Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) reported fiscal 2022 Q3 results on June 30th, turning in a +$1 billion revenue quarter for only the second time in the company’s history. The $1.06B net sales surpassed the consensus mark of $997M, increasing 17.9% over the prior-year quarter. The period reported covers March through May 2022, which is historically a sequentially higher topline revenue period for the company based on seasonality (Q2 fiscal 2022 topline revenue was $909M). Gross profit, at 42%, was down slightly over the prior-year quarter.
Chairman, President and CEO Neil Ashe emphasized the ongoing solid execution of their strategy across both the Lighting(ABL) and Spaces(ISG) business, successfully capturing price increases and driving volume through a focus on product vitality and service. During the Q3 earnings call, Ashe repeatedly noted the strong performance of his internal teams as well as the independent agents. He remarked on consistent feedback from ABL’s key distributor partners during the recent (May 2022) NAED Annual Conference (their first in person meetings since the pandemic) – feedback affirming that Acuity “had the right products and was able to deliver throughout the pandemic and subsequent supply chain shortages when others could not.”
At the outset of this fiscal year, Acuity provided a guidance framework for the full FY2022, but departed from standard market analysts’ expectations by stating AYI would not be including quarter-to-quarter updates on that framework during quarterly earning calls. With 3 quarters in the can, it’s noteworthy that AYI is tracking at 17.3% net sales growth FYTD, and therefore likely to finish well ahead of the full year revenue growth prediction of “high single-digit growth for ABL and mid-teens for ISG.” ABL represents the lion’s share of the overall revenue ($1.0B in Q3 2022) versus ISG ($58M in Q3 2022).
Noting that the Lighting business (ABL) drove the majority of the increased revenue in Q3 2022, CFO Karen Holcom provided more color on the segment performance within lighting: sales through Acuity’s independent sales network grew 16% to $726M with strong demand across end markets, particularly in commercial office, education and industrial facilities. She noted that sales in the direct sales network were flat compared to the prior year at $96M, impacted by shipment issues tied to component availability. CFO Holcom remarked on the good news of corporate account customers finally moving ahead on renovations to their facilities after deferrals during the pandemic. The result was an increase in revenue in the corporate account channel of 34% in Q3 ($59M) over the prior-year quarter.
The Spaces business (ISG), while currently a small overall portion of the AYI revenue at $58M in Q3 2022 ( 5% revenue growth over prior-year quarter and sequential quarterly sales growth of 17%) is clearly positioned to be a significant long-term accelerator to the overall strategy – the key to smarter and greener.
CFO Holcom gave additional detail on cash flow, with capital allocated to inventory to support growth as well as to insulate the AYI production facilities from supply availability. Stock repurchases were aggressively pursued in Q3 2022, with a repurchase of 1.7M shares in the third quarter for $296M. She noted that the company has repurchased approximately 17% of AYI company shares since the effort began in May 2020.
Inventory has continued to increase over the prior year in both dollars and days, and CFO Holcom indicated the increased investment in inventory is intended to be temporary. Four factors were cited for the increased inventory: 1) increased lead times on Asian finished goods, 2) inventory from the OSRAM DS acquisition, 3) ongoing inflationary cost of materials, and 4) increased levels of components to mitigate the impact of shortages.
A new credit facility for AYI closed on June 30, 2022, increasing their borrowing capacity from $200M to $600M (with the ability to request additional capacity of $400M). Holcom noted that this new 5-year facility provides additional flexibility, improved pricing and more favorable covenants.
During the Q3 Earnings Call Q&A, CEO Neil Ashe dealt with multiple questions related to the multiple price increases AYI has successfully implemented and the climate going forward. He described the pricing strategy as straightforward, with the right products in the right place at the right price. Ashe indicated that the pricing execution is now centralized in the Lighting business, with the introduction of technology in the past couple of years that allows the team better data to make better decisions – and indicated they would continue to invest in and improve in this area. Later in the earnings call, Ashe noted that “we are more and more comfortable in a market where price is changing and costs are changing.”
While Ashe was pleased with the “above normal” backlogs and continuing demand, he did make an effort to underline “obviously, we are not going to grow 18% every Q… but things are more the same than different in the 4th quarter.” Overall, Acuity showed strong performance through all channels – a positive indicator as the lighting industry moves out of the pandemic depths.
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