Latest Headlines – Page 162
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Hal Enters The High-growth Markets
The group continues to enter new emerging markets. After making its first acquisitions in Brazil and Turkey, it is entering Bulgaria and Romania, the two high-growth countries that joined the European Union at the beginning of 2007. In both cases, Hal Holding is making investments in relatively small established chains ...
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Safilo Buys A Mexican And An Australian
Safilo has bought two upmarket eyewear retail chains in Mexico and Australia for a combined €28 million in an effort to expand its network by about 100 stores a year through acquisitions and organic growth. The expansion will be financed by the group’s cash flow.The company already owns the 114-store ...
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Specsavers Starts Up In Australia
The increasingly international group from the island of Guernsey has just launched the first two Specsavers retail outlets in Melbourne, Australia, and is planning to roll out another 150 around the country on a franchised basis, like in the Nordic European countries, before the end of the calendar year. No ...
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Safilo Will Significantly Boost
Safilo has decided to adjust its business model by boosting its retail business, which is due to represent at least 20 percent of sales in 2012 compared with 6 percent last year, thus reducing the relative importance of the wholesale segment. At the same time, Safilo wants to decrease its ...
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Safilo’S 2007 Results
While outlining its new 5-year business plan, Safilo released preliminary results showing improved profit margins and a 6.1 percent sales increase to €1.190 billion in 2007, with most of the growth recorded in the retail sector. The gross profit rose increased by only 5.2 percent to €698 million, but operating ...
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Fielmann Raises Profits By 27%
The pre-tax profit of the leading German optical retailer grew by 27 percent to €136 million in 2007, according to preliminary figures. The result includes exceptional net gains of around €10 million which relate, among other things, to a decision by the German Social Court that settles the claims of ...
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Luxottica Issues Profit Warnings
Luxottica’s stock price dropped by about 10 percent at the beginning of this month, immediately after the company issued a profit warning on its 2007 results and announced a worse-than-expected forecast for 2008.Addressing analysts at in Investors’ Day organized at Oakley’s headquarters in California ahead of the release of final ...
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Oakley Sees Double-digit
Oakley, the American sporting goods company bought last November by Luxottica, expects to close 2008 with double-digit growth in U.S. and international sales. Double-digit growth is expected in all the segments of Oakley’s business including its secondary brands, men’s and women’s products, wholesale and retail operations, and apparel, footwear and ...
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Luxottica Redesigns Its Retail Structure
After reviewing its license agreements to manage the optical businesses of three large American retailers, inherited through its acquisition of the former Cole National, Luxottica has decided to drop the license with BJ’s stores and to focus on Target and Sears.Luxottica’s chief executive, Andrea Guerra, acknowledged that Sears has struggled ...
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Essilor Names Roy As European Director,
It is now official. The largest lens manufacturer in the world has formally appointed Bertrand Roy as the new manager for its European division. Most recently, this veteran of the group acted as international director of strategic marketing for two years, after leading Essilor France for six years. Endowed with ...
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Musical Chairs At Rodenstock And Zeiss
Giancarlo Galli, chief executive officer of Rodenstock, has left the company and will be replaced on an interim basis by Peter Littmann. Galli, a Swiss executive, was said to have been unhappy with decisions made about growth strategies at the German company following its acquisition by Bridgepoint in March 2007. ...
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Hoya Predicts Lower Overall Income
The vision care segment remains one of the healthiest ones within Hoya Corp., but the big Japanese group is anticipating drops of 5.7 percent in operating income and 4.1 percent in net income because of the difficult economic situation in Japan and in some other markets and an expected decrease ...
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Kodak Continues To Work With
The international royalty-based license agreement between Signet Armorlite (SA) and Eastman Kodak has been renewed up until 2014. SA manufactures several progressive lenses under the Kodak brand, such as Kodak Precise lens and the new Kodak Unique lens, and two anti-reflective coatings, Kodak Clear lens coating and the new Kodak ...
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Ocuco Acquires A French Software Firm
Earlier this month, this fast-growing Irish company changed its name to Ocuco and acquired a French software provider in order to facilitate the expansion of its business in Europe. Formerly called OcucoRelcon, the company had bought up four other similar companies over the past two years in the UK and ...
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Mido Considers An Event In Rome
MIDO is looking at the possibility of a putting on a new event in Rome in the first week of September. The organizers of the Milan fair insist that it would not be a new trade fair, but a “Business Forum” during which manufacturers and buyers would meet to look ...
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The State Of Eye Health In The Eu
A recent health survey conducted throughout the European Union shows that Spaniards have the least concern for their visual welfare, while Belgian and Luxemburg nationals seem to care the most. Only 28 percent of the Spaniards polled go for an annual eye check-up, which is a smacking 10 percentage points ...
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Del Vecchio Is Accused Of Tax Avoidance
Leonardo Del Vecchio, chairman of Luxottica, has been found guilty of tax avoidance by a court in Belluno, the capital of eyewear manufacturing in Italy. He is accused of having established a company in Germany for the sole purpose of avoiding the payment of capital gains taxes and taxes on ...
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New European Safety Project
A new European project for monitoring the distribution of contact lenses will start up on June 1. The aim is to ensure that lenses are sold by professionals, and that when the customer presents a prescription, it be carefully checked and respected by the seller. Such regulations are already implemented ...
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Italian Eyewear Exports Grow By 14.2 %
talian eyewear exports enjoyed strong growth in the first nine months of 2007. According to the figures announced by the Italian eyewear industry association, ANFAO, exports were up by 14.2 percent overall to over €1,720 million. Compared to the 5.4 percent rise for the Italian fashion system as a whole, ...
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Loss-making Amo Predicts A Drop In Lasik
Eye care product recalls over the past year affected results at Advanced Medical Optics, which posted net losses both in its 4th quarter and full fiscal year despite good results in its laser division. The company will start to implement cost-cutting measures, essentially through a 4 percent reduction in its ...
