Rev Group Inc., one of Milwaukee’s newest corporate residents, ended its 2016 fiscal year with a more than $30 million profit and nearly $2 billion in revenue.
The specialty vehicle maker is led by former Bucyrus chief executive officer Tim Sullivan and moved its headquarters to Milwaukee from Orlando earlier this year. BizTimes recognized Sullivan as CEO of the Year for bringing the headquarters Rev Group and Gardner Denver (in 2014) to Milwaukee and for his public statements about planning to bring work to the Century City site.
The company is working toward an initial public offering sometime next year and filed an amended prospectus with its full 2016 financial results last week. The filing also indicated the company has applied to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Which exchange the company would be listed on was not included on previous filings.
The filings did not set a date for the IPO, which was estimated at $100 million in the company’s initial filing.
Rev Group increased its net income by 32 percent in 2016 to $30.2 million. Revenue was up during the fiscal year to $1.93 billion.
The company’s fire and emergency segment reported net sales of $768.1 million, a 24 percent increase over the previous year. The increase was boosted by two acquisitions, but also by sales of higher content vehicles in the fire and ambulance businesses. The segment also benefited from strategic price increases for some models and markets.
Net sales for the commercial segment were down by 3 percent to $679 million. Shuttle bus volume was down because of selective bid participation while school and transit busses saw an increase in sales.
The recreation segment increased by 16 percent to $478 million with an increase in Class A diesel and Class C units because of greater end market demand and slower international production last year. The increase was partially offset by fewer Class A gas models sold.
The largest change in Rev Group’s expenses came in a 37 percent increase for selling, general and administrative costs to $139.8 million. The company said it was mostly the result of increased corporate and marketing expenses. The costs also included $19.7 million of stock-based compensation expense, the majority of which came from acceleration and repurchase of outstanding options for former employees and remeasuring the fair value of outstanding liability awards.
Rev Group also incurred $3.5 million in restructuring expenses, down from $3.9 million last year. The costs were partially from the decision to relocate to Milwaukee. The company also began to relocate production of Goshen Coach busses from its Elkhart, Indiana facility to plants in Salina, Kanasa and Imlay City, Michigan.
