All Article articles – Page 170

  • Article

    Cooper Gives Investors A Look At The Future

    2006-11-16T00:00:00Z

    The American company told investors last week that it estimates the global contact lens market to grow at an annual compounded rate of 9 percent until 2010, reaching a level of $7,020 million for the year as compared to $4,563 million in 2005. Within this time frame, daily disposable spherical ...

  • Article

    Optic 2000 Appoints Heavywheight To Win Over New Lissac Franchisees

    2006-10-23T00:00:00Z

    The French buying group has hired Georges de La Motte Collas to the new position of business development manager for the Lissac banner, with the goal of raising from 100 to 300 the number of stores by 2010. De la Motte Collas left last July as French country manager ...

  • Article

    Zerorh+ Launches Sports Luxury Goggle With 3d Golden Lens At Silmo

    2006-10-23T00:00:00Z

    Zeroindustry, the high-tech Italian company set up by Briko's former owner with a partner five years ago to make a rather unique statement in the ?sports luxury? segment of the eyewear and sports clothing industries, is showing at the SILMO fair in Paris for the first time, following a review ...

  • Article

    Essilor Rises By 6.4% In Quarter

    2006-10-23T00:00:00Z

    Essilor's revenues grew by 6.4 percent in the 3rd quarter ended Sept. 30, with 2.4 percentage points due to acquisitions, but the rate of increase would have been 2.1 percent higher if the euro had not appreciated against the dollar and other currencies. On a comparable basis, sales rose by ...

  • Article

    Oakley Adds New Styles And Makes Higher Profits

    2006-10-23T00:00:00Z

    At this weekend's SILMO trade show in Paris, European buyers will be able to view the latest product offerings from Oakley's new eyewear collection for next Spring and European sales representatives will have a complete range of samples, which the company considers a huge improvement in operations. The collection, which ...

  • Article

    Nordic Optical Partners Disappears, Nordic Optical Alliance Created

    2006-10-23T00:00:00Z

    The recent wave of mergers and acquisitions in Northern Europe has led to some major changes in alliances among certain optical retail chains. Nordic Optical Partners, which grouped together three chains in Denmark, Norway and Finland, has been disbanded as two of them have switched ownership. A new group called ...

  • Article

    Sover In Eyewear Deal With Baldinini

    2006-10-23T00:00:00Z

    Sover has signed a 5-year licensing agreement for the manufacture and distribution of sunglasses and optical frames signed by Baldinini, a fast-growing Italian footwear and leathergoods company that belongs to Antichi Pellettieri, controlled by Mariella Burani Fashion Group. Sover already produces an eyewear line under the name of Mariella Burani, ...

  • Article

    Fabris Lane Banks On Optical And Foreign Sales To Double In Size

    2006-10-23T00:00:00Z

    Having grown into the UK's largest sunglass company, Fabris Lane has embarked on an ambitious program to double its sales over the next 4-5 years by developing further its expanded branded eyewear business in the sunglass and prescription frame sectors both at home and abroad. Rod Lane, the 55-year-old executive ...

  • Article

    European Buyers Did Good Business In Venice

    2006-10-23T00:00:00Z

    The workshop organized by Belluno's eyewear industry in Venice at the end of September signaled a turnaround in the market. Supported by various governmental institutions, the bi-annual event provided a meeting point for 17 small and medium-sized Italian producers and 25 European buyers ? mainly from integrated chains, buying groups ...

  • Article

    Hoya Vision Care Rises Sharply But The Margin Is Less Steep

    2006-10-23T00:00:00Z

    The operating margin of the vision care business of Hoya Corp. declined to a still respectable 18.1 percent in the 2nd quarter ended Sept. 30 from 19.6 percent in the year-ago period, while segment sales increased by 13.2 percent to 28.98 billion yen (€193.6m-$243.9m). While domestic sales declined by 1.8 ...

  • Article

    Luxottica Launches Lenscrafters In China, Sells Things Remembered

    2006-10-23T00:00:00Z

    Luxottica has started to roll out the LensCrafters banner in mainland China with the opening of a ?flagship? store in the Oriental Plaza mall, Beijing's upmarket shopping center, and the simultaneous start-up of 11 other LensCrafters stores in the Beijing area. The move reinforces the existing network of 55 LensCrafters ...

  • Article

    Japanese Lens Companies Seek New Outlets In Europe For Their Frames

    2006-10-23T00:00:00Z

    The decisions made long ago by Essilor to divest Logo and by Zeiss to license its brand name out to Menrad were grounded on the assumption that lenses and frames are two very different business segments that have little to do with each other, with a different business mode and ...

  • Article

    Safilo Expands In The Usa And South Korea

    2006-10-23T00:00:00Z

    Safilo is set to dramatically expand in the USA and South Korea in the coming months. The group's U.S. chain of sunglass stores, Solstice, plans to add 30 stores by the end of the year to its current network of about 85 outlets. The big Italian producer will also open ...

  • Article

    Trenti Expands And Purchases Modesign

    2006-10-23T00:00:00Z

    Trenti, a children's eyewear specialist based in the Cadore region of Italy that has won two Golden SILMO Awards in recent years, has acquired a controlling interest of over 50 percent in Modesign, a company in nearby Pieve di Cadore that has been manufacturing plastic frames since 1979. In 2005 ...

  • Article

    Japan Can Be An Interesting Market For Foreign Frame Suppliers

    2006-10-23T00:00:00Z

    Famous for its original necklaces and other rather original eyewear accessories, Centro Style had an unexpected success at its first show at IOFT, clocking in orders worth €80,000 from numerous Japanese and Korean retailers, plus a big order from a Chinese chain. Five Japanese companies and a Korean one indicated ...

  • Article

    Vision-ease Wants To Go Public

    2006-10-23T00:00:00Z

    Vision-Ease Corp. has applied to the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission to authorize an initial public offering whose proceeds will be used to reduce its indebtedness and to free up cash resources for the international expansion of the company, which claims to be one of the most innovative suppliers of ...

  • Article

    New Owners For Opti München

    2006-10-23T00:00:00Z

    Opti-München is going to have a new owner and operator, starting with the 2008 edition. O.K. Messe, the Salzburg-based company that started the new Munich fair in 1998, winning the competition against Optika in Cologne, will continue to be responsible for the 2007 edition, scheduled for Jan. 26-28. Arno Jäger ...

  • Article

    Essilor Sees Ebit Margin Over 17%

    2006-09-18T00:00:00Z

    While announcing some more acquisitions of its own, Essilor International reported a 12.6 percent increase in net profit for the 1st half of 2006 to €164.1 million, representing a net margin of 12.0 percent. Thanks to the very strong sales growth enjoyed during the period, the operating margin (EBIT) remained ...

  • Article

    Boots Opticians Closes Glazing Centers, Worries About Fat People's Sight

    2006-09-18T00:00:00Z

    Boots Opticians will close all of its 28 regional glazing centers and outsource the related operations to Hoya over the next three months. The decision follows a two-month trial period that involved 29 Boots practices working with Hoya Lens UK, which has invested heavily in new facilities over the past ...

  • Article

    Hal Acquires More Critical Mass In Germany

    2006-09-18T00:00:00Z

    Fielmann, which remains the largest factor in the German optical retail market, is getting some new competition. HAL Holding has made another acquisition in Fielmann's home market by taking over Krane-Optik & Akustik, while a large French buying group is believed to be looking at entering the country within the ...