All Article articles – Page 131
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Alcon-Novartis marriage is approved
Shareholders of Alcon and Novartis approved Alcon's merger into Novartis, parent company of CIBA Vision, at the recent respective annual meetings of the two companies. As a result, Alcon, which discontinued its listing on the New York Stock Exchange, will act as Novartis' second-largest division, comprising Ciba Vision and other ...
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Two funds take over Hans Anders
Alpha Private Equity Funds 5 and AlpInvest Partners have agreen to take over the leading Dutch optical retailer, Hans Anders Group, from two other funds, Gilde Buy-out Funds and Comnaar Investments. Hans Anders' current chief executive, Patrick Herman, and the chain's chief financial officer, Jan de Groot, are also taking ...
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Fedon is back in the black
Fedon and its eyewear case business are finally turning around, after five consecutive years of losses that were attributed to difficulties that the eyewear industry has been going through lately. The Italian company's consolidated turnover reached €54,539,000 in 2010. It ended up 21.2 percent higher than 2009, an annus terribilis ...
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Blindness is decreasing
The World Health Organization estimates that there are now less than 39 million people around the world who are blind. This is less than the figure of 45 million blind people that had been estimated in 2000 and sharply below the level that had been suspected before. In fact, experts ...
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Britain’s Optrafair shows progress
Regional optical shows seem to be enjoying a revival. A total of 7,586 visitors attended the biennial Optrafair show in Birmingham held April 9-11, and the number of those who visited for more than just one day reached 6,647, 2 percent more than two years ago. The floor space rented ...
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Higher margins for Fielmann in quarter
Fielmann reported a very positive first quarter, raising sales by 7 percent on a same-store basis and by 7.9 percent overall. Consolidated sales went up by 7.9 percent to €255.9 million. Unit sales were up by 4.7 percent to 1.6 million pairs of glasses.Margins improved, as the leading German optical ...
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Fielmann gains further market share
Presenting its annual report for 2010 in Hamburg yesterday, Fielmann said it met its expectations for the year. As already reported, Fielmann posted a 3.9 percent increase in pre-tax income to €170.3 million in 2010 while consolidated sales rose by 4.3 percent to €993.7 million, with a volume increase of ...
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Former Maui Jim manager joins William Morris
Nick Boys, a 46-year-old executive who had been handling Maui Jim's sales operations in the U.K., has decided to become joint managing director in charge of U.K. sales and marketing at William Morris Eyewear, with a minority stake in the company.This small British company, which has an annual sales turnover ...
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PixelOptics gets new funds to launch its technology
The American company has announced the closing of a new round of financing, worth a total of $45 million and led by Safeguard Scientifics, a stock-listed U.S. company focusing on high-tech and life science companies. This company, which has been in operation since 1953, has thus taken a 25 percent ...
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Vision Is moves further toward merger with Vision Service
A colorful convention organized earlier this month to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Vision Is sanctioned the first stages of a merger between this Italian buying group, which operates mainly in the center and south of the country, with Vision Service, another major Italian group that is strongest in the ...
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New limitations on internet sales
Independently of the lobbying being done by the European eyewear industry through Eurom 1 to defend its specific rights in this area, the European Parliament has voted in favor of a new directive that would impose new conditions on suppliers of any kinds of product to consumers over the internet ...
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Zeiss launches its photochromic technology
Carl Zeiss Vision has launched its new photochromic lens, PhotoFusion. The new lens, which became available in brown and grey tints all over Europe on April 15, is said to react 20 percent faster to changes in light conditions than other photochromic lenses. Zeiss says the lenses darken in 15 ...
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New management for Spy’s parent
A new management team has been appointed at Orange 21. Carol Montgomery will be the new chief executive after 10 years of acting as a consultant within the sunglass and optical industry. Her previous positions include vice president at Sunglass Hut International, and chairwoman and CEO at Revo. She succeeds ...
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Strong start for Marcolin, too
After a record 2010, the new year started well for Marcolin thanks to higher-than-expected orders for its new Swarovski collection and for prescription frames. The positive news flow comes as the Italian eyewear company aims to reinforce its presence in the Far East and in America and prepares to launch ...
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De Rigo grows by 18%
De Rigo's preliminary figures for 2010 give wholesale turnover at €190 million, or 18 percent more than in 2009, with Ebit of €18 million. At the beginning of last year the group had forecast a return to the level of wholesale revenues generated in 2008, before the recession set in. ...
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Krys Group sees sales rise by 3.6%
The big French Krys Group of independent and company-owned optical retail stores increased comparable store sales by 3.6 percent to €905 million in 2010. Sales were higher for each of the group's banners. The strongest increase was booked by the low-cost chain Lun's, up by 24.1 percent to €8 million. ...
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Mido reports 3% more visitors
Boasting a 5 percent increase in net exhibition space to 41,000 square meters, rented out to 1,100 brands and companies and spread over six halls, the latest edition of the international Mido trade show in Milan reported a total of about 42,000 visitors, a 3 percent increase from last year. ...
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Silhouette and Marcolin are bullish about their crystals
Officials of the Austrian company say it is realistic for them to expect annual sales of 150,000 pieces for the new Silhouette Crystals collection in about two years' time. Unveiled at the Mido show in Milan with an initial series of seven rimless styles – four prescription frames and three ...
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Safilo’s results end up above expectations
Safilo booked higher-than-expected results in the fourth quarter, lifting the share price on belief that the company is returning to profitability at a faster pace than analysts had predicted after being on the brink of bankruptcy in 2009 and having to be recapitalized at the beginning of last year.The company ...
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Signature reports another profit, diversifies into shoes
Signature Eyewear announced its 21st consecutive profitable quarter. Net income was $82,546 in the first quarter ended last Jan. 31, down from $143,000 in the same period a year ago because of lower sales and a decrease in the gross margin, due to competitive conditions and the start-up of private ...
