Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Q2 2022 Earnings Conference Call April 5, 2022 8:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Charlotte McLaughlin - Vice President, Investor Relations

Neil Ashe - Chairman, President and CEO

Karen Holcom - Senior Vice President and CFO

Conference Call Participants

Christopher Glynn - Oppenheimer

Ryan Merkel - William Blair

Christopher Snyder - UBS

Josh Chan - Baird

Jeffrey Osborne - Cowen & Company

Miguel De Jesus - Goldman Sachs

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to the Acuity Brands Second Quarter Earnings Call of Fiscal 2022. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers’ presentation, the company will conduct a question-and-answer session. 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, Michelle. Good morning, and welcome to the Acuity Brands fiscal 2022 second quarter earnings call. As a reminder, some of our comments today may be forward-looking statements based on management's beliefs and assumptions, and information currently available to management at this time. These beliefs are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which may be beyond our control, including those detailed in our periodic SEC filings. Please note that the company's actual results may differ materially from those anticipated and we undertake no obligation to update these statements.

Reconciliations of certain non-GAAP financial metrics with their corresponding GAAP metrics are available in our 2022 second quarter earnings release, which is available on our Investor Relations website at www.investors.acuitybrands.com.

With me this morning is Neil Ashe, our Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, who will provide an update on our strategy and highlights from the last quarter; and Karen Holcom, our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, who will walk us through our earnings performance. There will be an opportunity for Q&A at the end of the call. So those participating, please limit your remarks to one question and one follow-up if necessary. We are webcasting today's conference live.

Thank you for your interest in Acuity Brands.

I will now turn the call over to Neil Ashe.

Neil Ashe

Thank you, Charlotte, and good morning to everyone joining us to discuss Acuity Brands. Our team delivered another strong performance in the second quarter of fiscal 2022. For the second consecutive quarter, we delivered net sales growth of 17% and we maintained our gross profit margin at 41.7% consistent with the first quarter. And compared to last year, we increased diluted earnings per share by 22%.