Latest Headlines – Page 106
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Big drop in J&J’s vision care business
Johnson & Johnson's vision care sales dropped to $704 millio in the third quarter of 2014, down 5.9 percent from a year ago. U.S. sales totaled $232 million, representing a 12.5 percent decline from the same period last year. International sales fell at an even rate of 2.3 percent to ...
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Alcon’s operating income grows strongly
Alcon, the eye care division of Novartis, saw its net sales increase to US$2.7 billion in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, up 5 percent in dollars and 6 percent in constant currencies. A positive factor was the approval given by the European Commission to Simbrinza, Alcon's new drug for ...
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Silmo and Mido will work together
Attendance levels remained relatively strong at the latest Silmo fair in Paris, and business was described as intense, in spite of the generally uncertain international economic environment. However, the total number of visitors went down to 33,301 from 35,103 a year ago. Of those, 56 percent came from outside France.The ...
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A good IOFT in a recovering Japanese market
After hitting the bottom in 2010, the Japanese eyewear market started to recover in the last couple of years and, in spite of lingering challenging market conditions, there are structural factors in the country that will support this growth in the next years. In this context, the 27th edition of ...
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Strong support for the World Sight Day Challenge
Optometry Giving Sight's main annual campaign, the World Sight Day Challenge, has proved globally the biggest yet this year according to Donna Power, who leads the charity's fundraising efforts in Europe in its bid to prevent blindness and impaired vision due to uncorrected refractive errors around the world. This was ...
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GrandVision gears up for its IPO
In announcing its results for the first half of this year, Hal Holding said that an initial public offering (IPO) of GrandVision BV on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange is currently in preparation. It will take place by the end of November at the earliest, depending on conditions in the ...
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Fielmann continues its forward stride
There is no let-up in Fielmann's continued progress, and this was reflected in its share price. After a previously announced stock split on Aug. 22, the company's shares were trading at €49.05. In reporting its results for the first half of this year, during which the company's share price went ...
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Under new management, Luxottica may still be interested in Essilor and Maui Jim
The latest reports in the Italian press, which has a good relationship with Luxottica, indicate that the new management of the group may be interested in pursuing a merger with Essilor International, moving the group into the lens business, and the acquisition of Maui Jim, the main competitor to its ...
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Essilor eyes better margins on 3-4% higher organic sales
In presenting the relatively good results of his company for the first half of 2014, Hubert Sagnières, chairman and chief executive of Essilor International, said he had “absolutely no comment” to make on the rumors about a possible merger with Luxottica. We think that such a “marriage of the giants” ...
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Essilor sets up a triumvirate under Sagnières
Like Luxottica, Essilor International is establishing a sort of transatlatic triumvirate to take care of the growing scope of its activities. Jean Carrier, who remains president and chief executive of Essilor of America, has been appointed chief operating officer of the company. He will work alongside Paul du Saillant and ...
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Kering brings eyewear licenses in-house
Kering, the French luxury goods and sportswear group that owns Gucci and many other brands, has decided to regain control over its eyewear licenses and develop them in-house. The decision mainly affects Safilo, which holds the important Gucci license.Among the other brands owned by Kering that will be affected by ...
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Ørgreen backs Claire Goldsmith
We have already reported about the partnership between Pro Design of Denmark and Face à Face, the French brand of designer eyewear (EWI vol. 15 - 11°12 of July 10). Ørgreen Optics, a fast-growing Danish producer of high-end designer eyewear, has now formed a strategic partnership with Claire Goldsmith, the ...
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Luxury Optical Holdings acquires Robert Marc
Luxury Optical Holdings (LOH) has announced the acquisition of Robert Marc Eyewear and its wholesale and retail subsidiaries. Following the takeover, LOH will operate 58 retail stores throughout the U.S. and its brands will have distribution in more than 20 countries throughout the world. Robert Marc, who founded Robert Marc ...
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Julbo expands in the Middle East and Asia
Julbo started a partnership to serve several countries in the Arabian Peninsula this past summer with EGMA Optical Supplies, a distributor who has worked with Rodenstock for many years, and it is now targeting the Asian markets. The company has a laboratory where it can make corrective lenses for Julbo's ...
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Allison presents Urban rh+ eyewear for city riders
Rh+ has discovered an interesting new market – the urban cyclists who use a bike regularly and seriously to get around the city. Lifted by the new and fast-growing category of electric bicycles, this market is growing for at least two reasons: firstly, because of heavy urban traffic congestion, and ...
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Italia Independent rises by 42.5% in the first half
Italia Independent maintained its high growth rate in the first half, posting a 42.5 percent increase in net sales to €18.52 million for the period. Its sales of eyewear rose at an even faster pace, generating 82.6 percent of the group's revenues against 79.7 percent in the first half of ...
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More creativity from Italy
Italy is no longer the exclusive domain of the big eyewear conglomerates and the small craftsmen who work for them and other big firms on an OEM basis. A new generation of small eyewear brands with a high design content and original stories to tell has been taking hold in ...
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Local designer eyewear shows are mushrooming
A new race of small designer-oriented eyewear fairs is building up in Europe as a complement to the bigger and more generalist international eyewear shows. They mainly cater to opticians who want to have a distinctive offer in their stores for a demanding clientele.The first and most exclusive event of ...
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Sunglasses drive Italy’s export growth
By the end of this year the annual value of Italy's eyewear exports is expected to cross the €3 billion threshold. This projection is based on the data for the first half of 2014, which make it highly probable that eyewear “made in Italy” will hit yet another record on ...
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Smart glasses come to Europe
Smart glasses don't have to have all the communication capabilities of Google Glass. A French voluntary group, Atol, plans to launch a new line of inexpensive eyeglasses across its network of opticians before the end of this year, called Théou (=Where are you?), that allow the wearers to retrieve them ...
