Acuity Brands (AYI) Reports Q2 EPS of $1.77

Acuity Brands (NYSE: AYI) reported Q2 EPS of $1.77, versus $1.80 reported last year. Revenue for the quarter came in at $804.7 million, versus $777.8 million reported last year.

Vernon J. Nagel, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Acuity Brands, commented, “Acuity Brands continued to deliver sales growth while initial industry data suggests that the North American lighting market declined modestly during our fiscal second quarter, reflecting continued weakness in smaller, short-cycle projects. Additionally, sales in certain international markets, including Europe and Mexico, were down year-over-year, reducing our overall net sales by approximately 1 percentage point compared with the year-ago period. Our adjusted gross profit margin of 41.7 percent declined 180 basis points compared with the prior year, primarily due to higher manufacturing expenses resulting from increased wages and benefits, inbound freight costs, and quality costs. Like last quarter, we carried a higher manufacturing cost structure into the quarter in anticipation of servicing a greater level of demand than occurred. This higher cost structure negatively impacted both gross profit dollars and margin. Adjusted selling, distribution & administrative (“SD&A”) expenses declined 80 basis points year-over-year and represented 26.3 percent of net sales in the second quarter of fiscal 2017 compared with prior year’s 27.1 percent. Even though demand was subdued, we have continued to invest in areas we believe have longer-term growth potential. These areas include, among others, the expansion of our lighting and building management solutions portfolios, as well as our Internet of Things software platform that provides customers with a smart infrastructure which enables endless possibilities to enhance the utilization of their space through better human interaction and greater asset and employee productivity. Additionally, we continued to add associates to support these intelligent Tier 3 and 4 solutions. The cost of these investments was largely offset by lower variable incentive compensation, which yielded a modest $1.0 million year-over-year increase in adjusted SD&A expenses. Our adjusted operating profit margin of 15.4 percent declined 100 basis points compared with the prior year.”

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