(AYI)
Q3 2025 Earnings-Transcript
Acuity Brands, Inc. beats earnings expectations. Reported EPS is $5.12, expectations were $4.44.
Operator: Good morning, and welcome to the Acuity Fiscal 2025 Third Quarter Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to Charlotte McLaughlin, Vice President of Investor Relations. Charlotte, please go ahead.
Charlotte McLaughlin: Thank you, operator. Good morning, and welcome to the Acuity Fiscal 2025 Third Quarter Earnings Call. On the call with me this morning are Neil Ashe, our Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Karen Holcom, our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Today’s call will include updates on our strategic progress and on our fiscal 2025 third quarter performance. There will be an opportunity for Q&A at the end of the call. As a reminder, some of our comments today may be forward-looking statements. We intend these forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 as detailed on Slide 2 of the accompanying presentation.
Reconciliations of certain non-GAAP financial metrics with their corresponding GAAP measures are available in our 2025 third quarter earnings release and supplemental presentation, both of which are available on our website at www.investors.acuityinc.com. Thank you for your interest in Acuity. I will now turn the call over to Neil Ashe.
Neil M. Ashe: Thank you, Charlotte, and thank you all for joining us today. We delivered strong performance in the third quarter of fiscal 2025. We grew net sales, expanded our adjusted operating profit and adjusted operating profit margin, and we increased our adjusted diluted earnings per share. We generated strong cash flow and allocated capital effectively. In ABL, we took aggressive actions to get in front of the evolving tariff policy. We have a dynamic and resilient worldwide supply chain. Over the last several years, we have diversified our supplier options and locations. During the quarter, we leveraged these options to move away from higher tariff environments. We also took strategic pricing actions intended to cover the dollar impact of the tariffs while remaining competitive in the marketplace.
Partially as a result of these actions, we received accelerated orders in the third quarter that built backlog. We began to ship this backlog in the third quarter, and we’ll continue to ship it in the fourth quarter. And finally, where we could, we accelerated productivity efforts to reduce expenses. Karen will talk more about the specifics of this later in the call. Now moving on to some recent highlights in our electronics portfolio. As we said last quarter, our electronics portfolio is a unique offering in the marketplace, extending from the drivers that power our luminaires to the sensors, controls and software that control light in a space and connect with the cloud seamlessly through our Atrius Data Lab. Recently, we rolled out 2 significant controls products.
The new wireless SensorSwitch Air product line simplifies lighting control with [Atlys] pairing, out-of-the-box operation and broad compatibility. The product line features wireless sensors, wall switches and embedded sensors that can be used with select Lithonia products. SensorSwitch Air is available as part of Contractor Select and is designed to save contractors time and money, upgrading any project to a connected project with minimal effort and cost. The second product is the animate controller by nLight, a single user interface that simplifies installation, programming and operation of dynamic lightscapes. Installers are able to define their projects, sketch their required outcomes and see their design come to life with the ability to dynamically alter color settings and movement in real time.
As part of our ABL growth algorithm, we continue to make investments for future growth, prioritizing verticals where we have not historically competed or where we are underpenetrated. This quarter, we accelerated our product vitality efforts through the acquisition of M3 Innovation and launched M3 by Lithonia and Halloween by Hall of Fame. This strengthens our Flood Light portfolio and has product applications in sports lighting and other industrial and infrastructure settings. These products enhance our offering in multiple verticals where we have gaps in our product portfolio, including education, municipalities and infrastructure. These solutions incorporate multiple innovations designed to reduce total installation costs and enhance the user experience.
Our products continue to be recognized by the industry for their design and performance. At LEDucation this year, several of our products were identified by Edison Report as must-see, including the Nightingale Embrace, an overbed luminaire used in health care facilities that offers multifunctional modes designed to improve patient experience and optimize patient outcomes. And in April, we won several Red Dot product design awards, most notably for Pelican by Luminis, an outdoor luminaire that delivers soft, uniform and gradual illumination in plazas and pathways. It can be networked using our nLlight AIR controls, making it easier to specify, install and operate. And Valenza by Cyclone, a unique V-shaped outdoor luminaire that mixes a minimalist aesthetic with advanced optics to meet municipal requirements and reduce costs.
Now switching to Acuity Intelligence Spaces, which had an impressive quarter, delivering strong sales growth and margin expansion. Through Atrius, Distech and QSC, we have unique and disruptive technologies that are driving productivity for people experiencing spaces and for the people providing those spaces. Atrius and Distech control the management of the space and QSE manages the experiences in that space. Over time, we will use data from both to enhance productivity outcomes through data interoperability. The integration of QSC is going well as evidenced by their strong performance, accelerated revenue growth and expanded margins. QSE is building the industry’s most innovative full stack AV platform that unifies data, devices and a cloud-first architecture to deliver real-time action, experiences and insights.
During the quarter, we released a number of new Q-SYS product enhancements. These included new processing options, next-generation automation tools, smarter design workflows and enhanced data visibility. I’d like to highlight a few of those here. The new class of Q-SYS core processors are faster and have more capacity to support in- room processing and cloud networking. Our Q-SYS Vision Suite connects physical spaces to digital AV intelligence. It uses 3D visualization tools to plan and prepare spaces to maximize the effectiveness of live broadcast or hybrid meetings. The new technology rollout uses speaker and presenter spotlight technology powered by AI cameras and microphones to dynamically frame meeting participants. And finally, we enhanced the capabilities of Q-SYS Reflect.
Reflect is our cloud-based remote analytics platform. It supports real-time system health monitoring, remote setup and configuration and centralized control. I’m pleased with QSC’s performance. They are differentiated in the marketplace. They are operating their business successfully, and they are demonstrating productivity and benefiting from the adoption of our better, smarter, faster operating system. Now moving on to Distech. We are focused on where we compete and what we can control to expand our addressable market. This quarter, Distech had strong sales growth. The continued strength of Distech is largely a result of the popularity of our Distech Eclypse portfolio. Distech Eclypse is a strategic differentiator. It is a comprehensive building automation platform that unifies hardware and software into a cohesive ecosystem for intelligent building management.
The portfolio includes hardware devices used to manage how a building operates, controlling HVAC, lighting, refrigeration and other systems. Eclypse devices are modular and scalable and allow for flexible configurations tailored to the specific needs of a space. Devices include building controls, in-room controls, sensors and interfaces, including the Eclypse APEX controller and the Eclypse Display. Eclypse facilities is the software that optimizes how a building operates. It is the operating system that enables monitoring, remote management and scalability. Together, Eclypse’s hardware and software enhance building performance by minimizing owner costs and maximizing user experience. Now looking ahead, in both Lighting and Intelligent Spaces, we have taken aggressive actions to manage our outcomes given the uncertainty in the marketplace that has resulted from the evolution of the tariff policy and other geopolitical instability.
It is likely those actions have resulted in accelerated ordering that has positively affected the third quarter. Our expectation is that the combination of our third an fourth quarter performance will yield the results we expected for the second half of fiscal 2025. We will continue to focus on factors within our control. In ABL, we are focused on product vitality, elevating service levels, using technology to improve and differentiate both our products and how we operate the business and driving productivity. Our growth algorithm is clear. We will grow the market, we will take share, and we will enter new verticals. In Intelligent Spaces, we are making spaces smarter, safer and greener by controlling how a built space operates and the experiences that happen with in that space.
We have unique and disruptive technologies that are driving productivity for people experiencing spaces and for the people providing those spaces. Our focus will continue to be on growth, and we have the opportunity to expand margins. We have demonstrated that we have dexterity in how we operate, enabling us to continue to execute in dynamic market conditions. And we have demonstrated that we can deliver value to our market and drive margins in our business. Now I’ll turn the call over to Karen, who will update you on our third quarter performance.
Karen J. Holcom: Thank you, Neil, and good morning, everyone. We had a strong third quarter. We grew net sales, improved adjusted operating profit and adjusted operating profit margin and increased our adjusted diluted earnings per share. For Total Acuity, we generated net sales in the third quarter of $1.2 billion, which was $211 million or 22% above the prior year. This improvement was driven by growth in both business segments and includes 3 months of QSC sales. During the quarter, our adjusted operating profit was $222 million, which was up $55 million or 33% from last year, and we expanded our adjusted operating profit margin to 18.8%, an increase of 150 basis points from the prior year. This increase was a result of year-over-year improvement in our adjusted gross profit, the growth in ABL and the very strong performance in AIS.
Our adjusted diluted earnings per share of $5.12 increased $0.97 or 23% over the prior year. ABL delivered sales of $923 million, which was $25 million or 3% more than the prior year, driven by growth in our independent sales network of $48 million or 8% over the prior year and growth in the direct sales network of $5 million or 5% over the prior year. These increases were partially offset by declines in corporate accounts, resulting from the timing of renovations of a large retailer. Adjusted operating profit increased $12 million to $174 million, and we delivered adjusted operating profit margin of 18.8%, which was up 80 basis points compared to the prior year. Now I want to spend a moment to explain the impact of the tariff policy on ABL performance.
As we said last quarter, we price strategically to realize the value that our products bring to the marketplace. During the quarter, we took 2 pricing actions in response to the evolving tariff policy, which are intended to cover the dollar impact of that policy. We did not reprice the backlog. And as Neil indicated, we saw some evidence of order acceleration ahead of those price increases going into effect. We also took actions to accelerate productivity efforts. These efforts were primarily related to the elimination of brands associates severance and facility reorganization and resulted in a $30 million special charge this quarter. Overall, we believe that our third quarter ABL results reflect some order acceleration with minimal price realization and tariff costs and thus minimal margin impact.
Our expectation is that we will realize the majority of the price increases and will be impacted by the full tariff cost beginning in the fourth quarter. Now moving to Acuity Intelligence Spaces. Sales for the third quarter were $264 million, an increase of $188 million. Atrius and Distech combined grew 21% during the quarter, while QSC grew over 20% year- over-year on a pro forma basis. Adjusted operating profit in Intelligent Spaces was $62 million during the quarter with an adjusted operating profit margin of 23.6%. There are several things to highlight this quarter in Intelligent Spaces. First, QSC announced several pricing actions to manage the dollar impact of tariffs. And Distech announced its global price increase in April, effective on June 1, in line with normal historical cadence.
Similar to ABL, AIS realized some order acceleration ahead of those price increases going into effect. Also within QSC, we own Pro Audio, a market-leading loudspeaker business that is a relatively small part of QSC. Pro Audio primarily sources from China and has been more heavily impacted by the tariff policy. We are making changes in this business as we integrate it. However, we expect the financial performance in Pro Audio to continue to be impacted by the tariff policy while we work through these changes. Now turning to our cash flow performance. Fiscal year-to-date, we generated approximately $400 million of cash flow from operations. We continue to allocate capital effectively. In the first 9 months, we closed the QSC acquisition, acquired certain assets of M3 Innovation, and we repaid $100 million of our term loan.
We increased our dividend by 13%, and we have allocated around $90 million to repurchase approximately 344,000 shares. Since the beginning of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020, we have repurchased approximately 9.8 million shares at an average price of about $149 per share, which is funded by organic cash flow. This amounts to about 25% of the then outstanding shares. Finally, over the last few years, we have taken steps to simplify and minimize the future impact of our pension obligations on the company. Through our investment policies and capital allocation decisions, our pension plans are overfunded. And as a result, we are derisking our qualified pension plans by transferring the majority of the related obligations to a third party. There will be no impact to our cash position and the noncash GAAP charge of around $35 million associated with this will be recognized in our fourth quarter.
In summary, we delivered strong performance in the fiscal third quarter of 2025, taking aggressive actions to manage our outcomes given the uncertainty in the marketplace. We have set ourselves up to deliver a solid second half of fiscal 2025. Thank you for joining us today. I will now pass you over to the operator to take your questions.
Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Joe O’Dea with Wells Fargo.
Joseph John O’Dea: So I wanted to start on the QSC margin. I think it looks like the adjusted margin a quarter ago, I think, was in roughly kind of 17% zone. This quarter, it looks more like 23%, 24%. And you talked about at the time of acquisition over time, getting it to ISG type margins. It looks like quite a bit of progress this quarter. And so anything transitory within that as well as any detail on the steps that you were taking to deliver that kind of margin performance?
Neil M. Ashe: Yes, Joe. So taking a step back and focusing on AIS in total, obviously, we had a really strong quarter across all of AIS. We are — we have a different theory of the case than our competitive set. We want to consolidate the data state of a built space — and we’re doing that successfully through building management with Distech and Atrius and now through the experiences in the space with QSC. When we made the acquisition of QSC, we indicated, and we were confident that we would bring their performance in line with our historic ISG performance as they combine to be AIS. As we look forward to the integration of QSC, obviously, they fit with us very well strategically. They also fit very well with us culturally. So their performance in the marketplace has been strong.
They had strong top line, which drives some of that margin. And then the rest of that margin improvement was really the adoption of our better, smarter, faster productivity tools and their ability to mitigate additional expense as they grew. So as Karen indicated, we believe we had some order acceleration in the third quarter, which provides some benefit to the third quarter in AIS and separately in ABL, which I’m sure we’ll talk about later. But generally, we are really pleased with the integration of QSC. Their growth is — continues to be impressive. Distech’s growth continues to be impressive, and we’re bringing their margins in line. As we look forward, our priority will continue to be on that growth. So we may make investments to continue that, but we’re really pleased with where they are so far.
Joseph John O’Dea: Great. And then just related to your comment about ABL and then some kind of bigger picture thinking around it. And so any sizing of what you think that pull forward or accelerated order impact was in Q3, how you’re thinking about it in Q4? And then if you take a step back, I imagine you’re in kind of annual planning mode and just how you’re thinking about the setup of moving forward beyond fiscal ’25, sort of the key watch items for you and if you think the volume environment can stay stable?
Neil M. Ashe: Yes. So as Karen indicated, we do believe there are some order accelerations in the third quarter for ABL. The business, obviously, is very strong. So when you evaluate the disaggregated revenue, we are strong in our independent sales network and our direct sales which is balanced somewhat by retail and corporate accounts, which as we’ve kind of repeatedly said, are great pieces of business, but are largely dependent on the timing of large customers’ decision. So they create some ups and downs through the period. Our current expectation is that the second half of the year, so our fiscal third quarter — our fiscal fourth quarter will represent kind of a normalized performance for ABL for — based on that. We’re evaluating kind of demand as it builds through the rest of the quarter as it fills in behind the order acceleration, and we’ll keep our eyes on that.
As we look forward, obviously, we’re going to plan probably conservatively. So as we’ve demonstrated, when there is market available to us, we will go get it. So we’re not worried about our ability to get market. But we’ll probably plan pretty — we will plan conservatively to ensure our outcomes next year and beyond.
Operator: Our next question comes from Chris Snyder with Morgan Stanley.
Christopher M. Snyder: I wanted to ask about gross margin. Obviously, the 50% here is a very big number. It sounds like there was not much price realization or I guess, tariff cost inflation in this quarter. So when we see that step-up, is that driven by the productivity investments and actions that the company is making? And if so, like how significant are those? Like how much cost savings should we expect on the back of those? And then also, is it — are we seeing the positive impact on gross margin of having the full quarter of QSC?
Karen J. Holcom: Thanks, Chris. Good to hear from you. So on gross margin this quarter, you’re right, it was really strong at 50%, and it was driven by several factors. So first, you can see the benefit of a little bit of top line growth on ABL at both gross profit and operating profit. So really strong performance there. Second, we’ve continued to make improvements in the underlying ABL business over time. We focused on product vitality, service, technology and productivity, and that’s definitely having an impact, as you’ve seen in prior quarters and this quarter. And then also, spaces is now a larger part of the portfolio. So we’re building a really interesting data and controls business across ABL — I mean, across Acuity in both ABL with our electronics portfolio, but also in Intelligent Spaces with Atrius, Distech and QSC, and these all have really good margin structures and good growth opportunities.
We’ve talked about the tariff math is going to impact margins over the near term as we first focus on covering the dollar impact and improving margins over time, but not really a big impact in the third quarter. So really, the bottom line is the underlying businesses are performing really well, and we’ve done a lot of things to improve the margins to where they are.
Christopher M. Snyder: Wow. Well, really, really appreciate that. And then second on maybe just kind of more of a market commentary. I guess the piece of the business that has the most exposure to Asia is the Contractor Select line. It’s the company’s value brand. I guess any color on how do those prices compare to the AYI branded products that you guys ship out of Mexico? I have to assume that the price delta has narrowed or will narrow depending on where tariffs go. And I would think it feels like it could support a mix-up opportunity into the AYI branded products shipped out of Mexico. So just any thoughts on that? Are you seeing that happen in the market?
Neil M. Ashe: So Chris, I’ll address that strategically first, which is the Contractor Select portfolio is about everyday lighting products that satisfy basic needs. And as we’ve accelerated the product vitality efforts over the last several years, we’ve also created the opportunity to manufacture those products in multiple different places. So obviously, the higher the tariffs, the closer the manufacturing costs come in line to those. Second, then we’ve introduced, obviously, the Design Select portfolio to be effectively the next tier above that, which is directed at driving productivity with specifiers, with architects, with contractors. And those are largely manufactured in North America, so Mexico and the U.S. So as we look at those kind of going forward, obviously, and we called this out in the prepared remarks, we have a dynamic worldwide supply chain that allows us to flex our manufacturing to the most effective place.
That begins with our product design. So this all goes back to product vitality and the strategy around the product vitality, service and technology that is really combining to drive that productivity. So as we look forward, and I mean, over the next several years, it’s hard not to be enthusiastic about the positioning of the lighting business specifically. We are leaders in the marketplace. We’re leaders beyond just size. And this quarter really demonstrates, as Karen indicated, what happens when we get a little top line in that business.
Operator: Our next question comes from Ryan Merkel with William Blair.
Ryan James Merkel: Congrats on the quarter. I wanted to also follow up on gross margin. Can you give us a little help on expectations for 4Q? Is 50% achievable? Or do we start to see the higher COGS from some of the tariffs? And I recall that you were passing that on dollar for dollar, and then I don’t think you were going to reprice the backlog. So I was expecting a little bit of an impact in 4Q.
Neil M. Ashe: Yes, Ryan. So I’ll answer that question strategically and build on what Karen said earlier. So we don’t think the third quarter had much impact from either the price or the tariff based on the timing of each and the fact that we did not reprice the backlog in any part of the business, so at ABL or on AIS. So the dilutive impact of margin will happen, we believe, starting in the fourth quarter as the dollar- for-dollar coverage of those tariff costs roll through the system. So we’re confident in our ability to cover them from a dollar perspective. That begins with modified supply where it comes from, et cetera, and includes the addition of price. So that combined impact, as you point out, of a dollar-for-dollar coverage would be mildly dilutive to the margin. So that is partly why we’re referring to the second half as within our expectation because we think it more or less normalizes the third and the fourth quarter together when combined.
Ryan James Merkel: Got it. All right. So we should just think about sequentially, you’ll have an impact that will be lower, but hard to quantify at this point?
Neil M. Ashe: Correct.
Ryan James Merkel: Okay. I haven’t seen the guidance yet. Can you just talk about what changes you’ve made there?
Karen J. Holcom: Sure, Ryan. As we said in our prepared remarks, and we’ve indicated a couple of times here is that our expectation is the combination of our third and fourth quarter performance is really going to be the results that we expected for the second half. So there’s been no change.
Ryan James Merkel: Got it. Okay. Maybe I’ll slip one more in. Can you just talk about the cadence of orders? My memory is you saw a big pop in sort of March, and you expected it to decline. Just how did that transpire? And then what’s the feedback from the agents? Are they telling you they saw a bit of pull forward?
Neil M. Ashe: So I’ll address that. So first, on the ABL side, as we’ve indicated, we do believe there is some evidence of order acceleration. You can see the strong growth in the disaggregated revenue in basically all of our controlled environment. So the independent sales network and direct sales. So that would indicate that there was some pull forward. And we’re evaluating kind of that demand through the rest of the period. I think anecdotally, what the sales teams independent and direct would say is that they shook lose some projects that — where people wanted to try and find some certainty as they launch forward. Obviously, our customer base there are rational. So uncertainty is not their friend. So we’ll evaluate kind of how demand rebuilds through the fourth quarter on the lighting side.
On the AIS side, as Karen indicated, we also took pricing actions there. We saw some order acceleration there as well. So we’ll see how those perform. But in both businesses, we have — we believe we have the market-leading product portfolios. And so we will react however demand presents itself to us.
Operator: Our next question comes from Tim Wojs with Baird.
Timothy Ronald Wojs: Maybe just the first piece on tariffs, just sorry to beat a dead horse, but there’s been obviously some changes in the rates in different countries, I think. Could you just update us on what — at this point, you see or you’re incorporating in kind of your forward expectations for the annualized cost impact from tariffs?
Neil M. Ashe: So Tim, tariff is a dynamic question and conversation, as you pointed out. Today’s answer is — could be tomorrow’s question. So kind of beginning with April 2 and moving our way forward, we have reacted kind of dynamically to each one of those that have happened from April 2 to steel and aluminum, and those continue to kind of change. And obviously, we expect news in July. So we’ll see how that plays out. As Karen indicated, we’ve — between the combination of our supply chain changes and pricing actions, we’ve covered the dollar impact of those tariffs as we understand them today. And they’ve changed 3 or 4 times throughout this quarter, and we’ll expect those to continue to change. I think the important point really isn’t the magnitude of those in dollar amounts, but the dexterity we have to react to them.
So we’re confident in that performance. As we indicated earlier, and I’ll say it for effect here, a dollar-for-dollar coverage will have some impact on our margins going forward. So think of third quarter as unimpacted, think of fourth quarter as impacted. And — but either way, we will continue to grow. We will continue to deliver dollar margin, and our value creation engine continues no matter this environment.
Timothy Ronald Wojs: Okay. And I guess just a follow-up to that. So is the expectation that the pricing offsets the dollar impact of tariffs and then the productivity actions that you took in the quarter kind of get your margin back? Or is it the combination of those 2 things that offsets the dollar impact of tariffs, just a clarification.
Neil M. Ashe: Yes. So the — I would think the easiest way to think about that is think about the dollar impact being handled at the gross margin level. So between the combination of price and cost of goods sold through the changes that we’ve made there. The productivity actions are designed to start to rebuild the percentage margin over time. We can’t rebuild it immediately, but we will be rebuilding it over time. And I’m proud of the work that our team has done here on these productivity actions. So we pulled forward what we could. We’re building an organization that, especially on the ABL side, specifically to this question, is scalable for the future and positions us well to continue executing and actioning the strategy that we’ve been following for the last several years. So this was a kind of do some hard work in advance to continue the growth and value creation algorithm on ABL side over the next year or 2.
Timothy Ronald Wojs: Okay. Okay. And then just last one, just how would you describe the progress on shifting to Design Select, just in terms of kind of where you are in that process?
Neil M. Ashe: Yes. As I’ve indicated, strategically, we’ll have Contractor Select, which is — we’ll have design — which drives productivity for the distribution and retail channels. We will have Design Select, which drives productivity for architects, specifiers, contractors, et cetera. And then finally, we’ll have the made-to-order portfolio. Really, the progress at Design Select has been strong, although this is, as we’ve said consistently, a long-range project. So we’re still in the early to mid-innings of the Design Select evolution. So this will be a multiyear project.
Operator: Our next question comes from Christopher Glynn with Oppenheimer & Company.
Christopher D. Glynn: Nice sporting numbers, congrats. Just looking for a little color on the ISN, basically the competitive distancing that you’re enabling these channel partners with vitality service and data. Are you seeing like some agencies kind of race ahead and extend dominance in their particular regions? Just looking for some anecdotal on the rubber hitting the road there because it seems to be bearing out in the numbers.
Neil M. Ashe: Yes, Chris. So obviously, we’re proud of our independent sales network. We believe unequivocally, we have the best independent sales network for lighting in North America. That’s round numbers, about 80 independent agents throughout the country. And they’re accelerating with our performance generally. And any time you try and do something 80 times, you’ll have those who are accelerating more than others, obviously. So the performance isn’t perfectly uniform but is strong across. We’ve leaned into and been really successful with those agencies that are on the cutting edge of where we are going. So specifically around controls, those agencies are strong. the agencies that are aggressive in growing markets, some of the changes we’ve made over the last few years to upgrade our coverage in markets like Atlanta, where we’re sitting right now, for example, have really borne out.
And so we have, I think, the most productive independent sales network in the industry. And the most productive part of our independent sales network are those agencies that are most closely aligned with where we are going, and they’re seeing real success.
Christopher D. Glynn: That’s really interesting. And then I was curious if backlog from legacy pricing is pretty much refreshed. I think last quarter, you forecast that you’d probably wash through any demand pull forward within the quarter. It sounds like that toggled to actually effective some net pull-in into the third quarter. But are you — is backlog — is there still legacy price in backlog that’s of any materiality?
Neil M. Ashe: Well, as Karen indicated, we did not reprice the backlog. So on the ABL side. So there’s — so the Q3 is a relatively clean quarter where, as we indicated, that’s what it looks like when we get a little bit of top line in that business. As we look forward to the fourth quarter, that’s where most of both the price increase and the tariff impact will appear.
Operator: Our next question comes from Jeffrey Sprague with Vertical Research.
Jeffrey Todd Sprague: I just wanted to come back, Neil, to Intelligent Space margin. I heard your detailed answer to Joe O’Dea, but still trying to get my head around this margin rate that was above last year when we had — or at least we thought we had QST coming in mid- to high teens for the margin. Is there something in the deal accounting or some — just the way revenues hit this quarter? Obviously, the revenues in the quarter were also maybe a bit higher than a lot of us thought. I really want to kind of nail this down a little bit more if we can. Or it really is just the pricing-related pull forward and the incremental margins that came on top of that.
Neil M. Ashe: Yes, Jeff. Yes. I don’t want to lose the obvious here as we answer this question. We’re building a very attractive business at AIS. And we made a solid strategic addition to that with QSC, and it’s a transaction that is obviously going to add a lot of value to what we’re trying to do at AIS. As we made the acquisition, we indicated that we expected them to be pretty close to our legacy performance over time. Obviously, they’ve gotten there really quickly, and that has been purely through strategy and operations. There’s no deal accounting otherwise. So their sales growth, obviously, is high. It’s stronger than they expected, stronger than we expected. So that’s contributor #1. Contributor #2 is their adoption of our kind of productivity metrics.
So the Better, Smarter, Faster operating system really works for them. And it has allowed them to scale through this increased business without really adding a whole lot of operating costs. I think it’s worth noting that we have not asked them, nor have we required them to really take any expenses out. So we have not eliminated any of what they were doing before. This is the result of them driving productivity. And really, that’s how we operate with better, smarter, faster. We are focused on productivity. How can we — how much can we do with what we have. And you can see the leverage that, that creates when we get a little bit of top line. That’s what’s happening at ABL with a little bit of top line. That’s what’s happening at QSC as they join us and adopt our ways of working.
Jeffrey Todd Sprague: And then just speaking of expenses, maybe kind of an accounting for Karen, but you did take a sizable charge in the quarter. I’m sure there was some fixed assets and things like that, that were part of that. But were there substantial kind of Q3 period costs that now didn’t hit Q3 because of the charge and are below the line, so to speak?
Karen J. Holcom: Yes, Jeff. So let me just hit on what those actions were. So as we said, they were to accelerate our productivity efforts around ABL. So the things that we did where we consolidated some brands. So really no impact to the SG&A of that in the quarter. We did have some associate severance as we changed the work and became more productive in certain areas. And that was really late in the quarter. So you didn’t really see a lot of the SG&A benefits there. And then on the facility reorganization, that’s an administrative facility as we’ve started to invest in our core ABL business in our Decatur, Georgia area. So that’s really just an administrative office that we’re going to close and put that up for sale. So no real benefits of that in the quarter. So bottom line is that we’ve taken these actions, and you’ll really start to see the benefits in SG&A and amortization in the fourth quarter.
Jeffrey Todd Sprague: Great. And then maybe just last one. Neil, back to just kind of big picture kind of demand equation, right? It’s obviously human nature, the prebuy in front of price increases and the like. But does that inform any view about potential demand destruction from tariffs or just the ongoing uncertainty that your customers must have in this environment. Just how is that kind of tone of business just around moving forward with investments and activity?
Neil M. Ashe: Yes, Jeff, I think big picture, the customers behave incredibly rationally. So as it relates to the pricing actions and the instability of the tariffs and availability. So if you dug through kind of what those orders were and what — kind of what they were related to, I think it was incredibly rational behavior on the part of the — of our customer base. As we look forward, both kind of short term and long term, the — we’re looking for stability in the marketplace. Our customers, our end users are looking for stability in the marketplace so that they can make these decisions. So as I indicated, we’re going to be conservative in our expectations. We’re prepared to accept kind of as much additional revenue as available to us, but we’re going to generally be conservative until we get a little bit more stability.
Operator: Our next question comes from Brian Lee with Goldman Sachs.
Unidentified Analyst: This is [Nick Castro] on for Brian Lee. Honestly, just one quick question on the accelerated orders in the backlog. I mean you mentioned putting in price, which drove these accelerated orders, and you mentioned you built a bit of a backlog. Are you still seeing, one, any accelerated orders continuing ahead of July 8 now that price is in? And two, I guess, on the back of those accelerated orders, can you give any color on the size of that backlog that was built or any estimate how long it could take to work it down?
Neil M. Ashe: Yes, there’s nothing related to July 8 that would cause order acceleration unless they kind of turn tariffs up again, and we have to take another pricing action. So as we wait for that, it’s really what country deals will be announced and where — and what the impacts, if any, of those as we look forward. In terms of the backlog, we largely — are largely working through it. So as Karen has indicated and I’ve indicated, this will normalize between the third and fourth quarter. So I think it’s just look at it over a 6-month period instead of a 3-month period, and you’ll see a more normalized view.
Operator: Our next question comes from Brett Castelli with Morningstar.
Brett Castelli: Just bigger picture on ABL. Neil, you guys have entered some new verticals in that market in recent years. I’m just curious if you can talk about the contribution and the traction that you’re seeing overall in some of those new markets.
Neil M. Ashe: Yes. Sure, Brett. So as we’ve talked about our growth algorithm at ABL really is grow the market, take share and then enter these white spaces where we haven’t either competed or competed as effectively as we expected to. So I’d highlight 3 for discussion now. The first is refuel. So we made a strategic decision to enter the refuel market where we had not completed before, and we expect to build a very interesting business over a long period of time. So we’re off to a really good start there. We’ve introduced a product portfolio, one, we’ve added high-quality independent sales agents, two, and we’re starting to get real interesting traction there. The second place would be health care. So we reinvented our approach to health care largely with the introduction of the Nightingale brand that has changed the perception of kind of who Acuity is in the health care environment.
And that’s — our performance there has exceeded our expectations. So we’re really — we’ve got strong traction there. And then as we talked about, we acquired some blood light technology through M3 that we can use in sports lighting and infrastructure and municipalities, which will start to roll in kind of next quarter and the quarter beyond. So we feel really good about that portfolio. Obviously, as we enter new things, some will be up and to our expectations, some will outperform, some will be a little bit slower than we expect. Horticulture is one that’s slower than we expect. So — but generally, the portfolio of growth opportunities is contributing to us positively and will be a key component of how we continue going forward.
Operator: And I’m showing no further questions in the queue at this time. I’d like to turn the call back to Neil Ashe for any closing remarks.
Neil M. Ashe: So first off, thank you all for joining us today. We are obviously really pleased with our performance in the third quarter. We have an outstanding business in Acuity Brands Lighting, whose strategy is clear and it’s demonstrating the results of product vitality, service, technology and productivity, which can deliver results. And I think we saw the benefit of what a little bit of top line looks like for ABL in the third quarter. Second, Acuity Intelligence Spaces is differentiated in the marketplace across each of our brands and then the combination of those brands. We have a different theory in the case. We have a collection of disruptive technologies, which are driving productivity for people in spaces and the people who provide those spaces to them, and we’re excited about the runway for that business.
And then finally, kind of given where the world is right now, we’re looking at the combination of the third and the fourth quarter to deliver what we expected for the rest of the year. And we feel like we have a foundation for an incredibly strong future from that point going forward. So thanks for your time and attention. We appreciate your interest in Acuity, and we’ll talk to you again in a few months.
Operator: Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.