All Article articles – Page 186
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European Buying Groups Come Together
Optocoop Italia-Oxo and 5 other European buying groups from 5 different European countries, representing a total of around 3,500 stores, decided to join forces last month, but have not yet defined the precise form their cooperation will take or the type of legal structure. For the moment there is no ...
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Ciba Vision Improves Margins Sharply
CIBA Vision improved its operating income by 219 percent in the 4th quarter of 2004 to $51 million, representing 14.1 percent of sales, allowing this division of the Swiss-based Novartis group to raise its Ebit for the whole year by 54 percent to $236 million, or 16.7 percent of sales, ...
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Rip Curl Launches A Prescription Line, Following In Quiksilver's Wake
After the success of its line of sunglasses, launched at the beginning of 2004, the Australian surfwear label is launching its first line of ophthalmic frames in March among opticians worldwide. Believing in the concept of introducing new products four times a year, it is also working on a patented ...
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Hal Gets Full Ownership Of Pearle Europe
Luxottica has agreed to sell Cole National's 21 percent stake in Pearle Europe to HAL Investments, allowing it to raise its stake in Europe's leading optical retail network from nearly 79 percent to about 99 percent. The management owns the balance. HAL, which had already raised its shareholding from 68 ...
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Alain Afflelou Raises Its Sales By 17.4%
Alain Afflelou continued to record strong growth in the 1st half of its financial year, ended Oct. 31. Total revenues increased by 17.4 percent to €57.6 million, but while revenues from franchising jumped by 25.7 percent to €46.1 million, due in part to continued expansion, the sales of the French ...
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Romain Afflelou Works With Some Major Soccer Clubs
The 25-year-old entrepreneur is targeting sales of €1 million in the first year of his start-up company, ending next May. Aside from small licensing deals with French sportswear brands like Airness, Jennyfer and Sinequanone, Romain Afflelou got the bright idea of licensing some of the major French soccer clubs, developing ...
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Some More Chinese Producers Want To Have Their Own Brands, Others Hesitate
Not all the Chinese eyewear manufacturers are as bold as Moulin International, which has led the way in securing a foothold in the global market at the wholesale and retail levels by acquiring brands and licensees in Europe and a big retail chain, Eye Care Centers of America, in the ...
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Highmark Is Set To Buy Viva
In a statement issued just before Christmas, Highmark, the largest health insurance company in Pennsylvania and a major retailer of optical products in the USA, announced a definitive agreement to acquire Viva International. The financial terms were not disclosed, hut the deal, which is due to close in January, apparently ...
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Manufacturing Costs Are Rising In China And Shenzhen Starts To Lose Its Luster
The managers of Chinese factories presenting their products at the recent Hong Kong Optical Fair generally reported that sales were up this year, but cautioned that the year 2003 had been so terrible that increases were almost preordained. Nonetheless, manufacturers in China are facing a perfect storm of factors that ...
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Coopervision Outpaces The Market
CooperVision, which is about to merge with Ocular Sciences to form the third-largest contact lens group in the world, raised its total sales by 18 percent to $388.7 million in the financial year ended last Oct. 31, with increases in terms of dollars of 12 percent in the USA, 25 ...
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The Market Welcomes Jason Kirk's Less Expensive Line
Jason Kirk, the 38-year-old British designer, left the last SILMO show with 60 percent more orders than in the previous year, which had been marked by his victory of the 2003 Silmo D'Or award. He opened numerous new accounts and reported particular success in France, Italy and the Far East, ...
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Foval's Misfortunes In Russia
This medium-sized Italian contract manufacturer has patented an ultra-light metal frame, called Arquo, that is selling well in France and Japan at the moment through the Charmant group, representing around 20 percent of its own annual turnover of about €2 million. However, an investment in Russia that had begun on ...
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Zeiss-sola Merger Should Fuel Growth
The merger of SOLA International and Carl Zeiss' eyeglass business, which is due to be completed sometime during the 1st quarter of 2005, is expected to boost their growth in sales and earnings in the long term, thanks to the complementary nature of their operations and to the greater proximity ...
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Tender Offer Is Launched For Marcolin
The Marcolin and Della Valle families have launched a tender offer for all the shares that they don't own yet in the Italian eyewear company, but they want it to continue to trade on the Milan Bourse. If they collect more than 90 percent of Marcolin's equity, they will issue ...
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Fedon Will Produce With A 1,000-strong Workforce In China
The world's leading producer of eyewear cases intends to expand its sales on the American market with products that will be almost entirely made in China. By the end of 2006 the Italian company plans to employ about 1,000 people in its new manufacturing facilities in the industrial area of ...
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Della Valle Family Buys 29.2% Of Marcolin, Whose Results Improve
Diego and Andrea Della Valle, the two brothers who control Tod's and who made a bid to take over Church's a few years ago, have acquired a 29.248 percent stake in Marcolin, further diversifying their portfolio of investments. They each paid €5,114,000 or €0.925 a share for a 12.184 percent ...
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Sola Foresees A 30% Profit Boost
SOLA International expects to post a 30 percent increase in net adjusted income to $48-50 million for the financial year ending next March 31, in spite of a likely drop in the 3rd quarter. For the six months ended Sept. 30, the company has reported net income of $22.0 million, ...
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Moulin Acquires Eye Care Centers Of America
Moulin International, which lost a joint bid with HAL for Cole National out to Luxottica earlier this year, has announced a definitive agreement to acquire a controlling interest of about 56 percent in Eye Care Centers of America (ECCA), the second or third-largest optical retail chain in the USA depending ...
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De Rigo Adds The Chopard License And Forms A New Wholesale Subsidiary
De Rigo has added a new eyewear license with Chopard, the international luxury watchmaker and jeweler based in Switzerland, starting early next year. De Rigo replaces Estede, the Austrian company that also holds the ST Dupont license. De Rigo's first Chopard collection, developed for Spring/Summer 2005, will be presented at ...
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Allison Plans To Get Out Of Contract Manufacturing
Allison's results for the 3rd quarter, the last one under the ownership of IT Holding, confirm the Italian company's growth, with sales for the 9-month period ended Sept. 30 up 52.4 percent to €56.7 million for the 9-month period. Last year Allison's sales had declined by 4.8 percent mainly ...
