One of New Flyer’s Xcelsior CHARGE NG buses is pictured. Photo courtesy NFI Group

The owner of the New Flyer manufacturing plant in Jamestown has increased its second quarter earnings and profits over the past year.

NFI Group recently released its financial statements for the second quarter of the 2024. Revenues totaled $851 million with 1,246 units delivered. Revenues increased 34% from the second quarter of 2023. Of the 1,246 units delivered in the second quarter this year, 23% were battery or fuel cell electric buses. Net earnings totaled $3 million in the second quarter of 2024, the first positive net earnings quarter for the company since the second quarter of 2021.

“Our financial results showed positive year-over-year improvement with double-digit growth in vehicle deliveries and revenue, significant improvement in manufacturing margin performance, our first quarter of net — positive net earnings since 2021 and nearly 400% increase in adjusted EBITDA,” said Paul Soubry, NFI Group president and CEO. “Manufacturing margins saw a significant improvement, reflecting pricing and production rates. Margins were impacted by legacy inflection — margins were impacted by legacy inflation impacted deliveries, though we have now materially completed all of those remaining contracts, which will help drive further margin growth as we move through 2024.”

Manufacturing segment revenue for the second quarter of 2024 increased by $167 million, or 32%, compared to the second quarter of 2023. That increase, according to company officials, was driven by more new vehicle deliveries, a higher average sales prices per unit, and more zero-emissions bus deliveries. NFI Group continued to see improvement in supplier performance and on-time production in the second quarter, with delays in the receipt of components from a small number of suppliers.

Manufacturing operations experienced net earnings of $7.4 million in the second quarter, compared to a net loss of $24 million in the second quarter of 2023.

According to the company’s website there are few openings at the Jamestown plant though the company is still trying to fill openings in other plants in the United States and Canada. Soubry said NFI Group was able to largely meet its hiring plan in the second quarter, saying that was more difficult for plants in the United States.

“We expect we’ll continue to add new team members in 2024 and 2025 but at much lower rates than we did in 2023 and the first half of this year as we now focus on driving production rates higher through improved labor efficiency,” Soubry said. “The training demands to bring new people up to speed on our production lines with zero emission vehicles cannot be underestimated.”

New Flyer of America Inc., a subsidiary company of NFI Group and the technical owner of the Jamestown New Flyer plant, recently announced it was named the partner of choice in more than $338 million of competitive grant awards through the Federal Transit Administration’s 2024 Low- or No-Emission program and the FTA’s Buses and Bus Facilities programs. The award amount was spread across 14 transit agency partners.

Similar contracts and purchases from government bus fleets are driving increased business to New Flyer and the NFI Group in the wake of the closure of several competitors. Those closures are also driving more business for the company to provide parts for other companies’ buses.

“We have a couple of struggling competitors, some that have gone away,” Soubry said in response to a question from an investor analyst during NFI Group’s recent second quarter earnings conference call. “One of our competitors left the U.S. market from new product. One of them effectively shut their business. So we now have some of those customers looking to us to try and fill a gap if we can provide parts for their vehicles. So we project that business to continue to be strong through 2024 and 2025.”

The New Flyer plant in Jamestown, manufactures a variety of sustainable transit buses, including battery-electric, hybrid, compressed natural gas and clean diesel models.