All Article articles – Page 168
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Essilor Sees Ebit Margin Of Close To 17.8% On Organic Sales Growth Of 8.1%
The profit figures for 2006 have not yet come out, but the management of Essilor says its operating margin for the 2nd half of the year was substantially higher than the 16.9 percent margin scored in the same period of 2005 and close to the 17.8 percent margin achieved in ...
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Luxottica Books Third Year Of Double-digit Sales Growth In 2006
Luxottica booked a third consecutive year of double-digit growth in 2006, although the pace slowed down in the fourth quarter due to the weakening of the dollar. Full-year consolidated sales rose 13.0 percent to €4.671 billion and would have risen 13.8 percent at constant foreign exchange rates. Retail ...
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Bridgepoint Acquires Rodenstock's Control From Permira At A Premium
The control of Rodenstock is moving from one equity fund to another. Permira, which acquired 49 percent of the venerable German eyewear company from Randolf Rodenstock in June 2003, raising its stake subsequently to 85 percent, has sold it now to Bridgepoint, apparently with a big capital gain that it ...
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Ciba Vision Recalls Some Spheres, Affecting Novartis' Results
CIBA Vision is undertaking a voluntary recall of selected lots of spherical O2 Optix (lotrafilcon B) contact lenses at the trade level, according to a statement issued by the company, adding that it had notified proper health authorities. No other products are being affected by the recall. The move, which ...
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Essilor Buys Novacel, But It May Be After Bigger Prey With Coopervision
In conference calls in French and English organized earlier today to comment on its excellent financial results, Essilor's management declined to comment on a rumor in a French magazine that it is about to launch a bid for Cooper Companies, one of the four major players in the contact lens ...
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Fewer Britons Are Getting Private Eye Exams And Re-glazing Their Glasses
An annual survey by the UK's Federation of Ophthalmic and Dispensing Opticians (FODO) found that only 9 percent of the customers of member opticians got their spectacles re-glazed instead of buying a new pair with new lenses in the 12-month period ended March 31, 2006, down from 12 percent in ...
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Danish Buying Group Splits From Synoptik
Nyt Syns, a Danish buying group with 90 affiliated stores that claims a market share of 13-15 percent in the country's optical retailing market, has bought back the 50 percent stake in the buying and franchising company that it has sold to Synoptik in 2003, before that chain was acquired ...
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The Country Of Origin Is Not That Important In Our Sector
No wonder that the eyewear industry associations of Italy, France and other European countries have not joined similar associations in the footwear or furniture sectors in demanding a mandatory label of origin for certain consumer products imported into the European Union. Such regulations are in place in the USA and ...
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The German Eyewear Industry Reaches Record Levels
The German consumer optics industry raised its total revenues by 12.7 percent in 2006, according to Spectaris, the German optical, medical and mechanical industries association, which gave the figures last Monday in view of the Opti-München fair opening tomorrow. An executive of Spectaris, which got the figures from the Federal ...
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The Return Of Oliver Goldsmith
Fresh off winning a style award in Japan for its eyewear, Oliver Goldsmith was taking a crack at expanding in Europe at last Fall's SILMO. The British company sells mostly in the UK as well as in Japan, where much of its eyewear is manufactured and where it has connections ...
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Hoya And Pentax Merge
The merger does not include Pentax Corp.'s ophthalmic lens business, which was bought by Seiko about two years ago, but it comprises Pentax' medical optics operations. Covering intraocular lenses, endoscopes, medical accessories and new ceramics, this business unit of Pentax will be merged with Hoya Corp.'s activities in this area, ...
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Orange 21 Copes With New Losses
As it continued to integrate LEM, the Italian sunglass manufacturer it recently acquired, Orange 21 implemented several strategies in the 3rd quarter ended Sept. 30 to turn its overall business around. The company decided to cease producing a significant amount of under-performing SKUs, and has launched a program designed to ...
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Eyewear Cases: Gatto Seeks Financing, Fedon Tops 50 Million Units
Gatto Astucci has denied a rumor in the Italian press that Centrobanca, an Italian investment bank, is about to acquire a majority stake in the company. The Italian producer of eyewear cases, based in the Veneto region, says it is simply negotiating with various private equity firms and merchant banks ...
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Alain Afflelou Expands More Abroad, Buys Less For Its Own Franchisees
While the number of directly owned and franchised stores increased to 831 by Oct. 31, at the end of the 1st half of its financial year, up sharply from 758 one year earlier, Alain Afflelou's revenues from commissions on the purchases it makes in behalf of its franchisees dropped by ...
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Fielmann Performs Better, Accelerates Its Expansion
Fielmann's management is pretty confident that it will pass the symbolic threshold of €100 million in pre-tax profit in 2006, as compared to €87 million in 2005. Furthermore, the company will have opened 30 new doors this year, or more than it had originally planned. Many of the new openings ...
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Luxottica Licenses Tiffany, Plans Another Acquisition
Luxottica has announced a prestigious 10-year license with Tiffany, the famous 169-year-old American retailer of fine jewelry, providing for the design, manufacturing and worldwide distribution of exclusive ophthalmic and sun collections under the Tiffany & Co name. The move marks Tiffany's entrance into the eyewear market, after signing timepieces, tableware ...
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Advanced Medical Optics Recalls Contact Lens Solution
It sounds like a reply of Bausch & Lomb's saga with its own ReNu with MoistureLoc solution. Advanced Medical Optics indicates that it is acting carefully with the steps it takes in recalling certain lots of its own 12-ounce Complete MoisturePlus multi-purpose contact lens solution. Bacterial contamination was found in ...
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Allison Gets The Licenses For United Colors Of Benetton And Sisley
Allison, the fast-growing Italian eyewear company, has signed a licensing agreement with Benetton Group that will significantly boost its sales and ease the way to a possible listing on the stock exchange, like its competitors Luxottica, Safilo and Marcolin, following its recent acquisition by an Italian investment fund, Carisma, owned ...
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A Spanish Group Joins Another Italian Purchase Venture
At the end of last year two other Italian buying groups, Free Optik and Optotrades, set up a joint purchasing organization, called F&O, whose structure is slightly different from the Kentral consortium. Two other groups ? one Italian and the other one Spanish ? have now joined this entity, whose ...
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Looking Behind Rudy Project's Sports Eyewear Truck And Its New Website
At trade fairs as well as at sporting events all over the world, the large black Rudy Project truck rapidly turns into a booth with office space and a display area for the brand's sports eyewear lines. It has become a highly distinctive feature of this Italian company from the ...
