and results may materially differ from what may be expressed or forecasted in such forward-looking statements. Factors that could contribute to these differences include future developments relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, including governmental responses, supply chain shortages, and potential labor issues; operational and other complications that may arise affecting the implementation of our plans and business objectives; continued pressures caused by economic conditions including weaknesses resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic; challenges that may arise in connection with the integration of new businesses or assets we acquire or the disposition of assets; restructuring of our operations, and/or our expansion into new geographic markets; issues unique to government contracting, such as competitive bidding processes, qualification requirements, and delays or changes in funding; disruptions within our dealer network; changes in our relationships with major customers, suppliers, or other business partners, including Isuzu; changes in the demand or supply of products within our markets or raw materials needed to manufacture those products; and changes in laws and regulations affecting our business.  Other factors that could affect outcomes are set forth in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and other filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which are available at www.sec.gov or our website.  All forward-looking statements in this release are qualified by this paragraph.  Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results.  We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements in this release, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

CONTACT: 
Juris Pagrabs
Group Treasurer
The Shyft Group
(517) 997-3862

Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This release contains adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), which is a non-GAAP financial measure. This non-GAAP measure is calculated by excluding items that we believe to be infrequent or not indicative of our continuing operating performance. We define adjusted EBITDA as income from continuing operations before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, as adjusted to eliminate the impact of restructuring charges, acquisition related expenses and adjustments, non-cash stock-based compensation expenses, and other gains and losses not reflective of our ongoing operations.  Adjusted EBITDA for all prior periods presented have been recast to conform to the current presentation.

We present the non-GAAP measure adjusted EBITDA because we consider it to be an important supplemental measure of our performance. The presentation of adjusted EBITDA enables investors to better understand our operations by removing items that we believe are not representative of our continuing operations and may distort our longer-term operating trends. We believe this measure to be useful to improve the comparability of our results from period to period and with our competitors, as well as to show ongoing results from operations distinct from items that are infrequent or not indicative of our continuing operating performance. We believe that presenting this non-GAAP measure is useful to investors because it permits investors to view performance using the same tools that management uses to budget, make operating and strategic decisions, and evaluate our historical performance. We believe that the presentation of this non-GAAP measure, when considered together with the corresponding GAAP financial measures and the reconciliations to that measure, provides investors with additional understanding of the factors and trends affecting our business than could be obtained in the absence of this disclosure.

Our management uses adjusted EBITDA to evaluate the performance of and allocate resources to our segments. Adjusted EBITDA is also used, along with other financial and non-financial measures, for purposes of determining annual incentive compensation for our management team and long-term incentive compensation for certain members of our management team.