The Canadian bus manufacturer NFI Group said it will not be able to return to pre-COVID production levels until 2025 due to ongoing supply chain challenges.

"The last 36 months at NFI have been extremely difficult to navigate," chief executive officer Paul Soubry told analysts August 16. "There is no question it will take time for operations and production efficiency to return to pre-pandemic levels. As we now see our supply community, most of the systemic global issues of demand have gone away. It's now moved down to specific supplier challenges, either with some of their input materials, or some of their own labor demands."

Soubry added that a “significant recovery” was evident during the organization’s most recent quarter, with vehicle delivery rates and revenues each growing by 66% year-on-year, according to Yahoo! Finance. The company booked a backlog of almost 10,000 orders worth $6.7 billion with more than a third of those bookings being for zero-emissions vehicles.

NFI is hoping to increase vehicle production during the second half of 2023. Though Soubry anticipates temporary challenges, he expects improved margins in 2024 and 2025.

"By the time we get to 2025, we expect [production] line entries to be back around 1,500 units per quarter, similar to the 2019 levels we experienced pre-COVID," he said.

Following the latest quarterly results, NFI raised its full-year financial guidance for 2023 to $2.8 billion from between $2.5 billion and $2.8 billion. Meanwhile, the company’s Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) will be between $40 million and $60 million rather than between $30 million and $60 million.