“The whole company is basically a data and controls company with a luminaire business as opposed to a luminaire business with a small electronics business. That is unique in the marketplace.” –Acuity CEO Neil Ashe
Your humble editor listened to the Acuity investor call this morning–and it was FASCINATING!!!!
I want to bring this to you fast, so below are a few quick comments from CEO Neil Ashe. Neil was the first CEO of a large publicly traded company to take investor questions since the tariffs were announced.
Tariffs:
- Many of the competitors moved from China to Vietnam and Cambodia, and we did too…we’re just bigger and more diversified.
- We will take a pause and digest the tariffs.
- We learned yesterday about the new tariffs and will take appropriate action very quickly.
- None of us know whether these are permanent or temporary or up for negotiation. So, we have to operate based on what we know. Our policy here is we focus on what the administration actually does. As a point of fact, they’ve implemented these tariffs, so we’re reacting to these tariffs accordingly.
- 20% is manufactured here.
Price Increase:
- We put a price increase in; it gets quoted and ultimately it gets shipped–so there is a gap. Tough to predict.
- If there is $100 on impact, we are going to pass on at least $100 on price.
- Transitioned to strategic pricing. Charge for the value our products deliver. Playing offense with strategic pricing.
- One of the major distributors yesterday shared that they had 120 different price increase letters that they were processing.
- When asked about the previous price increase, Ashe responded that he was not going to give the percentages, just for competitive reasons, but think single lower to middle digit range.
Other Comments:
- We started the year with a fair amount of momentum on the lighting side.
- Modified guidance in Q1; today no change in guidance.
Go Deeper: Listen to today’s Acuity Investor Call