All Article articles – Page 101
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Italia Independent's growth slows down to 33%
Italia Independent's growth rates are approaching more normal levels. The first quarter 2014 still reflected the explosive figures of the previous year, with sales up by 60 percent and operating earnings before amortization (Ebitda) up by 70 percent. But spread out over the nine months to Sept. 30, the company's ...
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Marcolin lands in Moscow with 51% of Sover-M
Marcolin is consolidating its position in the Russian market via a joint venture with its local distributor. The Italian group signed an agreement with Victoria Chizhova, founder and general manager of Sover-M, a long-standing player on the Russian eyewear market. Marcolin will control 51 percent of Sover-M, which will distribute ...
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Zeiss' vision care business drops by 6%
The Carl Zeiss group reports another decline in its Vision Care segment for the financial year ended Sept. 30. Sales were off by 9 percent to €761 million, or 6 percent in constant currencies, but the group's management pointed out that it achieved another clear improvement in profitability by focusing ...
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Salmoiraghi grows by 9%, starts franchising VistaSi
Breaking a long silence about its results, Salmoiraghi & Viganò recently reported a sales increase of 9 percent to €168 million for its latest financial year, which ended last Sept. 30, with sunglass sales up by 15 percent and optical eyewear frames up by 12 percent. The company said that ...
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GrandVision acquires Italy’s Randazzo
Hal Holding has become the leader in the rather fragmented Italian optical market, with annual sales of more than €200 million and a market share estimated at between 6 and 7 percent. After its acquisition of the Ottica Avanzi chain of optical retail stores 14 years ago, the Dutch-based investment ...
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Actavis acquires Allergan
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, the Canadian-based company that bought Bausch & Lomb for $8.7 billion in the spring of 2013, has lost its long and bitter battle to take over Allergan. A global leader in generic and branded drugs based in Dublin, Ireland, Actavis, has won with a friendlier bid for ...
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Positive action and new president for the Vision Impact Institute
The Vision Impact Institute (VII), which was set up by Essilor International in March 2013, is beginning to make some progress in putting together evidence of the cost of visual impairment to society and the economy in order to stimulate government action on vision care all over the world.Maureen Cavanagh, ...
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Amplifon ties up with Salmoiraghi
Amplifon, an Italian company that has become a world leader in the distribution and fitting of hearing aids, has signed a commercial agreement with Salmoiraghi & Viganò (S&V), the biggest Italian optical retail chain. Under the terms of the deal, Amplifon will open 450 “Amplifon points” in S&V's stores, providing ...
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PFO boosts its management
After the successful completion of a new $3 million round of financing in the past summer, PFO Global, the U.S. company run by Ruedi Suter, has appointed a raft of new executives to manage its growing and diversified business, after adding 18 people to its staff in the last four ...
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The U.S. optical business improved in October, fell slightly in November
The overall rating of the U.S. optical business environment showed an increase in October, up to a rating of 3.77 as compared to a rating of 3.71 in September, according to the Optical Business Barometer (OBB) compiled by Jobson Optical Research. The overall rating of the U.S. optical business environment ...
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Capital increase for Kering Eyewear
Kering, the big French group that owns Gucci, Puma and other important luxury goods and sports brands, is planning to put more money into Kering Eyewear, the new company that it is setting up with Roberto Vedovotto, former chief executive of Safilo, to take care of the eyewear collections of ...
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CVI continues to outperform the market
In commenting on the latest results of Cooper Companies, its chief executive, Bob Weiss, said he remained confident that it will continue to gain market shares and generate strong increase in profitability in 2015 and well beyond, reaching an operating profit margin of at least 26 percent even if the ...
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De Rigo introduces customizable eyewear
The De Rigo Vision group is seeking to enter a new market niche with a customized eyewear project whereby the client chooses certain features according to his or her tastes. With the help of the optician, customers can choose between three of four combinations of temples and bridges for eight ...
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CVI performs less well than expected
Adverse currency movements and the integration of Sauflon Pharmaceuticals, the U.K.-based contact lens company, acquired last August, led Cooper Companies to report worse results than previously expected for the fourth quarter ended on Oct. 31, especially for its CooperVision (CVI) subsidiary.Boosted by Sauflon, CVI's sales jumped by 18 percent to ...
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Luxottica and Zeiss develop new smart eyewear
Eight months after its agreement with Google for the development of Oakley and Ray-Ban frames using Google Glass technology, Luxottica has announced a partnership with Intel in the broader area of wearable technologies, following two years of negotiations.The multi-year R&D collaboration between the two companies will apply to premium, luxury ...
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Hal earns more from eyewear
In reporting its financial results for the third quarter and the first nine months of this year, Hal Holding said last month that the preparation phase for the flotation of GrandVision has been “substantially completed” and added that it plans to conduct start trading between 20 and 25 percent of ...
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Stepper will license Zeiss frames
Stepper Eyewear is going to replace Menrad as the exclusive global licensee for Zeiss branded eyewear and related accesssories, starting on Jan. 1. Its first collection will be presented at the Opti fair in Munich next month.Named after its German founder, Hans Stepper, the company has been the property of ...
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Google Glass takes a hit, but smart glasses have a promising future
Google has closed down the “Basecamps” that it had set up New York, San Francisco and London to get customers to try on its enhanced-reality Google Glasses, arguing that most inquiries have been coming through its website and its Play Store. However, observers believe that Google is giving up on ...
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New U.S. joint venture for Vanni
Italy's Vanni has created a new 50-50 joint venture in the U.S. with Match Eyewear, an American distributor that is currently expanding after the acquisition of a Canadian firm, Optiq Frames. The new company - Design Gallery - made its debut at the recent International Vision Expo West fair in ...
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Luxottica posts its best Q3 on record
The shambles at Luxottica's top management did not stop the group from achieving another brilliant performance, posting its best third-quarter results on record. The company reported net profit of €162 million, up by 10.1 percent from the previous year. Net earnings actually jumped by 17.5 percent to €173 million on ...
