Latest Headlines – Page 161
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Mido Moves To March, Next To Other Fashion Fairs
Citing «shifting market needs,» MIDO's executives are bringing the fair's exhibition dates forward next year at Milan's Rho-Pero Fieramilano from the usual timeline in early May to a March 6-9 schedule. Confirming what we had already published in EWI last Feb. 29, the announcement was made at the Vision Expo ...
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Specsavers Buys A Chain In Finland
Specsavers has acquired a Finnish optical retail chain, Tähti Optikko, for €15 million from Kesko Corporation, a large Finnish retail conglomerate involved in other activities. With 31 company-owned stores and 98 franchises, the chain had net sales of €20.8 million in 2007, up by 7.3 percent from the previous year. ...
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Fielmann's Quarterly Profits Grow By Nearly One-third
The leading German optical retail chain had a pre-tax profit of €38.7 million in the first quarter ended March 31, a 31.8 percent increase over the same period last year. Its net income rose by 53.6 percent to €27.1 million, with the disproportionate increase in the final result attributed to ...
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Fielmann Sees Still More Possibilities For Growth
Despite its strong and rising market shares in the German-speaking countries, Fielmann sees further possibilities for growth through expanded sales of progressive lenses, sunglasses, contact lenses and hearing aids, according to its annual report. While expanding the average size of its existing stores to help meet the growing demand from ...
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First Scotland, Now The World
Black & Lizars, Scotland's largest independent optical group, is planning to expand throughout the U.K. and overseas following its acquisition by a London-based consortium in a deal reported to be worth more than £20 million (€25.4m-$39.6m), according to Optician magazine. Before the takeover, Black & Lizars, which is ...
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Optical Master Club, A New Italian Group
A new buying group was established in Italy three months ago, with 70 sales outlets on the country's mainland territory. But the members of Optical Master Club have no commercial obligations: For example, even when the Club has an agreement with a supplier, the individual members may refuse to go ...
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Luxottica Scales Down Stores Openings As Dollar, Economy Hit Earnings
Luxottica has decided to reduce investments by about €50 million to less than €300 million this year in an effort to maintain its profit margins, which were trimmed by the dollar's weakness against the euro and the slowdown of the U.S. economy. In North America, where the group has ...
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Oakley's Sales Rise By 15% In Dollars
Luxottica's management indicated last week that Oakley's eyewear business in Europe would be integrated with Luxottica's by May 1, but the final company structure was not yet clear as of yesterday. Sources at Oakley Europe, whose offices in France, Germany and Italy are being closed down, said it will take ...
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New Owners Take Over Briko
The Italian brand of sports eyewear, apparel and accessories has been taken over by B Holding, a diversified conglomerate owned by the family of Silvano Boroli, involved in wineries and publishing. The acquisition of other related assets is expected to follow soon. Briko had been the property for many years ...
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Safilo Loses Stella Mccartney License To Luxottica
Safilo lost the small but high-profile Stella McCartney license to Luxottica, raising some concern that the group could also lose the crucial Gucci brand to its arch-rival. Luxottica signed a long-term exclusive license deal to design, produce and sell Stella McCartney sunglasses worldwide from Jan. 1, 2009. The deal ...
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Essilor Acquires Galileo In Italy And Empire Optical In Usa
Essilor is pursuing its external growth strategy in Italy with the acquisition of Galileo, an important player in the Italian market. The company sells only in Italy a large variety of prescription and stock lenses under its own brand, which is widely recognized among Italian consumers. Galileo operates a prescription ...
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Essilor's Growth Softens To More Normal Levels
Essilor reported a 3.6 percent increase in revenues to €762.2 million for the first quarter ended March 31, but on a comparable basis, assuming no acquisitions and no changes in exchange rates, the growth would have been 6.2 percent. That's down from recent growth rates of more than 8 percent ...
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Zeiss Appoints A Coo
As already indicated in the last issue of EWI, Carl Zeiss Vision International has added the new executive position of chief operations officer, appointing Raymund Heinen to fill it. Heinen, 49, has previously worked for the automotive component makers Bosch, LuK and Hella, most recently as Hella's president and chief ...
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Novartis Gets 77% Of Alcon
Novartis, the parent company of CIBA Vision, is to acquire a 77 percent stake in Alcon from Nestlé in a two-stage deal for a total of around $39 billion. In the second half of this year, Novartis plans to buy an initial stake of 25 percent in Alcon for around ...
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Alcon Reports Double-digit Growth
The Swiss maker of pharmaceuticals, surgical products and products to treat eye disorders, which is being taken over by Novartis, has reported global sales of $1,536.4 million for the first quarter, up by 16.2 percent over last year. Excluding foreign currency effects, this was an increase of 9.4 percent. Alcon ...
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An In-depth Look At Soft Contact Lenses In Europe
The total value of the soft contact lens market in 18 major European countries reached €1,151 million in 2007, a 7.4 percent increase from the previous year. All markets showed growth with the exception of Greece, which went down by 1.39 percent. Russia grew by an impressive 50.8 percent. ...
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Look Unveils Magnesium Eyewear
Look Occhiali is launching a new corporate image around the name of Augusto Valentini, an Italian designer whom the firm has taken on its payroll, turning the name into a form of trademark identified with the notion of technical and material innovation. The Italian company will launch its first collections ...
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HIGHMARK'S VISION COMPANIES PERFORM The vision subsidiaries of Highmark...
HIGHMARK'S VISION COMPANIES PERFORM The vision subsidiaries of Highmark brought in record numbers for the year ended Dec. 31, 2007. Together, Davis Vision, Viva International, the Eye Care Centers of America (ECCA) and Empire Vision had revenues of more than $1 billion for the first time last year. Net ...
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A Redesign For New York Fair
International Vision Expo East is redesigning its floor plan at New York's Jacob Javits Convention Center for March 2009. After approving a series of changes, the fair will be drawing on New York's reputation as a leading fashion capital with six major aisles being named after Manhattan's glamorous avenues and ...
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Italian Exports Up 11.6% In 2007, Domestic Market Sluggish
In the full 12 months of 2007 Italian eyewear exports confirmed the growth trend of the previous months, according to ANFAO, the Italian optical industry association. The year ended with export sales up by 11.6 percent to over €2,315 million, compared with a mere 2 percent increase for the overall ...
