LOS ANGELES — GreenPower Motor Company Inc. (NASDAQ: GP) (“GreenPower” or the “Company”) today announced accelerated production of its all-electric school bus lineup, supported by a financing facility of up to $18 million, deployable in tranches of up to $2 million. The facility is designed to optimize cash conversion cycles, enabling GreenPower to match capital deployment with production timing as the Company scales output.
“We are entering a period of meaningful operational leverage,” said Fraser Atkinson, CEO of GreenPower. “With more than $50 million in contracted orders for our Nano BEAST and BEAST school buses, this facility allows us to convert backlog into deliveries more efficiently. Before finalizing the facility, we pre-built over 100 Nano BEAST cab chassis and 30 BEAST chassis, significantly reducing production lead times. This creates a clear path toward accelerated revenue recognition, margin expansion, and improved operating cash flow.”
GreenPower remains the only fully electric OEM manufacturing both a Class 4 Type A and Class 8 Type D school bus. This vertically integrated, purpose-built platform strategy positions the Company to capture share as the school transportation sector transitions to zero-emission fleets supported by federal and state incentives.
About GreenPower Motor Company Inc.
GreenPower designs, builds and distributes a full suite of high-floor and low-floor all-electric medium and heavy-duty vehicles, including transit buses, school buses, shuttles, cargo van and a cab and chassis. GreenPower employs a clean-sheet design to manufacture all-electric vehicles that are purpose built to be battery powered with zero emissions while integrating global suppliers for key components. This OEM platform allows GreenPower to meet the specifications of various operators while providing standard parts for ease of maintenance and accessibility for warranty requirements. For further information go to www.greenpowermotor.com
French wine on display in a District of Columbia shop on March 13, 2025. The Supreme Court will hear a case on Nov. 5, 2025 challenging President Donald Trump's tariffs and one of the plaintiffs is a wine importer. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court will hear one of the first major cases of President Donald Trump’s second term Wednesday, when the administration defends the president’s emergency tariffs that American small business owners say are upending their livelihoods.
The question at the heart of the case is whether Trump can authorize sweeping tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA — the first time a president has used the statute to impose taxes on imports.
The suit, which challenges the bounds of Trump’s presidential power, is the first of the administration’s appeals to the high court to be fully argued on its merits. The justices have so far addressed Trump’s numerous appeals on other issues on what is known as the shadow docket, a fast track to make a decision without full arguments.
The president initially said he would attend the arguments in person but has since changed course and will go to a business forum in Miami Wednesday.
The high court convenes at 10 a.m. Eastern and live audio of the arguments is posted on the court’s website.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he plans to attend the arguments, “hopefully in the front row (to) have a ringside seat,” he told Fox News’ Jesse Watters Monday
The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 9, 2024. (Photo by Jane Norman/States Newsroom)
The tariff case is “one for the ages,” said Michael McConnell, professor and faculty director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School and member of the legal team representing the small businesses challenging Trump’s tariffs.
“The president has important powers that come directly from the Constitution, but he has no power to impose taxes on American citizens without the authorization of Congress, and tariffs are taxes on American importers,” said McConnell, who sat on the bench of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit from 2002 to 2009.
“IEEPA simply does not apply here,” he told reporters during an Oct. 28 virtual press conference. “It is a statute about imposing various forms of sanctions, economic sanctions, on countries with whom we are in conflict. It has nothing to do with imposing taxes on Americans for engaging in perfectly lawful trade with friendly nations.”
Tariffs a ‘terrible and unsustainable weight’
Victor Schwartz, founder and president of VOS Selections, a family-owned wine and spirits importer in business for four decades, said Trump’s tariff policy is an “existential threat.”
Schwartz is the lead plaintiff in one of two consolidated cases brought by small business owners and Democratic state attorneys general to challenge the duties that can range from 10% to 50%, depending on the product’s origin.
“These tariffs threaten the very existence of small businesses like mine, making it difficult to survive, let alone grow,” Schwartz told reporters during the Oct. 28 virtual press call.
“Let me be clear, Americans are paying these tariffs, not foreign entities, and the tariffs are a terrible and unsustainable weight. We have to pay tariffs immediately at the port of entry, and we don’t see revenue from those products for at least five or six months,” Schwartz said.
Schwartz said he and his daughter, with whom he runs the business, can no longer import wines from South Africa, as tariffs on products from that country are set at 30%.
Other businesses that joined Schwartz on the lawsuit include a Utah-based plastics producer, a Virginia-based children’s electricity learning kit maker, a Pennsylvania-based fishing gear company and a Vermont-based women’s cycling apparel company.
Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico and Oregon were among states, led by Democratic state attorneys general, that also sued.
The U.S. Court of International Trade and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit sided with the plaintiffs in finding Trump’s IEEPA tariffs unconstitutional.
The justices will also hear from two Illinois-based toy companies who, in a separate case, challenged Trump’s emergency tariffs. Learning Resources Inc. and hand2mind manufacture most of their educational toys in China, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand and India. Imports from those countries are taxed anywhere from 15% to above 50%, and in the case of China have been unpredictable.
Trump says ‘country is wealthy again’
Trump told reporters Sunday aboard Air Force One that the case is “one of the most important decisions in the history of our country.”
In an interview with the CBS show “60 Minutes” that aired Sunday night, Trump said the economy “will go to hell” if the high court invalidates his emergency tariffs.
“Because of tariffs, our country is wealthy again,” the president told CBS correspondent Norah O’Donnell, arguing his use of tariffs as a negotiation tool will yield billions of dollars in investment in the United States from other countries. Many of the framework trade deals Trump has announced, including with the European Union, South Korea and Japan, are not yet finalized.
The government has so far collected $195 billion this year in customs duties at the end of September, according to a U.S. Treasury monthly statement.
In a September filing asking the Supreme Court to expedite the case, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote the U.S. would face “catastrophic” financial consequences, up to $1 trillion, if the emergency tariffs were overturned.
President Donald Trump holds up a chart while speaking during a “Make America Wealthy Again” trade announcement event in the Rose Garden at the White House on April 2, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
In the same filing, U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer argued the import taxes are Trump’s “most significant economic and foreign-policy initiative … which President Trump has determined are necessary to rectify America’s country-killing trade deficits and to stem the flood of fentanyl across our borders.”
The administration is facing pushback on those arguments.
Scott Lincicome, senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, said a ruling against the tariffs “would not lead to financial ruin, as the administration has said.”
“The government also claims that ‘With tariffs, we are a rich nation. Without tariffs, we are a poor nation,’ — except studies of the fiscal trajectory of the United States with both the IEEPA tariffs, and without, show that we are drowning in debt either way,” Lincicome told reporters at the late October press briefing.
Cato filed a brief in the case arguing against the tariffs.
Some Republicans break ranks
The case has attracted nearly two dozen friend-of-the-court briefs urging the justices to deem Trump’s IEEPA tariffs illegal, including one signed by hundreds of Democrats in Congress and one Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
The lawmakers argued IEEPA “contains none of the hallmarks of legislation delegating tariff power to the executive, such as limitations tied to specific products or countries, caps on the amount of tariff increases, procedural safeguards, public input, collaboration with Congress, or time limitations.”
In the days leading up to the oral arguments, four Republican senators broke ranks to join Democrats in passing joint resolutions ending Trump’s emergency declarations triggering tariffs.
One of the bills, passed Oct. 28, targeted Trump’s emergency declaration that led to 50% tariffs on Brazilian goods, including that nation’s major export: coffee. The symbolic bills are not expected to be taken up in the GOP-led House, but mark a shift from when Senate Republicans blocked a similar measure in April.
In its Supreme Court filing, Cato argued the administration’s reading of IEEPA “not only stretches the text beyond recognition but also undermines the Framers’ designs for the separation of powers. Accepting the government’s theory would mean that Congress, through ambiguous text and silence, can transfer sweeping legislative power to the President — a result this Court has cautioned against.”
In an amicus brief supporting Trump’s trade strategy, the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank heavily involved in Trump’s second presidential campaign, defended the tariffs as a “pillar of the America-first policies of the current administration” and argued the president has unilateral power to impose the taxes under a Depression-era law.
Executive orders and more
Trump began imposing tariffs under IEEPA through a series of executive orders and proclamations in February and March on products from China, Canada and Mexico, declaring these countries responsible for illegal fentanyl smuggling into the U.S.
The president escalated the emergency tariffs over the following months on goods from around the globe, declaring trade imbalances a national emergency. In addition to a baseline 10% global tariff, Trump specifically targeted countries that export more goods to the U.S. than they import from U.S. suppliers.
As recently as late August, Trump imposed an extra 25% tariff on goods imported from India, bringing the total tariffs on Indian products to 50%, because of the country’s usage of Russian oil.
In early August, Trump slapped a 40% tax on all Brazilian goods after he disagreed with the country’s prosecution of its former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro for plotting a coup to remain in power in 2022.
Madison’s Rutabaga Paddlesports will not be closing after all, though owner Darren Bush still plans to transition to a new career as a hospice chaplain.
A Wisconsin immigration attorney Grant Sovern says the Trump administration's fee for H-1B visas lacks clarity on how to pay and raises legal questions.
Software company Edulog is using an infusion of private equity funding to expand its presence in the K-12 student transportation routing market and support new developments with its Athena cloud-native platform, while also streamlining company operations.
The family-run company founded in 1977 and based in Missoula, Montana announced Tuesday it is partnering with private equity firm Serent Capital. Details of the deal were not disclosed.
“Our mission is to help school districts make the most of their resources. With Serent’s backing, we can broaden our reach to even more districts and families across the country, and continue to lead the industry in innovation,” commented Edulog founder Dr. Hien Nguyen.
Company spokeswoman Lam Nguyen-Bull explained to School Transportation News the strategic growth investment will allow Edulog to work with a wider range of clients than in recent years, which is expected to make Athena more accessible and intuitive to school districts, regardless if they contract for a part-time route or a employ team of on-staff routers.
Athena is a modular, configurable, cloud-based routing platform designed for school districts of all sizes. Edulog said it integrates with student information systems to pull and populate transportation routers and eligibility with customizable maps, select and assign stops to runs and communicate with parents via a portal.
The Athena software roadmap includes enhancements in what CEO Sam Bull referred to in a statement as Edulog’s “unrivaled optimization suite.” It already includes depot, stop, special needs, run, route and bell time optimization, he noted.
Nguyen-Bull added that it also provides more intuitive dashboards, deeper reporting and a better ability to track ROI through cost savings, route efficiency and route utilization.
“We’re also building AI-driven features to layer on top of our unique industry leading mathematical algorithmic optimization to support proactive planning and faster decision-making,” she said. “In addition, we’re expanding our modules by enhancing tools like our parent and driver portals and exploring new capabilities like field trip management, fleet maintenance and dismissal workflows that can simplify operations even further.”
Part of the deal includes adding Perry Turbes, Serent’s senior operating executive, to Edulog’s board of directors as executive chair. He will oversee Serent’s Operating Executive Director program, which pairs experienced former CEOs with portfolio companies to provide strategic guidance and hands-on support.
Meanwhile, it’s business as usual for Edulog customers but with increased support, Nguyen-Bull added.
“The teams and faces our customers know aren’t going anywhere. What is changing is the level of investment in the things that matter most: Faster enhancements, more personalized service and a clearer voice for customers in the future of our platform,” she said.
Republican lawmakers say their bills to address PFAS would offer financial aid and protect innocent landowners from footing the bill for contamination they didn’t cause. But state regulators argue the proposals would still let polluters off the hook.
“If I were in 1928 explaining to a carpenter how electricity was going to make his tools more powerful and that it was also going to light his dinner table, it would have been very difficult for him to wrap his head around what that meant. It’s the same thing with artificial intelligence," Ed Volke, CEO of Superior Communications, told WPR's Robin Washington.
Rachel LaCasse-Ford, right talks to Sen. Tammy Baldwin about her use of the Affordable Care Act marketplace to buy insurance during a meeting Baldwin held with small business owners and others in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, on Sept. 25. (Photo by Erik Gunn/Wisconsin Examiner)
Matt Raboin owns Brix Cider, a farm-to-table restaurant, and brews apple cider in the Dane County village of Mount Horeb.
His wife’s full-time job with benefits provides the family with health insurance, but for Raboin, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has made an important difference for some of his employees.
Federal fallout
As federal funding and systems dwindle, states are left to decide how and
whether to make up the difference.
“We don’t offer insurance ourselves,” Raboin said during a recent round table discussion set up by Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin). “A lot of small businesses in small towns aren’t in a financial place to do that.”
Like Raboin, some of his employees get their coverage through a spouse or because they also work another full-time job that provides benefits. But over the years, the ACA and the HealthCare.gov marketplace created under the law have been a critical source of health coverage for many of his employees, Raboin said.
Recently he polled a number of them. One memorable response came from a part-time employee who also has a part-time job with a local church. She buys her health insurance on HealthCare.gov. Thanks to an increase enacted in 2021 in tax credit subsidies, she’s been able to afford the premiums, Raboin said she told him.
“So without it, she’s like, ‘I can’t keep working for you. And I don’t think I keep working for my church. I think I have to find a different job,’” Raboin recalled.
The ACA and HealthCare.gov have made it possible for millions more Americans and thousands more Wisconsin residents to obtain health insurance.
But less visibly, the health care marketplace that the ACA created has also helped support many small businesses. If the enhanced tax credit subsidies that lowered the cost of health insurance for millions over the last three years aren’t renewed, small business owners and employees say they could be especially hard hit.
Nearly half of people who get their health insurance through the HealthCare.gov marketplace are self-employed or small business owners, or else work for small businesses,according to KFF, an independent nonprofit that researches and reports on health policy.
To expand access to health care, the ACA created the HealthCare.gov marketplace to make buying health insurance easier for people whose jobs don’t provide coverage and who don’t qualify for government programs such as Medicaid.
To make coverage more affordable, the law provides tax credit subsidies for people with incomes up to 400% of the federal poverty guideline. Those subsidies were increased in 2021 and expanded to people with higher incomes.
The enhanced subsidies will expire at the end of 2025 unless Congress extends them — driving up the cost of health insurance for millions.
The enhanced subsidy “saves more than 230,000 Wisconsinites an average of $500 every single month,” Baldwin said during a Zoom press conference Tuesday.
For Chrysa Ostenso and her late husband, the enhanced subsidies lowered their premiums from nearly $2,000 a month to about $300 a month, Ostenso said.
Ostenso lives in Ladysmith, Wisconsin, where she and her husband operated an optometry clinic for more than three decades, raising four children along the way.
“We always struggled to afford health insurance but of course we had to buy it,” Ostenso said in an interview. “As a family of four kids with a small business, you can’t go without health insurance.”
The family’s high deductible plans required them to pay $6,000 a year out of pocket before insurance would cover their health care. By 2020, when the children were grown and the health plan just covered Ostenso and her husband, they were paying $1,979 a month, she said.
They hadn’t qualified for the original ACA subsidies. When the enhanced subsidies were enacted in 2021, however, Ostenso said their premiums went down to $300 a month, increasing to $500 a month in subsequent years.
“It actually meant freedom to go to the doctor, because we were spending so much money on our premiums [previously] that we actually couldn’t afford to go to the doctor,” she said.
Standoff over extending subsidies
In the weeks leading up to Tuesday night’s federal shutdown, Democrats in Congress demanded that Republicans rescind sweeping changes to Medicaid that were part of the major tax- and spending-cuts megabill that President Donald Trump signed July 4.
They also demanded an extension of the enhanced ACA subsidies.
Baldwin has coauthored legislation that would make the enhanced subsidies permanent. She spent part of the just-concluded congressional recess traveling Wisconsin and meeting with people who expect to see their health costs go up sharply if the increased subsidies end.
During Tuesday’s press conference, Baldwin related a conversation with a bakery owner who worried about how she and her family will afford health insurance, “but also that increased costs on the [HealthCare.gov] exchange will mean that her employees at her bakery may have to quit to work for big companies that offer insurance.”
During Baldwin’s press conference, Gigi Gastevich, an artist who owns a retail space in Stoughton, said the ACA and the enhanced subsidies had made it possible for her to launch and grow her business.
Gastevich is a 15-year cancer survivor. When starting her business, she qualified for BadgerCare — Wisconsin’s main Medicaid program — which covered the ongoing medical monitoring she requires as a cancer survivor.
In 2025, with her income above the limit for BadgerCare, she found an insurance plan on HealthCare.gov that included her existing health care professionals in its network and had an affordable deductible.
The plan’s premium was $481 a month, Gastevich said, but the enhanced subsidy brought it down to about $100 a month.
Without the subsidy, she said, she will have to switch plans — possibly losing her long-standing group of providers if they aren’t in the network. She said her choices include taking a high-deductible plan that would put some of the regular care she’s been recommended as a cancer survivor out of reach financially; or closing down her business.
“[That] would mean not only abandoning my dream of entrepreneurship and being a self-employed artist, but taking away an income source for the dozens of artists and artisans whose American-made work I sell here,” Gastevich said.
It would also forestall her plans to scale up her business to sell her own line of textiles and employ others. “I won’t be able to do that if my health and well-being is tied to being on an employer-based health care plan,” she added.
Uncertain future
During her tour of the state, Baldwin stopped in Mount Horeb on Thursday, Sept. 25, where she spoke with Brix owner Matt Raboin and four other business owners as well as local health care providers.
The round table took place at the Upland Hills Health Mount Horeb clinic. The urgent care clinic is part of a broader system that includes a hospital in Dodgeville and clinics in surrounding communities.
Dr. Mark Thompson, Upland Hills CEO, said system executives expect to see about $400,000 a year in additional uncompensated care based on projections of people leaving the insurance rolls because they don’t think they can afford the new ACA premiums.
Jay Goninen sat in as a board member of the Upland Hills system, but he’s also an employer for whom the ACA has made it possible to provide health benefits.
Goninen owns a business that helps connect the auto repair industry with high schools and technical schools. For the last few years, he’s opted to have employees of the firm purchase health insurance on the ACA.
The company pays a portion of the cost. Goninen likens the arrangement to a common practice of employers who offer a group health plan and split the cost with their employees.
“I do really worry about just the individual person and their ability to afford to live right now, in general,” he told Baldwin. “It is tough.”
In addition to worrying about what will happen to employees who bought coverage at HealthCare.gov if they lose their subsidies, Raboin said he’s also concerned about the broader ripple effect in the community.
“Our clients aren’t rich,” Raboin said. “Not everybody can go out to eat all the time, and if you start taking away that expendable income, that’s less people coming out to eat. So I think it would depress the whole economy.”
Rachel LaCasse-Ford owns a campground with her husband and also heads the Mount Horeb Chamber of Commerce.
“I’ve never really had a job that offers health care,” LaCasse-Ford told Baldwin. “I’ve always worked in small business, so we have always used health care from the ACA.”
The enhanced tax credits “definitely benefited” the couple, she said. “And if those go away, that will make our budgets tighter, and it will make things more challenging for us.”
With every new job, LaCasse-Ford said, she considers its impact on their health coverage and whether she can stay with a nonprofit employer such as the chamber, work for a small business, “or if I need to look for a larger employer that offers benefits.”
Wisconsin was among the bottom 10 states in job and business creation in some 2025 rankings, but higher in others.
For starting a business, National Business Capital, a financier, ranked Wisconsin 42nd, citing high taxes and low available funding. Small-business publication Simplify LLC, whose analysis included new business and job creation rates, ranked Wisconsin 43rd. Wisconsin was ranked 35th by WalletHub and 34th by U.S. News & World Report.
More generally, CNBC ranked Wisconsin 21st for business. Wisconsin scored higher in infrastructure and cost of doing business, lower in quality of life and legal and regulatory burdens. Wisconsin also ranked 21st in a poll of CEOs and business owners on best states for business.
Net farm income in the United States is projected to reach $177 billion in 2025, a sharp increase from $128 billion in 2024. This is according to the latest update of the annual U.S. farm income and consumer food price report by the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri's College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources.
TransAct Communications has officially rebranded to Pathwise, unveiling a new name, visual identity and website that the company said signals a renewed focus on simplifying K–12 school operations.
While the brand’s visual identity has changed, the company remains under the same leadership and ownership, as does its core mission to reduce the administrative burden on school staff so educators can stay focused on student success through transportation logistics, governance, compliance, and out-of-school time programs. Pathwise will continue to serve school districts, charter organizations and state departments of education across the country with no disruption to its services or leadership.
“This rebrand reflects who we’ve become a trusted partner with deep education roots and a clear focus on helping schools run more smoothly so educators can focus on students,” said Nate Brogan, CEO of Pathwise, via a press release.
The rebrand comes on the heels of significant growth. Since partnering with Polaris Growth Fund in 2020, the company said it has quadrupled its revenue and made major investments in leadership, product innovation and customer experience. Dan Lombard, managing partner at Polaris, noted in a statement that the rebranding was a natural step toward aligning the company’s public identity with its expanded impact and long-term goals.
The name Pathwise was chosen to convey more than just progress. The company said it represents guidance, purpose and partnership and positions the company not just as a vendor but as a trusted advisor to help schools manage the unseen but essential operations that keep learning on track.
Pathwise launched a redesigned website that it said refined its messaging to better communicate the value it brings to K–12 education.
The company serves over 3,000 school districts and charter organizations, as well as more than 25 state departments of education.
COLUMBUS, Ind. — Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) today reported results for the second quarter of 2025.
“We delivered strong second quarter results, driven by record profitability in our Power Systems and Distribution segments,” said Jennifer Rumsey, Chair and CEO. “Our employees’ resilience and commitment continue to power our success in a dynamic environment. We see a contrast across our markets with robust demand for power generation equipment supported by clear secular drivers, and our more economically sensitive markets, such as truck, where end-user confidence has declined. This contrast will become even more pronounced in the second half of the year as North America truck build rates decline sharply, starting in the third quarter. Aftermarket demand for parts and service remains stable.”
Second quarter revenues of $8.6 billion decreased 2 percent from the same quarter in 2024. Sales in North America declined 6 percent, and international revenues increased 5 pecent due to higher demand in Europe and China.
Net income attributable to Cummins in the second quarter was $890 million, or $6.43 per diluted share, compared to $726 million, or $5.26 per diluted share, in 2024.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in the second quarter were $1.6 billion, or 18.4 percent of sales, compared to $1.3 billion, or 15.3 percent of sales, a year ago.
2025 Outlook
Due to continued economic uncertainty, the company will not be reinstating a full-year outlook for revenue or profitability at this time.
“Our diversified portfolio, disciplined cost management and strong execution have enabled us to navigate recent industry challenges,” said Rumsey. “However, persistent economic and regulatory uncertainty continues to impact a number of our key markets and cloud our near-term outlook for both business and market performance. We remain focused on delivering for our customers and look forward to providing additional clarity as this uncertainty subsides.”
Second Quarter 2025 Highlights
Cummins announced an increase in the quarterly common stock cash dividend from $1.82 to $2.00 per share. The company has increased the quarterly dividend to shareholders for 16 consecutive years.
Cummins launched the new 17-liter engine platform generator, expanding on the success of the acclaimed Centum Series generator sets. Producing up to 1 megawatt of power, the S17 Centum genset was developed to produce a large power output within a compact footprint to meet the growing demands of power in urban environments. The new genset is designed to support a wide range of critical market segments such as commercial properties, healthcare facilities and water treatment plants.
Jennifer Rumsey was named one of Barron’s Top CEOs of 2025. Jennifer was recognized for her visionary leadership and commitment to innovation and sustainability. The annual list features 26 leaders whose deft guidance has put their companies in a stronger competitive position.
Second Quarter 2025 Detail (all comparisons to same period in 2024):
Engine Segment
Sales – $2.9 billion, down 8 percent
Segment EBITDA – $400 million, or 13.8 percent of sales, compared to $445 million, or 14.1 percent of sales
Revenues decreased 8 percent in North America and 7 percent in international markets due to lower on-highway demand in the United States and Mexico.
Components Segment
Sales – $2.7 billion, down 9 percent
Segment EBITDA – $397 million, or 14.7 percent of sales, compared to $406 million, or 13.6 percent of sales
Revenues in North America decreased by 15% and international sales were flat primarily due to lower on-highway demand in the United States.
Distribution Segment
Sales – $3.0 billion, up 7 percent
Segment EBITDA – $445 million, or 14.6 percent of sales, compared to $314 million, or 11.1 percent of sales
Revenues in North America increased 9 percent and international sales increased by 4% primarily due to increased demand for power generation products in the United States.
Power Systems Segment
Sales – $1.9 billion, up 19%
Segment EBITDA – $430 million, or 22.8% of sales, compared to $301 million, or 18.9% of sales
Revenues in North America increased 23% and international sales increased 16% driven primarily by increased power generation demand, particularly for the data center and mission critical markets.
Accelera Segment
Sales – $105 million, down 5 percent
Segment EBITDA loss – $100 million, compared to $117 million
Revenues decreased due to lower electrolyzer installations. The company remains committed to pacing and focusing our zero emissions investments on the most promising paths in order to ensure we are set up for long-term success as part of our Destination Zero strategy. These continued investments contributed to the EBITDA losses. About Cummins Inc.
Cummins Inc., a global power solutions leader, is comprised of five business segments – Engine, Components, Distribution, Power Systems and Accelera by Cummins – supported by our global manufacturing and extensive service and support network, skilled workforce and vast technological expertise. Cummins is committed to its Destination Zero strategy, which is grounded in the company’s commitment to sustainability and helping its customers successfully navigate the energy transition with its broad portfolio of products. The products range from advanced diesel, natural gas, electric and hybrid powertrains and powertrain-related components including aftertreatment, turbochargers, fuel systems, valvetrain technologies, controls systems, air handling systems, automated transmissions, axles, drivelines, brakes, suspension systems, electric power generation systems, electrified power systems with innovative components and subsystems, including battery, fuel cell and electric power technologies and hydrogen production technologies. Headquartered in Columbus, Indiana (U.S.), since its founding in 1919, Cummins employs approximately 69,600 people committed to powering a more prosperous world through three global corporate responsibility priorities critical to healthy communities: education, environment and equality of opportunity. Cummins serves its customers online, through a network of company-owned and independent distributor locations, and through thousands of dealer locations worldwide and earned about $3.9 billion on sales of $34.1 billion in 2024. See how Cummins is powering a world that’s always on by accessing news releases and more information at https://www.cummins.com.
Infrastructure investment firm I Squared Capital announced it finalized its purchase of all National Express School divisions and assets from the UK’s Mobico Group, including over 14,000 school buses operated by Durham School Services, Petermann and Stock Transportation.
The companies announced the completed deal for a reported $608 milloin to acquire Durham School Services, Petermann Bus and Stock Transportation Tuesday, ahead of the original expected date of Sept. 30, coinciding with the company’s third-quarter end. National Express is one of 69 companies in I Squared’s portfolio.
“Closing this transaction marks an important milestone and an exciting new chapter for NEXS. We are a trusted, safe and reliable transportation brand that represents a vital link to education for the communities we serve,” said National Express CEO Tim Werner in a statement. “Businesses like ours have the potential to have a positive impact on millions and provide the lifeblood for a functioning society, regardless of economic cycle.”
Wertner added National Express is looking to I Squared’s investment commitment and expertise in the transportation sector to strengthen and improve services and “further build on our reputation for safe and reliable student transportation.”
A National Express spokesperson told School Transportation News in April that the transition should be seamless for school district customers.
“We expect to continue business as usual under our current operating brands,” the spokesperson said at the time. “We will continue to deliver the high-quality, safe and reliable service that we’ve provided for more than 100 years.”
Durham School Services is the oldest company and service operated by National Express, dating back 108 years.
Mobico Group, formerly known as National Express Group and based in Birmingham, England, had been looking to sell its North American school bus division to reduce debt. In April, I Squared Capital also said it was seeking entrance into the school bus industry and announced its intent to do so in October 2023, “to address the long-term challenges which the pandemic created for school bus.”
I Squared noted that National Express has made “significant operational improvements, primarily improving driver retention and recruitment, route reinstatement, and improved contract pricing.
“The business has also improved fleet allocation which has led to better asset utilization, cash flow and customer satisfaction. All of these culminated in school bus delivering a net positive route outcome for the current school year bid season, the first in over a decade,” the company stated in a transaction summary. “However, whilst school bus has demonstrated its recovery from the pandemic’s effects, it continues to require significant maintenance and growth capital investment and has experienced persistent market challenges such as driver wage inflation and, more recently, potential fleet cost inflation from new tariffs.”
Wertner is expected to continue serving as CEO of National Express. He said the school bus contractor has focused on recovering lost routes, securing new contracts, recruiting and retaining drivers, and delivering price rises above inflation since he joined the company in 2023.
“This transfer of ownership will allow us to stand on a much stronger financial foundation for a wider spectrum of new opportunities and growth to benefit our stakeholders, valued partners and prospects, as well as reinforce our position as a transportation leader and flourish to even greater heights,” he said in a statement Friday. “With I Squared Capital’s strong reputation and support of our company, we firmly believe they will be an outstanding steward for us, and we look forward to furthering our footprint in the student transportation industry together.”
I Squared manages over $40 billion in assets that build and scale infrastructure businesses that deliver critical services to millions of people worldwide. The company’s portfolio includes over 90 companies operating in more than 70 countries and spanning sectors such as energy, utilities, digital infrastructure, transport, environmental and social infrastructure.
“School transportation is more than just a daily commute. It’s a vital link to education, which underpins a functioning society regardless of the economic cycle,” commented Gautam Bhandari, the global chief investment officer and managing partner at I Squared. “As infrastructure specialists, I Squared has specific expertise in providing vital public services, including public transport. Our investment will provide the capital needed to upgrade equipment and maintain safe, efficient transportation for children using this essential service so parents can [be] rest assured each time their family member travels.”
Mobico had operated Durham in the U.S. since the former National Express Group purchased the school bus contractor in August 1999, a year after acquiring Crabtree-Harmon that mostly operated in the Midwest. The company followed in 2000 with the purchase of School Services & Leasing, which at the time was the second-largest school bus contractor in the U.S. Two years later, it acquired Stock Transportation in Canada and in 2018 purchased Petermann in the U.S.
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