All Article articles – Page 164
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And For Bushnell, Too
As we reported last November, Wind Point Partners, the American investment fund that helped Joe Messmer to take over Bushnell in 1999, accompanying its steady expansion since then through organic growth and acquisitions, has been looking for new investors to take over its controlling stake in the company, now called ...
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Luxottica Launches A Luxury Eyewear Chain, Called Ilori
Ilori is a name that stands for ?special treasure.? Luxottica is putting it on a new chain of premium sunglass stores being rolled out initially in North America alone, with a target of 150 doors over the next two years. The first Ilori store is set to open ...
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Nikon Reorganizes Distribution Of Sports Optics In Central Europe
Nikon is getting serious about winning ground with its eyewear in the European sports, outdoor and hunting retail channels. To accomplish this, the Japanese company has signed new contracts with major specialized wholesalers in Germany and Austria. In Germany, Nikon sports optics are now handled through the company of Gustav ...
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De Rigo Sets Up A Chinese Sales Subsidiary
De Rigo is opening its own sales subsidiary in China, as it did recently in Croatia and Brazil (see previous issue). The Italian company plans to acquire two more optical retail chains next year, one of which is located in Europe, but company executives decline to specify the country. ...
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Safilo Cuts Ebitda Guidance
Safilo cut its full-year forecast for this year's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) to around €180 million from a previous estimate of €190 million due to the dollar's decline and to returns of unsold Polo Ralph Lauren eyewear. However, the company's management confirmed expectations that full-year sales ...
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Margins Decline At Hoya
Noted for its relatively high operating margins, Hoya Vision Care witnessed a decline to 16.3 percent for its first financial quarter, ended June 30, as compared to a margin of 18.5 percent in the same period a year ago, in spite of a 16.2 percent sales increase to ¥ 32.45 ...
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Luxottica Will Earn More Than Expected, Despite Lower Retail Growth
Luxottica increased its guidance for full-year earnings per share (EPS) to €1.11-1.13 from €1.07-1.09 despite a weakening of the dollar against the euro and a softening in U.S. consumer demand. However, the company also cut its estimate for comparable store sales growth to 2-3 percent this year from a previous ...
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New Owners For Eschenbach
Another investment fund is taking over control of Eschenbach from Hanover Finanz, which acquired the majority of its shares from the Eschenbach family eight years ago. One of the goals is to help the big German group to continue to achieve above-average growth, notably through strategic acquisitions, says a company ...
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A Look At The U.S. Sunglass Market
At the European Sunglass Association's (ESA) annual conference near Athens last June, Tibor Gross, the president of the Sunglass Association of America (SAA), the ESA's counterpart in the United States, said the American market will have significant buying power among ?baby boomers,? or the 78 million citizens that were born ...
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Oakley Reports On A New Sales Momentum
The Oakley brand seems to gaining a new momentum while Luxottica is completing the procedures for its takeover along with the rest of its company. As a whole, the Oakley group raised its sales by 29 percent to $263 million in the second quarter ended June 30, with 6 percentage ...
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Luxottica Buys Oakley For $2.1 Billion
The price of $29.30 being paid by Luxottica in the all-cash transaction announced yesterday values the Oakley group at $2.1 billion, representing a premium of 24 percent above its average stock market price of the last three months, or 30 percent over six months. It's a long shot from a ...
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1-800 Contacts And Clearlab Are Sold Separately
Through a transaction valued at about $340 million, 1-800 Contacts will be sold to Fenway Partners, an American private equity firm. Fenway Partners is paying $24.25 per share for the American contact lens company, representing a 21 percent premium over 1-800 Contacts' closing share price on June 1 and a ...
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Pro Design Has Come A Long Way Since Its Problems Eight Years Ago
Pro Design reported turnover growth of 22 percent to the equivalent of €16 million for 2006, and sales grew by a further 35 percent in the 1st quarter of this year. The rise in turnover is being fueled by new product developments and new collections, the company says. The profit ...
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Allison Takes Over Alessandro Dell'acqua License
Replacing Visibilia, which had the eyewear license from this Italian fashion designer before, another fast-growing Italian company, Allison, will produce and distribute sun and optical glass under the name of Alessandro Dell'Acqua for the next five years. The license is expected to generate about €30 million in sales by 2011. ...
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Amo Makes Another Product Recall, While B&L Reports Improved Results
While confirming its interest in the acquisition of Bausch & Lomb, Advanced Medical Optics (AMO) is making another product recall, this time for its Complete MoisturePlus solution for contact lenses. This latest recall is not linked with one that took place last summer, and which stemmed from production problems in ...
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Quiksilver Attacks The Optical Circuit More Directly
The surf style brand is selling more than 500,000 units in the European Union through its Omar Reef subsidiary in France, which also sells surf and snowboard accessories such as wetsuits, helmets and watches through the same sales force, targeting mainly the surf and sports specialists. However Omar Reef wants ...
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Esa Wants Better Sun Protection For The European Consumer
At the European Sunglass Association's (ESA) annual conference, which took place near Athens on June 1 and 2, one major emphasis was the need to educate Europeans on protecting their eyes from the harmful blue and ultra-violet rays of the sun, as an estimated 36 percent of Europeans are not ...
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Safilo Signs Up Jimmy Choo
After securing a licensing deal with Gucci Group for Balenciaga eyewear, Safilo has added another license in the high-end segment of the market through an agreement with Jimmy Choo, a prestigeous English brand of elegant women's footwear that has been growing strongly on a global basis. It is the ...
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Maui Jim Looks To Expand In Europe And The Middle East
After reaching a point of stability in the USA, Maui Jim is appointing more directly-employed sales representatives to expand its presence in Europe. The company started selling in Sweden last January, and has recently recruited a sales team for Portugal. A couple of months ago the company appointed some representatives ...
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Thai Optical Improves Results
After meeting its financial targets for 2006, the Thai Optical Group is ramping up its production of free-form lenses and looking at a stronger role on the Chinese market, where it already has a distributor. It is considering partnerships with companies that would help develop its presence on the higher ...
