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Thursday, July 2

Acuity Brands' third-quarter profit tumbles(9:04 am ET)
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Acuity Brands Inc. (AYI: news, chart, profile) said Thursday that its third-quarter net income fell to $22 million, or 53 cents a share, from $41.1 million, or $1.00 a share, in the year-ago period. On a continuing operations basis, it earned 54 cents a share compared with $1.01 a share in the year-earlier quarter. On average, analysts polled by FactSet Research were looking for earnings of 57 cents a share. Net sales at the maker of lighting fixtures declined to $397 million from $512 million, hurt by the decline in construction activity.

Xilinx cuts June-quarter sales forecast(8:21 am ET)
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Xilinx Inc. (XLNX: news, chart, profile) said Thursday that it now expects June-quarter sales to decline about 5% sequentially, compared to previous guidance of down 4% to up 4%. The semiconductor maker blamed the shortfall on supply constraints for certain Virtex-5 devices that are in high demand, but that should be resolved next quarter. The company's forecasts for gross margin and operating expense remain unchanged.

Greene King profit down 68% after impairment(2:26 am ET)
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. brewer and pub operator Greene King (UK:GNK: news, chart, profile) said Thursday that its profit for the fiscal year ended May 3 fell 68% to 39.5 million pounds ($65.1 million) as revenue dipped 0.6% to 954.6 million pounds. Excluding the impact of an extra week in the previous fiscal year, revenue rose 1.3%, the group said. The group said it achieved comparable sales growth of 1.7% in its retail business and added that trading conditions generally improved from around December, though it added cost pressures remain and both economic and political uncertainty are affecting consumer confidence. The drop in profit was mainly due to a 53.5 million pound impairment charge. In the brewing business, own-brewed volume rose 1.8%. The group, which recently completed a 207.5 million pound rights issue, said trading has been stronger since the start of the new fiscal year, with comparable sales in its Greene King retail business up 5.2%.
Wednesday, July 1

Continental Airlines June traffic down 6.5%(9:18 pm ET)
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Continental Airlines (CAL: news, chart, profile) said Wednesday that traffic in June fell 6.5% and capacity decreased 7.8% compared with the same month a year ago. Consolidated load factor, or the percentage of the plane filled with passengers, was up 1.1 percentage points on year to 84.8%, the Houston-based carrier said.

Drug stocks mixed; Myriad tanks on outlook(9:42 am ET)
BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- Drug stocks were mixed early Wednesday while shares of Myriad Genetics (MYGN: news, chart, profile) tanked on news that 2009 revenue would come in below its previous forecast. The NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index ($DRG: news, chart, profile) rose 0.5% to 53.26 as the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index ($BTK: news, chart, profile) fell 0.4% to 694.21. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJII: news, chart, profile) climbed about 70 points to 8,519. Shares of Myriad dropped nearly 25% to $27.31.