Today's News and Information

Philips Moves US HQ to MA

Doug Baillie Named Chair of National Lighting Bureau

Valmont 2Q Operating  Income up 42%

Orion Stock Plummets

• Shares fell more than 30% Wednesday after two analysts lowered their ratings

Orion Sales to Miss Forecast

• Weaker sales attributed to building sales organization

• Company said economic conditions also played a role

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FOR SALE:  GE Lighting

GE Revenue Increases 11%; Profit falls 6%

Bloomberg

Forbes

WSJ: The End of the End of the Industrial Era

AP

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Cooper to Exceed 2Q Forecast

• Revenues will exceed the high end of forecasts for revenue growth of 12% to 15%. Revenue growth for the second quarter is now expected to be approximately 18%.
   

NLB:  Incandescant vs CFL Maintenance Costs Often Overlooked.

Acuity Brands, Inc Q3 Transcript

• Record quarterly results for net sales, net income, and diluted earnings per share from continuing operations for the third quarter of 2008.

• Growth in net sales in the quarter was even more notable given the continued decline in construction  in residential housing  along with a slowdown in new store construction in retail

• Continued to enhance the mix of  sales to higher more value-added products

• Invested heavily in new Technology Services companies, including expanding emerging relight programs through our SAERIS organization, and acquiring Guardian to enhance our ROAM services

Siemens to cut 16,750 jobs

• 12,600 are mainly admin

• "...special urgency when one considers the economic downturn."

• Cut selling, general and administrative costs by 1.2 billion euros or about ten percent within two years

New Round of Price Increases:

• Stonco

• Lightolier

• Cooper up 5-10%, 2 SEP

• DCO up 5-10%, 1 AUG

• Progress up 9-12%, 1 OCT

Venture Scores Exclusive Alliance with American Auto Dealer Assn

• Dealers will have access to manufacture-direct pricing
• AIADA researches hundreds of companies  and selects only those who provide the highest value and quality products, sales, and service

Lighting Science Group Wins Macau Project

• LED Project worth $1.4M

Philips Lights Entire Office Building with LED

• Owned by Generali and located at 100 Champs-Elysées Avenue, Paris

• Each luminaire is powered by 16 or 12 high power LEDs of 2.6 W

• Today is the day that the LED enters into general lighting for offices

Light Off the Grid

• $200K contest

• Awardees included G24 Innovations, which is building thin-film solar LED lights, as well as a team of Harvard students creating microbial fuel-cell-based lighting through Lebone Solutions.

As Dollar Falls, Foreign Nationals look for US Bargains

Can the US Bring Jobs back from China

Osram Sues to Protect Icetron

• Commenced lawsuit against lighting distributor Green Energy Management, LLC

• First action in the United States in campaign to enforce patents for the ICETRON induction lighting system

GELS Price Increase

• Up 6% to 10%

• Effective 16 JUL

GE Stock at Lowest Level since 2003

• Analyst...predicted difficulties for Fairfield-based GE's operations

• Lowered his 2009 earnings outlook to $2.30 per share from $2.42

GE Downgraded

Siemens CFO to take Stand in Bribery Trial

Gas Station Installs LEDs

Bodine Emergency Lighting Fire update

• Telephones and computer systems are now operating

• Still in very limited production

Light Gives Lift to Dementia Patients

• Study found exposure to bright light during daylight hours -- from the sun through large windows and from added fluorescent fixtures -- decreased mental deterioration by 5%

• 19% reduction in depressive symptoms,

• 53% slowing of their loss of ability to cope with daily living

High Oil Costs Reducing China's Labor Advantage

• Cost of transporting  cargo will become so expensive it will completely erode China's low-wage economic advantage, says a key analyst.

• Shipping a 40-foot container from Shanghai to the U. S. eastern seaboard has quadrupled to $8,000

Turn Out the Lights, The Party is Over!

Specialty Lamp Recalls Counterfeit "Square D" Breakers

Toshiba Aims to Triple Lighting Sales with LED

Philips Scientist Named Inventor of the Year

• Breakthrough in digital power processing that increases the efficiency, lowers the overall cost, and eases the installation of solid-state lighting systems.

Lighting Sciences Launches Eyeleds

• Unique, Ultra-Slim Design Provides Warm, Elegant LED Light for Surfaces

• Publicly introduced at LSG's booth
  at the NeoCon(R) World's Trade Fair in Chicago June 9-11

Acuity Brands Acquires Guardian Networks

• Remote management software that enable utilities to manage and monitor lighting systems

• Will be integral part of ROAM

• Lipsey:  "We believe that ROAM becomes the country’s most comprehensive lighting asset management system,”

Valmont Price Increase #3

• Sanderson:  Up 4 to 8%

• Honor existing quotes thru 14 JUN

House Passes Extension to High Efficiency Tax Savings.  Will Senate Follow?

• Kyle Pitsor remains optimistic

New Ownership at Robertson

• Becomes Management Owned & Operated

• Visit at Booth 2041

NEMA Lighting Systems Index

• Not good news

• Depressed for 2nd Q in a row

• Architects’ billings index slid to an all-time low

USN&WR:  LED Lighting is Tough Sell

Orion purchases a piece of equipment

Kraft & ProLogis Announce Largest LEED CI Gold Distribution Center

Philips CEO not too Worried about US Economy

GE's Jim Campbell to Remain with Appliances

Orion's Profits Surge

• Quarterly Sales jumped 55% to $22M

GE to Sell Appliance Division--at Auction

• A sale may bring in $5 billion to $8 billion.

• Businesses being sold aren't growing fast enough to help GE reach its long-term goal of 10 percent annual profit growth.

• GE Appliances, based in Louisville, Kentucky, provided about $7.2 billion in sales

Lumec offers Vancouver Olympics interchangable LED/HID outdoor light fixtures

Allows for HID now, LED when customer is more comfortable with technology

OSI Announces Increase, Effective 1 AUG

• Electronic Ballasts: 4%

• Magnetic Ballasts:  8%

• Display Optic:  5%

• LED: 0%

Lumileds Simplifies Solid State Design

• Includes optical, mechanical and electrical models for LUXEON LEDs

Acuity Brands Lighting in Strategic Alliance with Lighting Science Group

GE Consumer & Industrial Eliminates 450 jobs

• 200 are vacant positions

• 140 through early retirement

Obama Rocks CREE!

• Calls LED a 'gizmo'

Cooper Reports Dividend

Home Depot Closes 15 Stores

Siemens Net Income Drops

Larry Powers to Retire

• Replaced by Kaj den Dass, who formerly ran Philips Lamp

• Dass to be replaced by Ed Crawford

(EdisonReport has first public release)

Here come the Philips Men

'Sea Change' in way Corporations View Energy Consumption

• Overall, lighting is the single easiest area for businesses to reduce their energy usage.

• 74% say their company would only consider replacing all of its lighting with LED if the cost were less than $5 per bulb

Valmont Increases Dividend 23%

Cooper 1Q up 11%

• Electrical Products Segment Margin up 40 basis points

National Lighting Bureau Weighs in on CFL Mercury Debate

• 20x more mercury in swordfish than in 1 CFL lamp

• Mercury saved by using lower energy CFLs more than offsets the mercury in CFLs

EPA's Position on Disposing of Broken CFL lamps

Lighting Sciences Acquires Lighting Partner BV

• LPBV  manufacturers a broad range of LED and HID lighting solutions for residential, commercial, and retail applications based in The Netherlands.

• LPBV had revenues of US$23 million

• Rao:  "Today's acquisition creates a significant and immediate global presence for both companies and provides the foundation for us to become a leading player within the high growth LED lighting market,"
   

Orion  Rings in Earth Day

Orion Increases Guidance

Schneider Misses Forecast

• Concerned by weakening construction markets in developed economies

• Schneider shares have fallen by around 12 percent this year

Venture Expands in India

• Existing facility produces 5.5 M lamps annually; proposed facility will add 3M more lamps

• Venture would invest $15 million in the new facility

Acuity Brands Announces New Business

• Crawford Lipsey to run Acuity Brands Technology Services

• Capitalize on emerging opportunities in  turn-key renovation and the lighting, energy and maintenance management markets

• SAERIS™ to provide lighting renovation and energy services, with special focus on turn-key lighting projects

• ROAM® to provides monitoring and control of indoor and outdoor lighting infrastructures utilizing a combination of intelligent photocontrols, machine-to-machine communications, wireless communications, and network management services.

Osram Introduces OLED Table Lamp

Welch issues rebuke to GE’s Immelt

• “Jeff has a credibility issue. He’s getting his ass kicked. He apologized. Things happen fast.’’

Valmont's Strong 1Q

• Sales increased 24%.

• Net earnings increased 59%.

Philips Philips Uses DuPont™ Zytel® CDV for manufacture of its Fixtures

• The end caps for the X-tendolight range of luminaires from Philips lend themselves to the same powder coating process as used for the light’s steel housing

• Improves sustainability

Toshiba to Exit Incandescent

• Stop production in 2010

Light Emitting Wallpaper

• Back layer is a silver-based solution that conducts electricity, while the layer above this contains phosphorous pigments that light up

Decision Reached in Magnetek Appeal of Patent Arbitration Award

SYSCO Installs Orion in its 59th Facility

Philips Plunges

GE Gloomy

Zumtobel Teams with CREE

• Creates new LED division

CREE Again in Takeover News

• IBM

Acuity's Focus Pays Off

• Net Sales for Acuity were up 8.6% in the second quarter

• Operating profits in Q2 were up 53% to $60.7 million

LED Killer!

• Up to 144 LPW

• 95 CRI

• Focused on Street & Area

World's Largest LED Chandelier

BK Lighting, Teka Illumination Join with CLTC

LUXEON Automotive LEDs reduce Energy by 80%

Acuity Brands Announces Quarterly Dividend

• Quarterly dividend of $0.13 per share

• Also names Jack Guynn to Board, Former President & CEO of Federal Bank-Atlanta

Cooper Industries Completes $300M offering of 7 Year Notes

Philips SSLS Licenses Patents to Renaissance Lighting

• Agreement enables Renaissance Lighting to offer its own intelligent LED lighting products

• Ends litigation previously brought by Color Kinetics against Renaissance Lighting

Valmont's 2nd Price Increase

• Up to 13%

• Effective 1 MAY

Orion's Lawsuit:  Additional Allegations

LED's Now Relieve Pain

Cooper Donates to Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

• 140 Halo recessed fixtures

• Built for National Guardsman serving in Iraq

Construction Activity Sinks

• Sluggish economy slammed U.S. commercial construction in February

• AIA Billings Index tumbled to 41.8 for the month, its lowest level since October 2001

Acuity Named ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year

• Introduced 84 ENERGY STAR qualified products

Siemens Issues Profit Warning; Shares Tumble

Cooper CEO Earns $16M

LIGHTFAIR Innovation Awards

• 28 MAY, 8:30 am breakfast meeting

• Number of submittals tied to booth square footage

Green Investors Cast Wider Net

• OSI and Philips gain because more expensive but energy-efficient bulbs have higher profit margins

Guilty!  Brian McLaughlin cites 45 minute Litany of Crimes

Many crimes with NYC Street Light Contractors; Likely to receive 8-10 years prison

• CLN:  "Petrocelli, Wellsbach, S. N. Tannor and Hylan have the exclusive contract to maintain every single street light and traffic signal in the City of New York. Those four companies have held that monopoly for many many many years."

• CLN:  "Basically, this means that the electricians who work for Wellsbach, Petrocelli, S. N. Tannor and Hylan get gypped out of $ 17.20/hr in pay and $ 18.68/hr in benefits for every hour they work."

• Orignial Indictment:  "In addition, the J Division solicited and obtained contributions to the SLA from Street Lighting Contractors, and from other entities connected to McLAUGHLIN, such as the CLC and McLAUGHLIN’s campaign fund ..."

OSI Wins Sustained Excellence Award

CREE Completes Acquisition of LED Lighting Fixtures

John Hartman Named Chief Commercial Officer at Acuity Brands

• Responsibility for the strategic planning and direction for the company's entire portfolio

• CCO position adds responsibility for the Holophane and American Electric Lighting brands

Orion Patent on Ornamental Design

Orion Receives Solar Patent

• Patent covers the geometrical design of the dome, which is responsible for its ability to collect daylight for longer periods of the day than other day lighting products on the market.

Juno Price Increase

• 5-10% Increase

• Effective 15 APR

Acuity Moves Hydrel Production to Cochran, GA

• Customer Service, Product Development to remain in LA area

Hubbell Price Increase

• 5-10% Increase

• Effective 28 APR

AIA:  US Construction Activity Falls

• The AIA Billings Index fell to 50.7 for the month, down from a revised 55 in December. 

  Construction activity tends to lag architects billing by about 9-to-12 months.

Philips:  Turning on the Lights

• Genlyte's operating margins are close to 15%, which should raise Philips' total lighting margins to 12.2%

• Pared the company's businesses from an ungainly 24 to just four

Union Metal Price Increase

• 5-7%

• 1 APR

Third Suit Against Orion

Two Class Action Suits Against High Bay Fluorescent Manufacturer Orion:

• Brower Piven

• AFSHIN MONSEFI vs Orion Energy Systems

  • previously-undisclosed “new business model” involving the“aggressive” sale of second and third generation products which had not yet gained market acceptance.

  • Prospectus [did not] discuss or disclose the inadequacy of the Company’s sales force to sell existing product lines

President Clinton Chooses Acuity Brands Lighting

• Will be integrated with Acuity Brands Lighting's ongoing drive toward sustainability in manufacturing, design, and transportation

• Designing products with LEDs for more than 15 years.

Cooper Declares 19% Increase in Dividend

• Announces stock buy-back

• Already repurchased over 3.6M shares in 2008 and there are approximately 3.8M shares remaining under the current authorization.

Market Star Orion Falls Back to Earth

Advance to Close Boscobel Plant

• 180 jobs lost

• Production moving to Mexico

Day- Brite, Capri, Omega Price Increase

• 5-10%

• Effective 31 MAR 08

Crescent Stonco Price Increase

• 5-7%

• Effective 31 MAR 08

CREE to Acquire LED Lighting Fixtures

• Cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $77 million, plus up to an additional $26.4 million over .3 years

• First company to develop a viable LED down light for general illumination

Valmont Acquires 70% of West Coast Engineering

• Manufacturer of steel and aluminum structures for the lighting, transportation and wireless communication industries.

• Three manufacturing facilities in Canada and one in Washington State

Cooper Announces Price Increase

• 5-10%

• Effective 31 MAR

• Includes steel & aluminum poles

Venture in Ballast Deal with Harvard Engineering

• Harvard will work with Venture to develop new ballasts for Venture's new lamp developments

• Agreement enables Venture to use Harvard's factory, in India, to manufacture the new ballast technology for sales into the US

Austin to Promote LED with Rebates

Lamp Revolt!

President Bush's State of the Union

• 'Pioneer a new generation of clean energy technology...'

• Does not mention lighting

Genlyte & Philips is a Done Deal!  Notice of Genlyte Delisting

• No such ticker symbol GLYT.

Hubbell to Cut Jobs

• 50 hourly workers, as well as an undisclosed number of salaried workers.

• "...said executives told workers in department meetings the layoffs come as a result of a poor economy and the possibility that some production may shift overseas"

• "People here know business is down," she said. "But to hear 50 people -- that's one of the biggest we've had in several years."

Cooper 4Q Climbs 39% on Stronger Sales

Philips Halts Lumiled Production; Recall

Cree's Profit Falls 60%; Still Beats Estimate

• Reported income of $6.6 million, or 8 cents per share, compared with $16.5 million, or 21 cents per share, in the year-ago period

• Hurt by one-time expenses that offset higher sales of light-emitting diodes.

How to Change a CFL Lamp

• Put down a drop cloth just in case

• If broken, ventilate area for 15 minutes, wear protective clothing

Philips 4Q Doubles

• Lighting earnings were boosted 33 percent by acquisitions and growth. The unit's operating profit rose 34 percent to euro170 million ($249 million) on a sales rise of 14 percent.

• The lighting sales growth was 8% with strong growth in lamps, luminaires and lighting electronics reflecting the growth of the sales of green products.

• In addition, 17% sales growth in emerging markets

Siemens to get Graft Case Data in Months

• For the SEC, Siemens is the biggest corruption case in history

• would seek to recover damages from managers implicated in the scandal.

Valmont Acquires PennSummit

• Annual Sales of $50M

Philips: 96% of Genlyte Shares Tendered

Copper Thieves Target Highway Lighting

Hubbell Acquires Kurt Versen

• $100M Cash

Acuity Brands Cuts Quarterly Dividend

 Valmont Price Increase

• Up 6.5%

• Effective 1 MAR

Hapco Price Increase

• Up 5%

• Effective 1 MAR

Nexxus Lighting to Acquire Lumificient

Varon Merges with Paragon

• Varon Lighting Group Doubles Volume, With Addition Of Paragon Lighting, Inc.
  Concurrently

• All Varon Lighting companies "Go Green"

Lemmis Lighting Partners with Clinton Initiative with LED A-lamp

LSI Stock Plunges Nearly 1/3 on Lower Numbers

• Expects profit of 22 cents per share to 23 cents per share on sales of $84M

• Market expected  earnings of 28 cents per share on revenue of $88.1M

Acuity Call Transcript

Acuity Beats Street by $0.11

• Revenue increased 7 percent to $508.9 million, from $477.6 million

• Earnings fell 7%, as a restructuring charge offset higher pricing and increased sales.

WSJ Interviews Ellis Yan--Mr. CFL

Ireland Bans Incandescent--in 12 months

• First country to ban, beginning Jan 09

• "These bulbs use technology invented during the age of the steam engine."

• Greenpeace congratulated the Government on its decision "to lead the world in this simple but essential step in tackling climate change".

Philips Extends Genlyte Takeover Offer

• Still needed anti-trust approval in a "small number of countries outside of North America

• As of January 2, Philips had received tenders for about 23.7 million shares, representing about 77% of outstanding Genlyte shares on a fully diluted basis.

China Wages to Dramatically Increase

• New labor law took effect 1 JAN

• Could be 40% higher

• Harder to dismiss workers

Downside of LED's in Street Signals

• traffic lights that use less energy may also be less visible when the snow starts blowing

Cree Gets Boost

• Claimed that LED lighting technology is much closer to commercial acceptance than most analysts think.

•  Andrew Huang now has a $55 price target on the stock - nearly 60 percent above the shares' 52-week high of $34.87.