All Article articles – Page 91
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Del Vecchio focuses on lenses
In an opening speech made in connection with the presentation of the company's results to financial analysts, Luxottica's founder and executive chairman, Leonardo Del Vecchio, said that the ophthalmic lens segment is “another area that has our attention,” pointing out that it is as big as the frame market and ...
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Temporary drop in Safilo’s results
Safilo confirmed previously reported sales of €1,279 million for the full 2015 financial year. They were up by 8.5 percent on a reported basis but flat in terms of local currencies. The company pointed out that the turnover went up by 4.3 percent on a comparable, currency-neutral basis, with licensed ...
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Luxottica embarks on huge retail expansion
Luxottica is engaged in a huge reorganization, expansion and upgrading program for its main retail businesses, which employed 48,000 people at about 7,300 stores in the past year, representing 60.1 percent of its adjusted revenues. The management wants to boost the retail network to some 8,000 stores by mid-2017. Many ...
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X-IDE launches a new eyewear label
“UX Share Your Eyewear by X-IDE” is the new eyewear label of Immagine 98, the Italian-based parent of X-IDE and Rye & Lye. The long name of the new product line is supposed to reflect its 3.0 spirit. According to the company, the name is an acronym for “user experience,” ...
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The Optical Monitor focuses on smaller markets
Still working through GfK, the organizers of the Mido and Silmo trade shows have decided to explore four smaller European markets – Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and Hungary - through their Optical Monitor, in addition to the five major countries already covered by the online consumer survey. The results of the ...
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Luxottica reviews Oakley’s strategy in the sports sector
The Oakley brand is expected to continue underperforming this year as compared to the rest of the Luxottica group but will nevertheless improve its growth rate from the pace reached in 2015. Oakley's revenues are due to rise by 3-5 percent at constant currency rates, against a predicted increase of ...
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Italy’s eyewear industry grows by 12.5%
In 2015, the value of Italy's production of eyewear rose by 12.5 percent to an estimated level of €3,566 million. The growth was driven by exports - representing 90 percent of the production - which went up by 12.3 percent to €3,442 million. On the other hand, the industry experienced ...
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Fedon grows by 14%
Giorgio Fedon, the historic manufacturer of eyeglass cases, which added a line of luxury leathergoods for offices a couple of years ago, closed the year 2015 with a turnover of almost €71.4 million, representing a 14 percent increase compared to 2014.The company, listed on the Paris stock exchange, operates within ...
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Safilo launches Swatch glasses but Q4 sales disappoint
Adding another popular brand to its growing portfolio, Safilo announced a five-year collaboration agreement with the Swiss watchmaker Swatch. The first Swatch The Eyes collection will be launched in spring 2016. The parties are to co-design the eyewear collections and the Italian company is to manufacture them in Europe. Safilo ...
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Essilor sees accelerating growth
Essilor International delivered pretty good results for the 2015 financial year. Revenues increased by 18.4 percent to €6,716 million and generated a “contribution margin” - or an operating margin before non-recurring items related to major acquisitions - of 18.8 percent, up 0.2 percentage points from 2014.The gross margin improved by ...
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Logo moves upmarket, launches a new house brand, Aeroline
Logo Eyewear has rearranged its product portfolio, shedding the licenses for two mass market brands, taking on three other higher-end licenses and launching a new house brand “made for pilots,” called Aeroline. It is also planning to introduce next year its first line of “smart eyewear.”As we reported in our ...
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Alliance Optics Group launches its online platform
After several delays, the Alliance Optics Group (AOG) reports that it has finally launched its global internet platform, optics-web.com, to support the growing number of suppliers and independent opticians around the world that are using its services.The global launch will coincide with the Mido trade show in Milan, where the ...
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Marchon announces executive changes
Marchon Eyewear has hired Thomas Burkhardt for the newly-created position of senior vice president of global licensing and marketing. He will report directly to Claudio Gottardi, Marchon's president and chief executive. In his new role, Burkhardt will manage the domestic and international licensed brand teams, house brands and sports brands ...
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Another plus year for Fielmann
Fielmann's supervisory and management boards are proposing to raise the annual dividend for the 11th time since 2004, after a year in which its pre-tax profit went up by 6.6 percent to €241 million and its net income increased by 5.0 percent to €171 million, according to preliminary figures. The ...
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Strong progress for Blackfin
Pramaor, the small and dynamic Italian firm behind the Blackfin brand of titanium glasses, reports a 50 percent increase in orders for the first two months of this year. This comes after a sales increase of 27 percent to €6.2 million in the past year, driven by a 38 percent ...
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Essilor gets closer to the customer
After publishing its results for the last financial year (see the next article in this issue), Essilor International announced earlier this week its acquisition of Vision Direct Group, one of the leading European online retailers for contact lenses. Based in the U.K., Vision Direct does most of its business in ...
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Luxottica’s corporate governance under the spotlight
The Financial Times published a rather critical editorial on the management merry-go-round at Luxottica that has led to the departure of three chief executives in a year and a half (see Eyewear Intelligence Vol. 17 N° 1+2). The influential British daily put the blame on the 80-year-old founder and chairman, ...
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Italy’s export growth quickens
After a rise of 11.8 percent in 2014, Italy's exports of optical frames and sunglasses increased by 12.3 percent in 2015, reaching a value of €3,442 million. Sunglasses continued to drive the export growth, rising by 14.2 percent to €2,310 million, in contrast with an increase for prescription frames of ...
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Retina replaces Garro
Three large buying groups for independent opticians in Spain, Italy and France have joined forces to form a new European cooperative based in Madrid, called Retina, whose goal is to negotiate stronger collaboration agreements with leading suppliers, share best practices and put together a standardized offer of products and services ...
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Eyewear frames sold for €162,000 at Vision-X
A private buyer purchased a one-of-a-kind pair of eyewear frames crafted with titanium, gold and diamond inlays in Dubai for AED650,000 (€162,349-$176,956) at the recent Vision-X exhibition, the optical trade show which was held at the Dubai World Trade Centre on Dec. 6-8. The frames are the highlight of the ...
