Latest Headlines – Page 112
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S&P ups Luxottica’s credit rating to A-
Even before the publication of Luxottica's sales results and Andrea Guerra's interview with an Italian newspaper, Standard & Poor's (S&P) raised Luxottica's long-term credit rating to “A-” from “BBB+,” with a stable outlook. The company continues to be considered more trustworthy than Italy, whose long-term debt is rated “BBB” by ...
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Luxottica buys Glasses.com as part of its digital transformation
In an asset deal, WellPoint has sold its Glasses.com business and its virtual try-on technology to Luxottica and its online contact lens retail subsidiary, 1-800 Contacts, to an equity firm, Thomas H. Lee Partners. Both transactions should be completed before the end of the first quarter.For Luxottica, its part of ...
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New majority owners for MyOptique
MyOptique Group, the U.K. based online retailer that owns Glasses Direct and other e-commerce operations, has raised £8 million (€9.7m-$13.2m) in additional equity in connection with the entry of two new shareholders, Ciplo Partners and GP Bullhound Sidecar. The former investors in the company - Acton Capital Partners, Highland Capital Partners ...
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Vision Express buys 65 stores from Rayners
Vision Express has acquired 65 stores from Rayner Opticians, representing 62 percent of Rayners' premises. The move brings Vision Express' number of stores in the U.K. and Ireland up to 367. Thirty eight of Rayner's U.K. stores will become part of the Vision Express portfolio and will continue to sell ...
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Essilor breaks the €5 billion barrier
In a preliminary statement, Essilor International reports a sales increase of 1.8 percent to €1,252.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2013. On a comparable basis, sales went up by 3.0 percent in the quarter. Changes in the scope of consolidation added 4.3 percentage points to the growth, but this ...
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New investors in Gold & Wood
Maurice Léonard, the 53-year-old entrepreneur who founded the company in Luxembourg in 1995, has opened its capital to two new investors and boosted its management to speed up its development in the core luxury segment and in new markets. Following a capital increase, whose details have been kept confidential, Léonard ...
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Change of the guard at Silhouette
Silhouette International has named Thomas Windischbauer and Daniel Rogger as new members of the executive board. The owners of the company, Klaus and Arnold Schmied, are leaving the operational business after working on the executive board for 15 years. The two Schmieds are now joining the company's supervisory board to ...
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Salmoiraghi enters drugstores
Salmoiraghi & Viganò, Italy's leading optical retail chain, will soon have a presence in pharmacies in a pilot project in partnership with Essere e Benessere, a retail chain specialized in pharmaceuticals and hygiene products. It will do so under its low-cost VistaSì banner.Just before last Christmas, the eyewear chain opened ...
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Google Glass adds RX and sunwear support, partners with VSP
Google is releasing its first collection of four prescription frames for Google Glass. The move comes as the company prepares to make the Google Glass technology available to the general population in the U.S. later this year. Until now, Google has not had corrective lenses in its frames. Google Glass ...
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Germany’s optical industry reaches sales of over €4 billion
Thomas Truckenbrod, president of the German opticians' association, ZVA, reported at the Opti trade show in Munich that the German ophthalmic optics market recorded higher sales in 2013. After a drop in the first quarter, the number of frames sold in the stores increased slightly over the balance of the ...
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Insights into European markets and trends
France remained the biggest importer of ophthalmic optics products in 2012, with an increase in the value of imports of 18 percent to €1.26 billion, according an annual report by Spectaris, the German ophthalmic industry association, on the state of the European market. Germany remained in second place with an ...
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Opti show records growth in terms of visitors and internationality
About 24,000 trade and business professionals from more than 80 countries visited the Opti trade show held in Munich on Jan. 10-12. Visitor numbers have increased over the last couple of years; last year for example the fair attracted about 23,000 visitors.A total of 501 exhibitors presented their new collections, ...
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Far East e-commerce platforms most dangerous for fakes
The first structured study analyzing online sales of counterfeits in the Italian eyewear and footwear sectors, two key industries in the country, show that the most dangerous sites are large e-commerce platforms, first and foremost those in China and other parts of the Far East. The results of the latest ...
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Euromcontact on fluorescein strips
Euromcontact has called on EU member states to be “pragmatic” and allow fluorescein strips on the market as medical devices until their classification is concluded in the Borderline & Classification Expert group. Failing to do so would have a major impact on the availability of such products, impacting European patients, ...
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Fielmann gains further market share in Germany
Germany's biggest optical retailer scored year-on-year sales increases in Germany of around 5 percent in the third quarter and 3 percent for the first nine months of this year on a same-store basis, according to a spokesman for the company. It did not perform as well in Switzerland, but the ...
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Hal’s optical chains make progress
Hal reports sales increase of 2.7 percent in the third quarter and 1.7 percent in the first nine months of this year for its optical stores in terms of local currencies and on a same-store basis, compared with the corresponding periods of 2012. On an absolute basis, their revenues increased ...
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Positive Q3 results and new strategies at Safilo
Safilo provided one of its strongest quarters in term of organic growth, and the company's new chief executive, Luisa Delgado, made a good impression when she presented her strategic views to the financial analysts who are following the company. Speaking in immaculate English, Delgado confirmed the main elements that have ...
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Hoya eyes new acquisitions after a strong quarter
Hoya Corp. wants to make new acquisition in the Life Care segment, which comprises eyeglasses and other products, and which booked a sales increase of 25.4 percent to ¥62,664 million yen (€442.0m-$607.4m) in its second quarter ended Sept. 30 as compared to the same period a year ago. The turnover included ...
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Better margins for Zeiss’ vision business
The Vision Care segment of Carl Zeiss recorded a slight sales decline to €841 million for the financial year ended last Sept. 30, down from €860 million in the prior year. Without providing any details, the group indicated that was a satisfactory development in view of a difficult market environment ...
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CVI is bullish in spite of a mixed quarter
The growth of CooperVision (CVI) softened in its fourth quarter, ended on Oct. 31, but this did not prevent the company from growing nearly twice as fast as the global market for soft contact lenses.CVI's sales went up by 3 percent to $327.1 million in the fourth quarter, up by ...
