Acuity Brands CEO sees 2H13 demand will "continue to improve"

Acuity Brands CEO Vernon J. Nagel stated, "Third-party forecasts and leading indicators suggest that the North American lighting market will increase in the mid-single digits during the remainder of FY13. While we expect to see some volatility in demand among certain sales channels and geographies, our expectation for 2H13 is that overall demand in our end markets will continue to improve and be more consistent and broad-based. The favorable trend in our March order rates reflects this improvement. (...) We believe the lighting and lighting-related industry will experience solid growth over the next decade."