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Text: Today, I am joined by Bill Furman, Greenbrier's executive chairman; Lorie Tekorius, CEO and president; Brian Comstock, executive vice president and chief commercial and leasing officer; and Adrian Downes, senior vice president and CFO.
This past month has been an eventful time in the world and at Greenbrier.
On March 1, Lorie Tekorius assume the role of Greenbrier's CEO.
Last week, our board of directors appointed Lorie as our newest director.
As we begin today's call, I want to first congratulate Lorie on the new positions at Greenbrier.
And we're proud of the board's development of Greenbrier, how we have managed this very important transition.
I'm pleased that I now serve as executive chairman through the remainder of our fiscal year and as a board member and investor until 2024.
With Lorie's appointment, we've expanded our board's gender diversity, four of our 11 directors are female.
Further, three of the directors identify as people of color.
Omicron is still a factor in our operations, as you will hear today, but things are getting much better.
Just so those impacts begin to add, the war in Ukraine has impacted the economies everywhere we operate.
We are witnessing a true tragedy and I pray for a swift end to the conflict and to all of the human suffering.
While the war creates challenges for everybody in the near term, it also provides opportunities for major shifts in freight corridors and transportation roads that will enhance Greenbrier's business as the world enters a reordered state.
History demonstrates the integral role of railroads to support civilian life and economies and a heightened manner during wartime.
The current war in Europe has created direct pressure on the availability and cost of commodities ranging from minerals to food, to fertilizer, to crude oil as well as coal and natural gas.
Railroads and railway suppliers will help meet the challenge of keeping civilian life and economies functioning during the crisis.
The commodity markets are traditionally leading indicators for expansion in rail freight.
Most commodities shipped by rail are experiencing upward pricing pressure from demand constraints due to either sanctions on Russia or reduced production from Russia and in the Ukraine.
We expect rising global commodity prices and shifting trade patterns to elevate railcar demand in North America and Brazil and elsewhere in the world.
Already changing energy policies in North America and Western Europe are creating opportunities for rail transport of oil, ethanol and other products.
The impact will be similar in fertilizers and other items needed to produce food.
Finally, the rising cost of diesel creates a distinct opportunity for model shift from road to rail.
Freight rail is one of the most sustainable and fuel-efficient modes of surface transportation.
U.S. freight railroads with diesel-electric power generation are three to four times more fuel efficient than trucks.
Think about that for just a moment.
One ton of freight can be moved by rail almost 500 miles per gallon of fuel.
Additionally, moving freight by train instead of trucks reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 75% per tonne travel and it reduces congestion on wear and tear on bridges and byways.
As more freight ships to rail, in many cases, this will induce longer railcar dwell tough times and lowered railroad velocity.
In turn, railroad congestion causes the need for more railcars to make railroad service more efficient, notwithstanding the increase in demand we expect in major commodities like fertilizer, food steps, and other products.
We recognize the role and responsibility our industry must play in times of crisis and as the geopolitical landscape shifts.
The cruel irony is this war in Ukraine is that there will be ultimately beneficiaries.
Now we can't choose the exogenous factors that affect our business, but we have almost always have to be ready to meet the challenges and opportunities that come with them.
Greenbrier has proven the ability to thrive on adversity and seize opportunities.
I'm sure this legacy will continue for years to come under Lorie's leadership.
With that, I'll hand the call over to Lorie to discuss our strong performance during the quarter.
Before I discuss our results for the quarter, I'd like to express my gratitude to Bill and the rest of the Greenbrier Board for the opportunity to serve as CEO.
We have an outstanding team at Greenbrier who works hard and smart every day.
While it's difficult to predict the specific opportunities or challenges that may arise, I know that Greenbrier team has the experience, knowledge, and tenacity to make the most of any situation with a focus on increasing shareholder value.
Greenbrier posted strong results this second quarter.
And while not all of our operating segments performed as expected, our business is highly diverse and in the aggregate, performed very well.
In the quarter, we delivered 4,800 railcar units, a 17% increase from the prior quarter, driven by our core North American market.
Our lease fleet utilization increased to 98% and our leasing team generated robust cash proceeds and gains through regular lease fleet optimization and monetization transactions.
Our leasing business is operating ahead of our expectations as we achieve growth at scale.
Our strong quarterly performance was achieved as the omicron variance of COVID-19 reached peak levels in the United States.
Sadly, in February, Charles Wallace, a longtime employee in our maintenance services group passed away due to COVID.
Charles is survived by a son and four sisters.
We send them our condolences for their loss.
Further, we experienced significant absence here another quarter as approximately 12% of our workforce contracted the virus.
Recently, the infection rates have declined, and we're hopeful the worst of the pandemic is now behind us.
Our manufacturing gross margin percentage was below our expectations in the quarter, impacted by supply chain and labor issues.
Our global sourcing team continues to do an exceptional job of mitigating severe disruptions to support increasing production rates and simultaneously minimizing production delays.
We have avoided any line shutdowns across our network due to material availability.
Additional expenses were incurred in connection with sourcing spot materials and expediting delivery.
Operating momentum is increasing, and we expect improved performance in the coming quarters due to improved pricing and overhead absorption on higher production.
In Europe, the situation is fluid.
The period leading up to and the subsequent war in Ukraine has created a highly disruptive environment for many European manufacturers.
Our operations have been impacted by rapidly rising energy costs and now finished steel and components in our supply chain.
Ukraine and Russia are among the biggest suppliers of iron ore, finished steel, and wheelsets to European mines and welders.
As Bill mentioned, railroads are integral to supporting the economy during wartime.
Our management team is working together with our customers and suppliers to maintain production and ensure the best outcomes for all parties.
Our maintenance service business continued to be impacted by higher material costs and labor shortages during the quarter with the omicron variant having an outsized impact on the network of smaller workforces.
We are beginning to see improving financial results on the action plan implemented to mitigate these headwinds in Q1.
We expect to sustain our momentum in the second half of the year as we remain focused on executing our plans while also looking for additional opportunities to reduce costs and improve margins.
Our leasing and management services group had another strong quarter, driven by increased fleet utilization and regular asset optimization and monetization transactions.
Our owned fleet has grown by over 25% from the end of fiscal 2021 to around 11,000 units.
And in addition to managing our lease fleet, our management services, or GMS group, continues to provide creative railcar solutions for over 25% of the North American rail freight fleet.
Within GMS, we're launching an initiative to redevelop the service platform used to manage equipment and data.
One of the goals with this important initiative is to ensure scalable support for our leasing and syndication business as well as our external customers as we continue to execute on our leasing strategy.
Looking ahead, we see strong operating momentum continuing throughout fiscal 2022 and beyond.
We've been able to maintain our market-leading positions through disciplined execution and by maintaining our strong liquidity position.
These were hallmarks of our management team's plans at the start of the pandemic and they continue to service well.
There is no doubt that the market backdrop will remain dynamic, particularly with the war in Europe.
Inflation, supply chain issues, and the continuing human impact of pandemic will persist for some time.
We are managing the business accordingly and maintain our optimistic market outlook.
We expect our operating metrics to continue to improve as we move through the next several quarters and beyond.
As we've said before, the market recoveries won't follow a straight line, and there will be challenges along the way.
We're managing our business to get ahead of these challenges wherever we can to continue to provide solutions to our customers and ultimately, deliver value to our shareholders.
As I said before, our leadership team has the experience, knowledge, and tenacity to make the most of any situation.
And with that, I'll hand the call over to Brian Comstock to provide an update on current railcar demand environment and our leasing activity.
Greenbrier's secured new railcar orders of 8,500 units valued at $930 million.
With deliveries of 4,800 units in the quarter, the book-to-bill increased to 1.8 times.
Orders through the first half of the year are already over 85% of fiscal 2021 activity.
New railcar backlog of 32,100 units has a market value of $3.6 billion and provides multiyear visibility.
This is Greenbrier's largest backlog in six years.
Historically, when our backlog reaches this level, it includes several multiyear orders.
In this case, there are a few multiyear orders, which illustrates the strength of the overall demand environment.
From an operations perspective, this means that a greater portion of our backlog is scheduled to enter production in the short term and translate to revenue sooner.
Also, as production space becomes more valuable, we expect multiyear orders to follow and pricing could continue improvement.
As a reminder, our new railcar backlog does not reflect 3,200 units valued at $180 million that are part of Greenbrier's refurbishment program.
Because of the large scale and nature of this activity, this work occurs at our manufacturing facility that absorbs production capacity while contributing to overhead absorption.
Our refurbishment program is an important part of ensuring rail remaining the most environmentally friendly lot of surface transport.
I'm excited about this growing partnership with our customers to sustainably repurpose North America's aging railcar fleet.
Fleet utilization ended the quarter at 98%.
Lease pricing and terms continue to improve sequentially, and we are seeing strong demand for new and used leased equipment.
As part of our enhanced leasing strategy, GBX Leasing, closed our inaugural asset-backed securitization by using -- by issuing $323 million in investment-grade rated notes with a blended coupon rate of 2.9% and an anticipated repayment date of January 2029.
Our capital markets team executed well this quarter and syndicated 1,400 units, the highest level of activity in nearly two years.
Syndication is an important source of liquidity and profitability, and we expect to continue strong syndication activity in the second half of the year.
As many of you know, syndication and asset disposition are important activities for leasing that will continue to grow into the future.
Looking ahead, I remain optimistic about the momentum that has been building, especially in light of the strong demand environment in North America.
Greenbrier is well-positioned for a period of strong growth.
I believe the combination of market forces, the ability of our focused management, and experienced management team to capitalize on them will deliver results in its early phase of this railcar cycle, which is substantially better than we've seen in previous cycles.
Today, I will discuss highlights from the quarter, and we're also affirming guidance for fiscal year 2022.
Second-quarter highlights include revenue of $683 million, deliveries of 4,800 units, which includes 400 units from our unconsolidated joint venture in Brazil.
Aggregate gross margins of 8% reflects continued effects from ramping of new railcar production, the impact of the omicron variant, mitigation of supply chain, labor shortages, and an additional warranty accrual for certain older railcars.
Selling and administrative expense of about $55 million was higher sequentially, reflecting increased employee-related costs, consulting, travel, and legal expense from higher levels of business activity.
Net gain on disposition of equipment was $25 million.
This activity was part of our ongoing optimization and monetization of our leasing portfolio.
Non-controlling interest provides a benefit of $1.6 million, primarily resulting from the impact of line changeovers and production ramping at our Mexico joint venture.
This improved sequentially, and we expect our Mexican JV to be profitable in the second half of the year.
Net earnings attributable to Greenbrier of approximately $13 million or $0.38 per diluted share, and EBITDA of about $52 million or 7.6% of revenue.
In the quarter, we recognized $2.1 million of gross costs, specifically related to COVID-19 employee and facility safety.
This expense increased almost 75% sequentially and was our highest level in the last 12 months.
Greenbrier's liquidity increased to $804 million at the end of Q2, consisting of cash of $587 million and available borrowings of $217 million.
Because of the strength of our balance sheet, we are well-positioned to navigate any market dynamics.
We expect to receive a large portion of our $106 million tax receivable in fiscal Q4, reflecting delays in processing with the IRS.
This refund will be in addition to Greenbrier's available cash and borrowing capacity.
In the quarter and shortly after the quarter, Greenbrier entered additional interest rate swaps to fix long-term floating rate debt for the next several years, reducing the risk of increasing interest expense and a rising interest rate environment.
At the end of the second quarter, effectively all of our outstanding leasing debt was at fixed interest rates and approximately 90% of our corporate non-leasing long-term debt was fixed.
Together with executing on over $2 billion of new and refinanced borrowing facilities over the past year, including the ABS lease financing completed in Q2, this positions Greenbrier quite well as we move forward.
On March 31, Greenbrier's board of directors declared a dividend of $0.27 per share, our 32nd consecutive dividend.
Based on yesterday's closing price, our annual dividend represents a dividend yield of approximately 2.3%.
Since reinstating the dividend in 2014, Greenbrier's returned nearly $380 million of capital to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases.
Based on current business trends and production schedules, we're affirming Greenbrier's fiscal year 2022 outlook to reflect the following: deliveries of 17,500 to 19,500 units, which includes approximately 1,500 units from Greenbrier-Maxion in Brazil.
As a reminder, in fiscal 2022, approximately 1,400 units are expected to be built and capitalized into our lease fleet.
These units are not reflected in the delivery guidance provided.
We consider a railcar delivered when it leaves Greenbrier's balance sheet and is owned by an external third party.
Selling and administrative expense guidance is unchanged and expected to be approximately $200 million to $210 million.
Gross capital expenditures of approximately $275 million in leasing and management services, $55 million in manufacturing, and $10 million in maintenance services.
Net of proceeds on equipment sales of $150 million, leasing capex is expected to be $125 million.
Gross margin percent is expected to increase sequentially in Q3 and Q4 with Q4 margins between low double digits and low teens.
To close, I want to add that I shared with you as expressed by our colleagues earlier.
Specifically, Greenbrier will successfully navigate the challenges we face in the second half of the fiscal year.
Greenbrier's highest backlog in more than half a decade, ample liquidity, and a strong balance sheet make this possible.
Despite delivering effects of the multiyear pandemic and the impacts of war on a stressed global supply chain, we are better positioned than at any point in time to achieve our ambitious goals.

user
q2 earnings per share $0.38.
q2 revenue $683 million.
sees 2022 deliveries of 17,500 - 19,500 units including about 1,500 units in greenbrier-maxion.

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