Acuity Brands Inc. Reports Operating Results (10-Q)

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Jan 09, 2012
Acuity Brands Inc. (AYI, Financial) filed Quarterly Report for the period ended 2011-11-30.

Acuity Brands Inc. has a market cap of $2.12 billion; its shares were traded at around $50.32 with a P/E ratio of 20.79 and P/S ratio of 1.18. The dividend yield of Acuity Brands Inc. stocks is 1.03%. Acuity Brands Inc. had an annual average earning growth of 5.8% over the past 10 years.

Highlight of Business Operations:

Net sales were $474.3 for the three months ended November 30, 2011, compared with $425.0 reported for the three months ended November 30, 2010, an increase of $49.3, or approximately 12%. For the three months ended November 30, 2011, the Company reported net income of $29.9 compared with $24.4 for the three months ended November 30, 2010. For the first quarter of fiscal 2012, diluted earnings per share increased 25% to $0.70 from $0.56 for the prior-year period.

Gross profit for the first quarter of fiscal 2012 increased $17.5, or 9.9%, to $193.6 compared with $176.1 for the prior-year period. The increase was due primarily to the increase in overall sales volumes, favorable contributions from acquired businesses, modest improvements in price/mix, and benefits from productivity improvements. These benefits were partially offset by the impact of higher material and component costs of approximately $11.0 in the first three months of fiscal 2012 compared with the year-ago period. Although management believes that the increase in material and component costs during the first quarter of fiscal 2012 was substantially offset by price increases implemented over the prior twelve months, these higher input costs negatively impacted gross profit margins. In addition, unfavorable product mix changes, including greater sales of LED products, negatively impacted gross profit margins. These unfavorable items were partially offset by the benefits of improved spending in manufacturing operations, including productivity improvements. As a result of these factors, gross profit margin decreased by 60 basis points to 40.8% for the three months ended November 30, 2011 compared with the prior-year period.

SD&A expenses for the three months ended November 30, 2011, were $140.3 compared with $130.6 in the prior-year period, which represented an increase of $9.7, or 7.4%. The increase in SD&A expenses was due primarily to additional costs associated with recently acquired businesses, higher commission and freight costs in support of higher sales, and selected spending for long-term growth opportunities. Fiscal 2012 first quarter SD&A expenses were 29.6% of net sales, 110 basis points lower than the prior-year period.

Operating profit for the first three months of fiscal 2012 was $50.6 compared with $45.5 for the prior-year period, an increase of $5.1, or 11.2%. The period-over-period increase was due primarily to the higher net sales and benefits of productivity improvements, partially offset by increases in material and component costs and the special charge as discussed above. Operating profit margin was 10.7% for the first quarter of fiscal 2012 and 2011, respectively.

Adjusted operating profit (excluding the special charge) for the first quarter of fiscal 2012 increased by $7.8, or 17.1%, to $53.3 compared to operating profit of $45.5 for the first quarter of fiscal 2011, during which the Company did not recognize a special charge. Adjusted operating profit margin (excluding the special charge) increased 50 basis points to 11.2% compared with the operating profit margin (with no corresponding special charge) of 10.7% in the year-ago period.

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