Acuity Brands Securities Lawsuit Sheds Light On Company Disclosures

WASHINGTON, DC (January 4, 2018) — U.S. Market Advisors Law Group PLLC announces that a securities class action has been filed against Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE: AYI). The class action is on behalf of investors who acquired Acuity securities between June 29, 2016 and April 3, 2017.

Investors with losses have until March 5, 2018 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. The Lead Plaintiff is a representative for absent members of the class. Investors do not need to seek appointment as Lead Plaintiff to share in any class recovery in this action. If you are a class member and there is a recovery for the class, you can share in that recovery as an absent class member. You may retain counsel of your choice to represent you in this action. Contact USMA Law Group to discuss this action.

Acuity is a provider of lighting and building management solutions for commercial, institutional, industrial, infrastructure, and residential applications.

Allegations Against Acuity
The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, the defendants: (i) concealed known trends negatively impacting sales of the Company’s products; and (ii) overstated the Company’s ability to achieve profitable sales growth. As a result of the foregoing, Defendants lacked a reasonable basis for their positive statements about Acuity’s current and future business and financial prospects.

On October 5, 2016, the Company released the first in a series of disappointing quarterly financial and operational reports to investors. During a conference call to discuss the Company’s fourth quarter and full-year fiscal 2016 financial results, Defendant Vernon J. Nagel explained that “[t]his year’s presidential election in the US and events such as UK’s referendum vote to exit the European Union continue to create uncertainty and volatility.”

Following this news, shares of the Company’s stock declined $12.01 per share, or over 4.7 percent, to close on October 5, 2016 at $242.99 per share on unusually heavy trading volume.

Then, on January 9, 2017, the Company issued a press release to report financial and operational results for the first quarter fiscal 2017. During a conference call to discuss those results, Defendant Nagel represented that “[d]emand softened in the back half of the quarter particularly for smaller projects apparently due to, what many of our customers are telling us, election jitters,” and that profitability suffered from carrying excess employees during the quarter “with the anticipation of higher volumes” of sales than that actually generated.

Following this additional news, shares of the Company’s stock declined an additional $34.85 per share, or nearly 14.7 percent, to close on January 9, 2017 at $202.51 per share on unusually heavy trading volume.

Finally, on April 4, 2017, the Company issued a press release to report financial and operational results for the second quarter fiscal 2017. During a conference call to discuss those results, Defendant Nagel continued to blame “the impact of continued softness in demand for certain short cycle, small lighting projects,” but acknowledged for the first time that demand softness “could potentially linger into the second half of 2017.”

Following this news, shares of the Company’s stock fell an additional $30.13 per share, or over 14.7 percent, to close on April 4, 2017 at $173.93 per share on unusually heavy trading volume.

About USMA Law Group
U.S. Market Advisors Law Group PLLC is a national law firm based in Washington, D.C. The firm represents investors worldwide in U.S. securities class action lawsuits.

Contact
David P. Abel
(202) 274-0237
[email protected]