All Article articles – Page 165
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Mido Attracts 46,000 Visitors
The 37th edition of MIDO closed in Milan on May 7 on a buoyant note. Visitor numbers were up by 9 percent to 46,000, and 60 percent of them came from outside Italy. After two years of stagnation, the number of Italian visitors was up by 17.9 percent while foreign ...
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The Optical Market Reached 20 Billion Euros In The European Union In 2006
The optical market of the European Union totaled €20 billion in retail sales last year, with Germany as the biggest national market, representing one-fifth of revenues, according to a Gfk Marketing Services survey that comprises contact lenses and solutions, prescription lenses, frames and sunglasses. Germany reached sales of more than ...
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Salmoiraghi's Sales Rise By 22%
Salmoiraghi & Viganò, the Italian eyewear retailing group controlled by Dino Tabacchi, increased first-half sales by 22.1 percent to €70 million thanks to one more takeover, to additional store openings and to strong marketing, punctuated by an advertising campaign on television. Further acquisitions are likely. In the six months ...
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Bausch & Lomb Is On The Verge Of Merger With Equity Firm But Amo Expresses Interest In Its Acquisition
Advanced Medical Optics (AMO) announced yesterday that it was interested in making a bid for Bausch & Lomb, adding that it was a logical move ?given the highly complementary nature? of the two businesses. In addition to its own eye care products, AMO sells medical devices for laser eye surgery, ...
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Cooper Opens New European Head Office, Gives Another Look At The Future
CooperVision (CVI) has invested £15 million (€22.1m-$29.6m) in a new headquarters and distribution facility located in Hampshire, the UK. The building, which has 150,000 square feet of space, will handle the administration and the logistics for more than 500 million lenses next year, with an adjoining building that will handle ...
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Marcolin Turns Around In The Quarter, Rectifies Terms Of Cebe's Sale
Marcolin swung into profit in the first quarter of this year thanks to improved efficiencies after two years of reorganization and on the back of strong sales. Revenues rose by 31.4 percent to €53.7 million thanks to progress for all the main lines of the company's portfolio and the recently ...
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Rodenstock Raises Sales And Margins, Looks To Asia
While reporting a 7.7 percent sales increase to €371.7 million for 2006, followed by a 10.4 percent sales increase in the 1st quarter of 2007 to €101.5 million, Rodenstock says it remains on track to more than double its turnover objective of €750 million by 2010. Acquisitions will certainly be ...
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Safilo Signs With Balenciaga And Plans Many More Stores
Safilo plans a dramatic acceleration of its retail business with the expansion of its up-market sunglass chain Solstice and the possible roll-out of a new retail banner. The group has earmarked investment of about €20 million to increase its retail network to about 200 doors by the end of the ...
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New Campaign Brings Boom In Progressive Lenses In Italy
Italy's 2007 campaign to promote progressive lenses was in full swing during MIDO. Meanwhile, the ?vision communication consortium? promoted by ANFAO, the Italian industry association for the eyewear sector, is analyzing the striking results achieved by last year's campaign. It was a massive media operation designed to persuade the public ...
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A Spanish Buyng Group Wants To Enter The German Market
A major Spanish buying group, Central de Compras Opticas (CECOP), is negotiating to enter the German market on the strength of its special business model. Its contracts with suppliers are only valid for 12 months. Its retail members are not obliged to respect any particular conditions, but if they do, ...
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Essilor Buys Majority Stakes In Two Interesting Companies
While Essilor has been looking at the possible acquisition of a big contact lens company such as CIBA Vision or CooperVision, it has not acted upon it for a variety of reasons. Meanwhile, the big French group has consolidated a small related business in the USA by acquiring a majority ...
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Hoya Expands Capacities
Hoya Vision Care is making or planning to make significant new investments in Asia and elsewhere to support its growing business worldwide. It is opening a second ?super lab? in Thailand with a capacity of 400,000 lenses per month, mainly intended for the U.S. and European markets. The first one ...
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Seiko Comes Short Of Its Targets
Seiko has laid out a new 3-year plan under which its optical products business should generate operating income of 1.4 billion yen (€8.6m-$11.5m) on sales of 32.0 billion yen (€166m-$263m) by the financial year ending March 31, 2009. The Japanese company wants to achieve this target by responding ...
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New Franchising Concept For Italy
NAU is a new Italian company, established in 2005 by former managers of Randazzo and Salmoiraghi & Vigano, that is viewed as the first attempt to introduce in Italy a pure franchising formula that has already been widely adopted in other European countries. The company broke more or less even ...
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Kenmark Is Taken Over By Its Employees
The Kenmark Group has announced that it is now 100 percent owned by its employees, which is a unique case in the optical industry. Kenmark has about 100 employees at its head office and about 80 more working in the field as sales representatives in the USA. They previously owned ...
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Gold & Wood Moves Into New Territories
Gold & Wood, the specialist in luxury eyewear based in Luxembourg, has launched many new initiatives after several years of strong sales growth. Among other things, it has signed a global 5-year license with Korloff, a special French brand of watches and jewelry, for a coordinated line of eyewear inspired ...
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Optics-focused Strategy Paid Off For Oakley In 1st Quarter
Oakley's operating income jumped by 243.2 percent to $9,733,000 in the 1st quarter, ended March 31, on sales that climbed by 31.3 percent to $199.2 million. The gross margin grew to 54.3 percent from 53.1 percent in the year-ago period, reflecting a higher price mix in the optical segment and ...
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Italian Exports Grew By 18.2% In 2006
Italian eyewear exports enjoyed strong 18.2 percent growth in 2006, according to the final figures for the year released by ANFAO, the Italian industry association. Out of their total value of €2,070 million, €1,350 million was generated by sunglasses and €675 million by frames for prescription eyewear. The growth rate ...
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Orange 21 Reports Another, Larger Loss But Sees Stability Ahead
The parent company of Spy Optics had to rid itself of excess inventory in 2006, adding $3 million in costs and causing its gross margin to shrink to 41 percent, as compared to 49 percent in 2005. The net loss for the year was $7.3 million, compared with a loss ...
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Acquisitions Will Help Essilor To Grow Fast, After An Excellent Quarter
Essilor is working on many new acquisitions in all three continents. Combined with other recent takeovers such as that of Novacel, a large French laboratory that is expected to generate sales of €39 million this year, they could add between 4 and 5 percentage points to the group's annual growth ...
