Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD) Q3 2022 Earnings Conference Call August 10, 2022 4:30 PM ET

Company Participants

Mark Benfield - Executive , IR

Matthew Stevenson - President and CEO

Razvan Radulescu - CFO

Conference Call Participants

Mike Shlisky - D.A. Davidson

Eric Stine - Craig-Hallum

Operator

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Blue Bird Corporation Fiscal 2022 Third Quarter Earnings Conference call. [Operator Instructions] After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Mark Benfield, Executive Head of Investor Relations of Blue Bird. Please go ahead.

Mark Benfield

Thank you, and welcome to Blue Bird's fiscal 2022 third 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 with the SEC. Blue Bird disclaims any obligation to update the information in this call.

This afternoon, you will hear from Blue Bird's President and CEO, Matthew Stevenson; and CFO, Razvan Radulescu. Then we will take some questions. So let's get started. Matt?

Matthew Stevenson

Thank you, Mark and good afternoon everyone.

As you can see on the left hand side of the slide, our aggressive plan to improve our business operations is taking hold. And as we predicted on the previous earnings calls, Q3 was a defining quarter for us. We posted an adjusted EBITDA of $9 million for the quarter on revenue of $206 million with 1726 units. Our volumes are still constrained by the ability of some key suppliers to provide components. Free cash flow was negative $40 million as we increased inbound material early at the beginning of the calendar year in anticipation of increasing production volumes.

However, those increased volumes did not materialize due to the supply disruptions caused by the war in Ukraine, it continue to COVID lockdowns in China. We posted good results on lower than planned volumes by aggressively controlling costs recovering economics in pricing and adjusting our operations to improve efficiencies in a challenging environment. In the quarter and since our last earnings call, our business has made substantial progress and we have launched several critical programs and initiatives.