All Article articles – Page 151
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Attendance Fell By 9% At Mido
Mido finished up what its president called «one of the most difficult» trade shows it has experienced with a 9 percent drop in the number of visitors to about 42,000. Considering the double impact of a major change of dates and a tough economic climate, this score was said to ...
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European Industry Gets Ready For New Action In Brussels
At a meeting during the recent Mido fair in Milan, members of Eurom 1, the organization that groups the eyewear industry associations of many European countries, decided in principle to present position papers to the European Commission in the autumn to back up their requests for new European regulations on ...
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Allison Replaces Subsidiaries With Agencies And Renews Its Brand Portfolio
The strategic development conducted by Antonio Bortuzzo (Eyewear Intelligence Vol. 9, No. 9) when he took over the helm at Allison is now taking shape, pursuing further policies that the group's founder, Silvio Vecellio Reane, had set in motion. The first aim was to drastically reorganize the group's distribution structure, ...
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Silhouette Will Replace Swarovski With A New House Brand
Silhouette International and Swarovski Crystals have announced that their 12-year-old licensing deal for Daniel Swarovski Crystal Eyewear will come to an end by mid-2010, but officials of Silhouette say their company will come out with another complete line of high-priced luxury eyewear at next year's Mido fair that will use ...
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Fielmann Continues To Grow In Germany
The general economic situation did not prevent Fielmann from recording a sales increase of about 5 percent on a same-store basis during the fourth quarter in Germany. Fielmann officials indicate that their company was satisfied with its performance in Austria and Switzerland as well, and that the new year has ...
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Luxottica Suspends Dividend, Declines To Give Guidance
Luxottica unexpectedly decided to suspend the payment of a dividend on its 2008 results and declined to give guidance for 2009 due to the current economic uncertainty, pushing the company's already depressed share price down by more than 8 percent in just one day on the Milan stock exchange. ...
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Marchon Wants To Double In Five Years
Reaching the goal that it had set for itself prior to last summer's change of ownership, Marchon achieved sales of more than $500 million in 2008, growing by 11 percent for the year after a rise of nearly 15 percent in the first half. This year will be challenging for ...
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Italian Sunglass Exports To U.S. Drop More Than Prescription Frames
The global financial crisis has impacted the Italian eyewear industry, resulting in a 6.4 percent drop in the value and a 2.4 percent fall in the volume of its production, with sales totaling €2,597 million. Exports, which account for 85 percent of the total, lost 4.7 percentage points, totaling €2,207 ...
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Seiko Expands In Europe
Seiko is taking over the distribution in various countries in Europe and the Middle East for its ophthalmic lenses and related products. For example, Seiko's sales in the Middle East and North Africa are now steered out of an office in Amman, Jordan, which is run by Majdi Kayyal, formerly ...
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Gfk Expands Its Footprint In Optics
GfK is expanding its global footprint in the optical sector by covering many important new markets and by adding new services. The German market research company, whose global optics research operations are coordinated from Milan, stressed at a conference during Mido that the kind of knowledge it provides periodically can ...
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Fgx Has Satisfying Results
Fourth-quarter sales were up by 5 percent for FGX International, parent of Foster Grant, reaching $66.2 million for the period, ended Jan. 3. While non-prescription reading glasses business remained flat at $31.7 million, sales of sunglasses and prescription frames jumped by 50 percent to $24.8 million. Earnings before interest, taxes, ...
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Serengeti Launches High-tech Polarized Nxt Lenses
Serengeti, the top-end sunglass brand belonging to the American Bushnell group, has joined forces with Intercast Europe to produce a new polarized photochromic lens, for a new collection of Serengeti Sport and Wire Flex Series models. The lens is the Serengeti Polar Phd, claimed to be 10 percent lighter than ...
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Luxottica Sees The Higher End Of The Eyewear Market Shrinking By 10%
Luxottica expects that the market for medium, premium and luxury eyewear will fall by about 10 percent because of the current economic turbulence. «This is a global structural reset, right-sizing many different markets and geographies,» said its chief executive, Andrea Guerra, in commenting on the company's results and its future ...
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Optic 2000 Sets Up Foundation; Funds Eye Disease Research
The French buying group for opticians has set up a new foundation to fight eye disease, called Fondation Groupe Optic 2000. The foundation will act as an umbrella organization for the group's diverse actions in research, humanitarian aid and campaigns for low vision in France. The foundation's first action, ...
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Safilo Aims To Cut A Lot Of Debt, Fast
While presenting the company's financial results for last year, Safilo's chief executive, Roberto Vedovotto, pledged yesterday to substantially cut the company's net debt in the short term as it jumped by €55.4 million in 2008 to reach €570.0 million, or 4.5 times gross operating profits (EBITDA). Debt was boosted ...
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Dollond & Aitchison Merges With Boots Opticians In The U.K.
Dollond & Aitchison, the British optical retail chain owned by the Italian eyewear manufacturer De Rigo, and Boots Opticians, owned by the health care and beauty group Alliance Boots, will merge to form the U.K.'s second-largest optical retailer after Specsavers. Alliance Boots will own 60 percent of the merged entity ...
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Former Safilo Exec Becomes President Of Marchon
Claudio Gottardi, who left as president and chief executive of the American subsidiary of Safilo Group in December to pursue new professional opportunities, has found a great one: He is the new president of Marchon, and chief executive of Marchon International. Gottardi, 52, worked for 23 years at Safilo, ...
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Christian Dalloz Becomes Insolvent
Christian Dalloz Sunoptics, a French company that supplies luxury, fashion and sport sunglass lenses and shields to major brands, has filed for the French equivalent of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection while it reorganizes in effort to reduce its cost base. The company believes that it was the victim of a ...
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Brulimar's Unbranded Lines Take Off
The Manchester-based British group has reported extraordinary growth for its unbranded collections, illustrating a logic that is typical of recessionary periods, whereby even the most demanding consumers shift to more economical products. In the last six months of 2008, Brulimar Optical Group's Carousel and Top Secret brands saw domestic sales ...
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Italy's Camelot Takes Over Vecellio
The Italian investment fund Camelot has bought a 51 percent stake, through a capital increase, in the eyewear manufacturer Vecellio Occhiali from its founder, Celestino Vecellio, who remains the company's chief executive. Paolo Fabris, representing Camelot, becomes the chairman of the company. The fund will also appoint a second ...
