Acuity 2Q Financials Get Hammered but CEO Bullish on Recent Acquisitions

April 13, 2009
While demand for its commercial/industrial lighting products plummeted in its fiscal year ending Feb. 28, Acuity Brands Inc., Atlanta, is optimistic about the addition of control systems to its growing stable of product lines for the lighting market.

While demand for its commercial/industrial lighting products plummeted in its fiscal year ending Feb. 28, Acuity Brands Inc., Atlanta, is optimistic about the addition of control systems to its growing stable of product lines for the lighting market. The company’s net sales for the second quarter of fiscal 2009 were $386.1 million, a decline of 20 percent compared with $482.6 million for the year-ago period. Its operating profit for the second quarter of fiscal 2009 dropped 58.9 percent from the same period a year ago, to $28.6 million, from $60.7 million.

The company said the decline in net sales was due primarily to lower demand for lighting fixtures in most commercial and industrial markets and continued weakness in the residential housing market. In a press statement announcing the company’s second-quarter financial results, Vernon Nagel, chairman, president, and CEO of Acuity Brands, said, “Rising unemployment and tight credit markets as well as other factors have created great uncertainty regarding the direction and vitality of our economy. These factors have contributed to very low consumer and business confidence levels resulting in a decidedly bearish sentiment regarding future near-term construction activity. As a result of extreme volatility in the market place, the correlation of traditional measures for gauging future construction activity is making it difficult to forecast future shorter-term demand for lighting fixtures. Nevertheless, we expect the percentage decline in our full year revenues compared with the year ago period to be at least in the middle to upper teens.”

Nagel also said in the press statement that the company’s recent acquisitions of Lighting Control and Design and Sensor Switch Inc., will allow Acuity Brands to offer “some of the most technologically advanced sustainable lighting solutions incorporating both controls and fixtures to maximize energy savings while delivering exceptional quality.

“We believe these acquisitions will accelerate our participation in both the new construction market and the building energy management systems market while greatly expanding our presence in the very large and dynamic renovation and relight market,” he said.

The company’s stable of lighting brands includes Lithonia Lighting, Holophane, Peerless, Mark Architectural Lighting, Hydrel, American Electric Lighting, Gotham, Carandini, SpecLight, MetalOptics, Antique Street Lamps, RELOC, Lighting Control and Design, SAERIS, ROAM and Synergy Lighting Controls. It also owns Acuity Brands Technology Services Inc.

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