All Article articles – Page 123
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Hoya introduces new high-tech tools
During the last Mido fair in Milan, Hoya chose not to exhibit and to organize instead a big party for some 1,200 opticians from all over Italy to present three new high-tech tools on portable devices that it is introducing all over Europe.The Hoya Vision Consultant Viewer is a system ...
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Italia Independent opens shop-in-shops
Italia Independent has a new commercial strategy – the shop-in-shop – as a corner in eyewear stores, discotheques and restaurants. The corners sell eyewear, apparel and motorbike helmets produced by Italia Independent. The store gets the merchandise on a consignment basis, with a contract stipulating that the supplier takes care ...
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The 2011 optical market rose by 1.9% in main eurozone countries
Retail sales of optical products rose by 1.9 percent to €15.2 billion last year in the eurozone's four main economies, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, according to estimates released by the research group GFK. The region's growth was driven by a 4.5 percent increase to €4.8 billion in Germany. The ...
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Italian eyewear firms sell 8.2% more
Sales by Italyian producers of optical goods rose by 8.2 percent in 2011 to €2.650 billion thanks to a 10.9 percent increase in exports to €2.451 billion. Exports represent about 90 percent of the country's production of prescription frames, sunglasses and lenses and have topped the pre-crisis peak reached in ...
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Spy trends up again
Spy, the U.S. firm formerly called Orange 21, reported higher losses for last year, but its Spy brand continued to enjoy a growing momentum after the significant sales decline that it experienced in the first quarter of 2011. After a strong third quarter, sales of Spy sunglasses and goggles reached ...
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Sales, margins and investments all rise at Salmoiraghi
Salmoiraghi & Viganò, Italy's largest optical chain with around 500 sales outlets, has finally announced its results for the financial year ended last Sept. 30, 2011, showing that its revenues grew to €183 million in the period, after a drop in 2009-10 and in spite of the recession. This represents ...
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Allison restructures production, new licenses in the pipeline
Allison succeeded in closing 2011 with turnover of around €50 million, on a par with 2010, and with Ebitda up thanks to the restructuring process set in motion a few years ago, including the slashing of its portfolio from 26 to 16 collections. Mido went relatively well for the Italian ...
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Luxottica’s bond issue was a roaring success
It was considerably oversubscribed. Luxottica received total requests of nearly €9 billion for the €500 million seven-year bond it placed on the market on March 12. As the demand was 18 times the size of the proposed lot, the bond was placed in about half an hour, enabling the company ...
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Marcolin books record results
In 2011, Marcolin booked a 9.0 percent rise in sales to €224.1 million, driven by growth in fashion and luxury brands as well as Asian markets. On a currency-neutral basis, sales were up by 10.4 percent.In Europe, revenues rose by 4.6 percent to €119.9 million, driven by France, Germany, the ...
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Major French buying groups stride forward
The two biggest French buying and franchising groups for independent opticians, Krys and Optic 2000, performed better than thier national market, which grew by only 1.5 percent in 2011, according to GfK.The Optic 2000 group reported a drop of 0.8 percent on a same-store basis for its various chains. Adding ...
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New dimensions in Realglass campaign
A group of manufacturers, led by Barberini, launched a new trademark, Realglass, a new logo and a new promotion campaign at the Silmo fair last September to make opticians aware of the unique properties of mineral lenses. It started with an explanatory website in four languages – English, French, German ...
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European consumers see contact lens care differently
They are showing more interest in the wearability of contact lenses and the practicality of use, according to the ongoing market surveys of GfK, which indicate a general recovery of the European market for contact lens care products in 2011 in terms of units as well as value, in contrast ...
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CooperVision eyes China
CooperVision continued to outperform the market in the three months ended last Jan. 31. Reaching $268.9 million, its sales grew by 10 percent in dollars and in constant currencies during the period, which corresponds to the first quarter of its financial year, while the overall market for soft contact lenses ...
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Safilo’s confirms improved profitability
Safilo is looking to acquire other brands, in addition to its recent takeover of Polaroid Eyewear, to help compensate for the loss of Armani, which the Italian eyewear producer terms an “outright raid” by Luxottica.Safilo's chief executive, Roberto Vedovotto,, told us at the Mido show in Milan that the group ...
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ESA may join a Vision Council of Europe
Vittorio Tabacchi, president of Eurom 1, chaired an unusual meeting during the Mido show in Milan earlier this month, in the presence of a selected number of journalists from various European countries and the U.S., where he and Francesco Pellegrinelli, president of the European Sunglass Association (ESA), confirmed their desire ...
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Design-driven POC sells many helmets, goggles
POC of Sweden continues to collect design awards. It has just obtained the prestigious Red Dot award for the fifth year in a row, this time for two new products. Its EYES Eyewear line is said to focus on performance and optical perfection, and it can be worn for functional ...
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Marchon grows double-digits
The development strategy introduced by Marchon a couple of years ago is paying off – the group closed 2011 with double-digit growth on turnover. Claudio Gottardi, chairman and CEO, made the announcement at Mido, but true to the group's tradition, he gave little detail. He went as far as to ...
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Essilor proposes a new UV standard
In a way, Essilor is entering the medical field of the ophthalmic market by proposing a new standard for the protection of the eye from UV radiation, similar to the UV index used to measure the effectiveness of sunscreen creams. Called E-SPF, which stands for “Eye Sun Protection Factor,” it ...
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Essilor’s growth picks up speed
Hubert Sagnières, chairman and chief executive of Essilor, is forecasting a currency-neutral sales increase of between 12 and 15 percent this year for his group, with organic growth of “at least” 5 percent. Last March 1, the group announced a 7.7 percent sales increase to €4,189.5 million for the group ...
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Lower profits for Hal’s optical retail sector
Hal Holding reported a 14 percent increase in its net income to €493 million for 2011. Hal's total operating profits rose to €620.9 million from €546.6 million, but its extensive optical retail operation had an operating profit of €248 million after amortization of intangible assets, down from €258 million in ...
