All Article articles – Page 71
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A good Silmo
The organizers of Silmo have reported a satisfactory level of business at the 52nd edition of the Paris trade show at the end of September. Roughly in line with the scores reached one year ago, it was attended by more than 37,000 professional visitors, 56 percent of whom came from ...
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Hoya reports higher margins
Hoya Corp. booked a 7 percent increase in sales of eyeglass lenses in the second quarter of its financial year, ended on Sept. 30, but they were only up by 3 percent on a comparable basis. Sales of contact lenses went up by 6 percent, but they were still mainly ...
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New horizons for Thierry Lasry
Thierry Lasry, the fast-growing French brand of designer eyewear that won a special Silmo d'Or award at the Paris trade show a few weeks ago, has become well known for its original women's sunglasses, which tend to feature straight corners and sharp angles. It is now adding its first line ...
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Has the tide turned for Safilo?
On Oct. 29, Safilo's shareholders approved a €150 million rights issue, marking the latest act of a remarkable twist of fate for the troubled group, judging from several positive aspects of the refinancing package. Is the group on the cusp of a revival or just facing another false dawn? The ...
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Grupo Devlyn is again 100% family-owned
After looking at other strategic options, the Devlyn family has bought all the shares it didn't own in Grupo Devlyn, one of the largest optical retailers in Latin America and presumably the largest privately owned optical retailing group in the world. It has bought back the minority stake that Linzor Capital, ...
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Modo moves into 3D printing
Modo Eyewear, a rather special company that is growing quickly and that has interesting stories to tell, is moving into new territory with the launch of a collection of light and colorful 3D-printed glasses at the Silmo show in Paris at the end of this week. The fronts are made ...
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DaTE is coming to America
DaTE, the growing Italian mini-expo held every month of September before Silmo Paris for the past two years in Florence, will be holding a special new edition for the U.S. market next year. It will start with a small show in Santa Monica, California next May, hosting a minimum of ...
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The global eyewear market has been growing more slowly
Global sales of ophthalmic lenses increased by 2.1 percent in volume each year during the 2015-2017 period according to the latest edition of the biennial World Lens and Frame Demand Study by an authorititive consultancy company, SWV Strategy with Vision Management (SWV). First published in 2004, the study covers a ...
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Blackfin boosts management and production
Blackfin is still a relatively small player in the global eyewear market, but it continues to grow at a double-digit rate, and its parent company, Pramaor, is adapting to the rising demand with further investments in the manufacturing apparatus and the creation of new management positions.As previously reported, Pramaor's sales ...
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Safilo launches a capital increase
The Safilo Group's board of directors decided yesterday to propose a capital increase aimed at raising up to €150 million in new equity through the issue of new shares. It has convened an extraordinary meeting of its shareholders for next Oct. 29 to approve its proposals, which are intended to ...
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Luxexcel raises more funds, hires a new CEO
Luxexcel, a developer of 3D printing technology and services for ophthalmic lenses, announced a few days ago that it has raised another €13 million from Innovation Industries, a Dutch-based investment fund, together with other financial investors in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany and with KLA Tencor Corporation, a U.S. technology ...
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Italia Independent comes out of the red, sheds a license
In a joint decision with the licensor, Italia Independent will not renew the Adidas Original license for sunglasses and prescription frames which expires in December 2019. The Italian company said that it wants to focus on its own brands and partnerships with a “premium” positioning.Italia Independent booked a net profit ...
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Mister Spex publishes survey on digitization and the future of vision
Mister Spex has asked the German Institute for Trends and Future Research (ITZ), in Heidelberg, to conduct a survey on the future of vision and identify trends, challenges and opportunities. The more digitization takes over our everyday life, whether private or professional, the more time we spend in front of ...
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Fedon suffers a loss
The results for first-half of 2018 confirm a downward trend for the Fedon Group, a leading Italian eyeglass-case manufacturer that is trading publicly. After a 5.88 percent decline in turnover suffered in 2017, it had to endure a further decline of 5.5 percent for the first six months of this ...
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Tradition and modernity at Silmo
On the eve of its 51th edition, the Silmo organizers confirmed an increase in the number of exhibitors to 987, up from 958 last year, coming from 39 countries. That includes 130 companies that did not exhibit in 2017, among which are De Rigo Vision, the Italian eyewear group, and ...
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Safilo’s H1 sales go down by 10.0%
In the first half of 2018, Safilo posted a 10.0 percent decline in sales to €492.2 million. At constant currency rates, the top line fell by 4.3 percent. The currency-neutral decrease further narrowed to 3.7 percent when excluding the Gucci business. Safilo said that sales were mainly affected by a ...
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Safilo enters €300 million refinancing talks
Safilo has entered talks with its creditor banks and its main shareholder, Hal Holding, to arrange a refinancing package of at least €300 million by the end of November, when its €150 million revolving credit facility (RCF) expires. The package could involve a cash call to shore up its balance ...
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Kering Eyewear’s sales jump by 32%
Kering Eyewear's sales rose by 32 percent to €262 million in the first half of 2018, lifted by the newly acquired Cartier license.The collaboration with Cartier, which is owned by the Swiss luxury goods firm Richemont, started with the 2018 spring/summer collection. The partnership led Richemont to acquire a 30 ...
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CooperVision goes after key accounts
CooperVision (CVI), which has already a solid position among independent eye care professionals, has embarked on a new strategy to win over new clients among the bigger optical retail chains and the buying groups all over the world, offering them new services, volume discounts and targeted marketing support in order ...
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Safilo curtails its ambitions
Safilo released an updated version of its business plan to 2020 that drastically trims its previous growth forecasts. Led by a newly appointed chief executive, Angelo Trocchia, the management now expects the group's sales to grow by about 2 percent a year, or by 4 percent excluding the Gucci business, ...
