Shyft generated $9.2 million of cash from operations; repurchased $10.3 million of shares
Specialty Vehicles segment delivered record margin performance

NOVI, Mich., Oct. 26, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 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 reports operating results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2023.

Third Quarter 2023 Highlights
For the third quarter of 2023 compared to the third quarter of 2022:

• Sales of $201.3 million, a decrease of $84.8 million, or 29.6%, from $286.1 million
• Net income of $4.5 million, or $0.13 per share, compared to $17.3 million, or $0.49 per share; third quarter 2023 net income includes a tax benefit of $2.0 million, primarily due to favorable adjustments for R&D tax credits
• Adjusted EBITDA of $11.0 million, or 5.5% of sales, a decrease of $16.1 million, from $27.1 million, or 9.5% of sales; results include $7.6 million of EV program costs consistent with prior year
• Adjusted net income of $6.7 million, or $0.19 per share, compared to $18.6 million, or $0.53 per share in the prior year
• Consolidated backlog of $464.4 million as of September 30, 2023, down 55.5% compared to $1.0 billion as of September 30, 2022
• Operating cash flow of $9.2 million, up $17.0 million, compared to an outflow of $7.8 million in the prior year
• Issued the second annual Sustainability Report highlighting our continued progress towards our environmental, social, and governance goals
  

“We delivered third quarter results in line with our expectations led by our infrastructure and vocational related businesses. The parcel and motorhome end-markets continue to be highly dynamic, and our team is focused on driving operational and commercial actions as we close out the year,” said Jon Douyard, Chief Financial Officer.

Third Quarter 2023 Business Segment Highlights
For the third quarter of 2023 compared to the third quarter of 2022:

Fleet Vehicles and Services (FVS)

• Sales of $124.3 million, a decrease of $60.2 million, or 32.6%, from $184.5 million
• Adjusted EBITDA of $8.0 million, or 6.4% of sales, a decrease of $16.4 million, from $24.4 million, or 13.2% of sales
• Segment quarter-end backlog of $383.4 million, down 58.1% compared to $915.1 million in the prior year
  

Specialty Vehicles (SV)

• Sales of $76.6 million, a decrease of $27.3 million, or 26.3%, from $103.9 million
• Adjusted EBITDA of $16.0 million, or 20.9% of sales, an increase of $0.4 million, from $15.6 million, or 15.0% of sales
• Segment quarter-end backlog of $81.0 million as of September 30, 2023, down 37.1% compared to $128.8 million in the prior year
  

Disciplined Capital Allocation
“Our balance sheet is a competitive advantage as the Company executes its long-term strategy. We are focused on cash conversion and efficiently deploying capital to maximize shareholder value, including $19.1 million of share repurchases in 2023,” said Douyard.

The Company deployed $17.2 million of capital in the third quarter with the following actions:

• Repurchased $10.3 million in shares with $223 million remaining under the existing share repurchase authorization
• Funded $5.2 million of capital expenditures, including investment in Blue Arc
• Paid regular dividends of $1.7 million reflecting a dividend of $0.05 per share
  

2023 Financial Outlook
The Company is narrowing its full-year 2023 outlook to the lower-end of the range as end-market challenges and operational inefficiencies remain.

The outlook, notwithstanding further changes in the operating environment, is as follows:

• Sales to be in the range of $850 million to $900 million compared to the previous outlook of $850 to $950 million
• Adjusted EBITDA of $40 to $45 million compared to the previous outlook of $40 to $60 million
• Net Income of $4 to $9 million compared to the previous outlook of $1 to $16 million; includes favorable adjustments for R&D tax credits
• Earnings per share of $0.13 to $0.27 compared to the previous outlook of $0.03 to $0.46
• Adjusted earnings per share of $0.42 to $0.56 compared to the previous outlook of $0.33 to $0.76
  

Conference Call and Webcast
The Shyft Group will host a conference call and webcast at 8:30 a.m. ET today.

The U.S. toll-free dial-in for the conference call is 1-844-868-8845, and the international dial-in number is 412-317-6591. The conference passcode is 10179222.

A live webcast of the conference will also be available on the investor relations page of the company’s website at www.theshyftgroup.com/webcasts.

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 include Utilimaster^®, Blue Arc™ EV Solutions, Royal^® Truck Body, DuraMag^® and Magnum^®, Strobes-R-Us, Spartan^® RV Chassis, Red Diamond™ Aftermarket Solutions, and Builtmore Contract Manufacturing™. 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 4,200 employees and contractors across campuses, and operates facilities in Arizona, California, Florida, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Saltillo, Mexico. The Company reported sales of $1.0 billion in 2022. Learn more at TheShyftGroup.com.

Forward Looking Statement

This release contains information, including our sales and earnings guidance, all other information provided with respect to our outlook for 2023 and future periods, and other statements concerning our business, strategic position, financial projections, financial strength, future plans, objectives, and the performance of our products and operations that may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. We intend the forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements in those sections. Generally, we have identified such forward-looking statements by using words such as “believe,” “expect,” “intend,” “potential,” “future,” “may,” “will,” “should,” and similar expressions or by using future dates in connection with any discussion of, among other things, the construction or operation of new or existing facilities, operating performance, trends, events or developments that we expect or anticipate will occur in the future, statements relating to volume changes, share of sales and earnings per share changes, anticipated cost savings, potential capital and operational cash improvements, anticipated disruptions to our operations and industry due to the COVID-19 pandemic, changes in supply and demand conditions and prices for our products, trade duties and other aspects of trade policy, statements regarding our future strategies, products and innovations, and statements expressing general views about future operating results. However, the absence of these words or similar expressions does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are not historical facts, but instead represent only the Company’s beliefs regarding future events, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of the Company’s control. It is possible that the Company’s actual results and financial condition may differ, possibly materially, from the anticipated results and financial condition indicated in these forward-looking statements. Management believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the time made. However, caution should be taken not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements because such statements speak only as of the date when made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. In addition, forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company’s historical experience and our present expectations or projections. In addition, forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company’s historical experience and our present expectations or projections. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risks and uncertainties described in “Item 1A. Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, and those described from time to time in our future reports filed 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
Randy Wilson
Vice President, Investor Relations and Treasury
Randy.Wilson@theshyftgroup.com
248.727.3755

Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This release presents Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), adjusted net income, and adjusted earnings per share, each of which is a non-GAAP financial measure. These non-GAAP measures are calculated by excluding items that we believe to be infrequent or not indicative of our underlying operating performance, as well as certain non-cash expenses. We define Adjusted EBITDA as income 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.

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.

*Total amounts in the table may not add due to rounding