Profits at Acuity Brands drop 57%

A drop in commercial and industrial demand for lighting fixtures and continuing weakness in housing led to a 57 percent slide in quarterly profit at Atlanta-based Acuity Brands.

The company also forecast a full-year percentage decline in revenue in the mid- to high-teens.

For the three-month period ended Feb. 28, the company reported net income of $14.3 million, or 36 cents per share, compared with $34.1 million, or 84 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.

The latest quarterly results included a pre-tax charge of $4.6 million, or 7 cents per share.

Wall Street expected 53 cents per share in the quarter. Just a day earlier, one firm, Oppenheimer & Co., downgraded the company’s shares to “perform” from “outperform.”

The company — whose brands include Lithonia Lighting, Gotham and Holophane — said there are signs for long-term optimism.

“Our profitability in the second half of fiscal 2009 should benefit from seasonally higher sales, increased benefits from previously announced streamlining actions, and lower material costs as compared to the first half of the fiscal year, partially offset by a more competitive pricing environment,” Vernon J. Nagel, Acuity’s chairman and chief executive said in a statement.

“While the current turmoil in the economic environment will likely negatively impact results in the near-term, we remain very positive about the long-term future performance of our company and our ability to outperform the market.”