All Article articles – Page 197
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Visionix Acquires Luneau
Luneau is the leading supplier of ophthalmic diagnostic products in France, where it claims a 32 percent market share, and it disposes of a US sales subsidiary. The young Israeli firm has paid €3.7 million in cash for the company, which has 104 employees and annual sales of over €12 ...
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So Does Bausch & Lomb
Bausch & Lomb's net earnings rose by 33 percent to $28.3 million in the 2nd quarter ended June 28 as its total sales grew by 12 percent to $512.5 million, with a 4 percent increase in local currencies, and the management thinks the growth could have reached 5-6 percent without ...
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Oliver Peoples Becomes More Pro
As Alain Mikli of Paris did a few weeks ago with Dominique Pohu (see EWI of May 27), Larry Leight, the extravagant Los Angeles founder and creative director of Oliver Peoples, hired as its president an experienced manager, William Barton, at the beginning of 2002 to put some order into ...
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Sola Scores Better Than Expected
Sales increased by 5.3 percent on a currency-neutral basis in the 1st quarter ended June 30, as compared to the same period a year ago, with gains of 11.1 percent in North America and 4.4 percent in Europe partly offset by a 5.8 percent drop in the rest of the ...
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Luxottica Gains Control Of Opsm Group
As of yesterday, when OPSM Group announced strong operating results for the financial year ended last June 30, Luxottica's tender offer for the largest eyewear retailer in the Asia-Pacific region had already been accepted by 74.78 percent of its shareholders, representing 87.91 percent of its equity. The bid is scheduled ...
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German Health Reform Will Damage The Eyewear Market, Maybe Less Fielmann
ZVA, the country's strong association of optical retailers, predicts that the German optical retail market will drop by at least 20 percent next year as a result of a planned reform of the federal managed health system, which is now in the final stages of preparation for 2004, leading to ...
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The Oxo Group Proposes To Get Rid Of Obsolete Eyewear
In various countries of the world, including Italy, owners of old automobiles that represent an environmental hazard have been awarded good discounts on a new model provided they scrap the old one. The logic is evident. But an Argentine optician who is now based in Italy has now come up ...
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The Mila Schön License Goes To Vidivici
Vidivici, founded in Bologna by the Danzi family in 1996, has been granted the production and distribution license for Mila Schön women's eyewear for the worldwide market, Japan excluded. The new collections will be on sale as from 2004. The sunglass lines will be showcased at SILMO in Paris in ...
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Grandvision Improves Its Profitability
The 2nd quarter was better than the 1st one in all the divisions in terms of profit margins, and the company may yet be able to reach its target of a 9.5 percent operating profit margin (Ebit) for the full year, provided it succeeds in lifting its sluggish sales in ...
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Randazzo Leases Ottica Romani Stores
Ottica Romani, the Rome-based Italian optical retail chain that went bankrupt recently (see previous issue), will be managed by the Sicilian-based chain of Angelo Randazzo until it finds a buyer. Randazzo plans to reopen by Sept. 10 Ottica Romani's 32 stores, of which 24 operate in Rome after winning last ...
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Recovering Lissac Can Use A Partner
The well-known French optical chain could well be interested in a partnership with a large foreign group, such as Pearle Europe for example, to sustain its expansion and to further improve its margins and its private label business now that its financial problems are over. A couple of years ago, ...
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Pentax Vision Merges Into Seiko Optical
The merger, which will become effective next Jan. 1, is expected to generate higher economies of scale and to provide a useful exchange of information between the respective R&D teams for the development of future generations of high-index ophthalmic lenses. While Pentax has been strong in optical innovations, Seiko has ...
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And Ocular Sciences, Too
During the 2nd quarter, the company's revenues increased by 16 percent in dollars to $76.1 million, with a 9 percent increase in local currencies. While US sales rose by 4 percent, sales in the rest of the world increased by 35 percent in dollars, with gains of nearly 30 percent ...
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De Rigo Improves Retail Sales By 5% In Local Currencies
In constant currencies, De Rigo's total sales rose by 4.6 percent in the first 6 months of this year, despite the generally weak eyewear market, with its two retail chains, Dollond & Aitchison in the UK and General Optica in Spain, recording increases of 5.0 and 4.6 percent, respectively. Wholesale ...
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Bankruptcy Forces Ottica Romani Out Of Business
Almost 80 years after the opening of its first store, Ottica Romani, one of Italy's largest eyewear chains, which recently grew to a total of 50 outlets, has gone out of business. Following petitions filed by Luxottica and Killer Loop, the civil court of Rome declared the chain bankrupt on ...
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Essilor Does Better In The Usa
On a comparable basis and in constant currencies, Essilor International's global sales rose by 2.3 percent in the 1st half ended June 30. In the USA, the decline experienced at the beginning of the year flattened out in the 2nd quarter, which recorded only a slight drop. Business in Europe ...
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Pearle Europe Will Buy Synoptik
HAL Investments doesn't need to take over GrandVision to consolidate the European market leadership Pearle Europe. Its #1 position in the European market is being confirmed through an agreement to acquire a controlling 50.16 percent stake in Synoptik, with a consent on its strategy by the Lego Foundation, which will ...
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Hoya Shifts Some Uk Capacity To Thailand
More than 200 jobs should be eliminated at the Wrexham factory of Hoya Lens UK as the company plans to transfer later this year its mass production of semi-finished Eyas lenses to Hoya Corp.'s large factory in Thailand, where the group has already moved much of its Japanese manufacturing operations. ...
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French Investment Group Wants To Take Grandvision Private
While GrandVision's management brings in other arguments for supporting the bid announced by PAI one week ago, the move can be seen as an effort by some of its founding shareholders to fend off a possible hostile takeover by HAL Trust, the Dutch investment company that owns 68 percent of ...
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Oakley Gets ?Rained Out?
Oakley blames the extremely wet weather in all the critical areas of the USA through the end of June for a 9.1 percent decline in its unit shipments of sunglasses around the world in the 2nd quarter ended June 30, in spite of some good new product offerings and the ...
