Latest Headlines – Page 166
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Indo Launches Lenses For Specific Sports
Indo has launched three new progressive free-form lens designs under its LifeMade program that can be used specifically for playing golf, for trekking, and for shooting and hunting. The LifeMade Golf lenses take into account the need for well-focused vision from different ranges. Good distance vision is necessary for following ...
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Vittorio Tabacchi Again Heads Up The Italian Eyewear Industry Association...
VITTORIO TABACCHI AGAIN HEADS UP THE ITALIAN EYEWEAR INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION Vittorio Tabacchi, chairman of Safilo Group and knight of labor, was elected as the new president of the Italian eyewear industry association, ANFAO, and of the MIDO fair organized by it at the recent annual general meeting of the ...
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Italy's Eyewear Exports Grow By 17.3% In Half-year
Total Italian eyewear exports continued to grow at a relatively steady pace in the first half of 2007, compared with the same period last year, but what is new is an acceleration in the segment of prescription frames to a double-digit rate, although it did not match the continued strong ...
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Shareholders Approve The Sale Of B&L To Warburg Pincus
Bausch & Lomb's stockholders have voted to approve the acquisition of the company by affiliates of Warburg Pincus, an American equity investment firm, for $3.67 billion and its pull-out from the stock exchange. The vote was backed by two-thirds of B & L's shareholders. The closing of the deal, which ...
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The U.S. Congress Votes Legislation To Protect Kids' Eyesight
The U.S. House of Representatives passed on Oct. 15 the ?Vision Care for Kids Act of 2007,? with support from both parties. Strongly lobbied by the Vision Council of America and various other non-governmental organizations in the USA, the bill now goes to the U.S. Senate to become law. ...
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Shareholders Want Spy To Be Part Of A Larger Group
Thesis Capital Management, one of the shareholders of Orange 21, has written to the management of the parent company of Spy Optic to explore the sale of the company and then let shareholders decide if the current public market price would offer better returns. The letter, which was written after ...
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Hal's Stores Score 6.3% Better On A Comparable Basis
The sales of the optical retail companies controlled by HAL Holding rose to €917 million in the first half of this year, compared with €824 million for the same period of 2006, with same-store sales up by 6.3 percent. They generated an operating profit (EBIT) of €140 million for the ...
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Fielmann Wants To Play A Bigger Role In Hearing Aids
Germany's biggest optical retailer is looking for the acquisition of hearing aid stores and for the establishment of hearing aid counters in its larger stores, in order to raise its revenues in this segment from less than €10 million to anywhere from €50 to €150 million in the foreseeable future. ...
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Guildinvest Experiments With A New Low-cost Store Concept
Guildinvest, France's largest optical retail group, launched last month Lun's Eyewear, an all-new low-cost concept for optical stores. It uses a centralized model inspired by retail structures in the apparel trade, where opticians will own the store but not the inventory. All the styles are private label. Lun's, the ...
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Alain Afflelou Earns Less
Alain Afflelou had net profit of €22.9 million for its continuing operations in the 2007 financial year, ended Apr. 30, down 25.2 percent from the previous year. The gross profit rose by 15.6 percent for the year, largely thanks to an increase in franchising fees. Operating income before amortization and ...
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Otticaspesi Chain Expands
The Italian optical retail chain has inaugurated its 5th sales outlet in the Milan region. It is located inside Milan's Malpensa Airport and is aimed more specifically at the airport staff than at passengers. The new store is the chain's first outlet almost exclusively devoted to vision, a new trend ...
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L'amy Gets European License For Levi's
Levi Strauss has selected Lunettes Grasset Associés., a subsidiary of the French L'Amy group, as the European eyewear licensee for this leading American brand of jeans. A first line of about 30 styles of Levi's sunglasses and frames in acetate, titanium and other metals will be presented at the SILMO ...
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Foster Grant Turns Around Ahead Of Ipo
FosterGrant's parent company, FGX International Holdings, which filed for an initial public offering on July 27, reported a net profit of $3,417,000 for the first six months of its financial year ended on June 30. This compared to a loss of $4,269,000 in the same period last year. Total sales ...
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Marcolin Closes First Half In The Red Due To Cebe
The group's total revenues grew by 25.7 percent to €104.0 million in the first half ended June 30, driven by the licensed Tom Ford, Montblanc and Roberto Cavalli eyewear lines, in spite of a 20.2 percent decrease in the 2nd quarter to €50.3 million. At constant currency rates the first-half ...
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Sover Takes Over The Distribution In Germany, France And Spain
Sover closed its 2006-07 financial year on June 30 with sales of €26.5 million, up 30 percent over the previous year, and gross operating profit before amortization and depreciation (EBITDA) of €4 million. Exports grew by 29 percent, and domestic sales by 34 percent. Much of the turnover comes ...
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Essilor Reaches Record Margins
The operating margin (EBIT) of Essilor International reached an all-time high of 18.1 percent for the first half of 2007, compared with a margin of 17.8 percent in the year-ago period, and the management predicts that it will remain above 18 percent for the balance of this year. Some analysts ...
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Improving B&L Agrees To Warburg Pincus' Buyout
The board of directors of Bausch & Lomb (B&L), which has reported improved results for the 2nd quarter ended June 30, has unanimously approved proposals for the company's takeover by affiliates of Warburg Pincus for about $4.5 billion, including assumption of $830 million in debt. B&L's shareholders are set to ...
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Sale Of 1-800 Contacts Closes, With A Profit
Stockholders of 1-800 Contacts met on Sept. 6 and approved a proposal to merge with Fenway Partners, a New York-based private equity group, taking the American contact lens company private. Shareholders on record as of Aug. 6 were entitled to vote on the proposal. The acquisition of 1-800 Contacts was ...
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Coopervision Continues To Edge Into Important Single-use Market
In a conference call about the financial results for its 3rd quarter ended July 31, Cooper Companies told investors that its CooperVision (CVI) subsidiary was making progress ? albeit late ? in the growing daily disposable lens market. Noting that it is the only one to offer both a premium ...
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Big Management Changes At Gerber Coburn
Recent shifts in Gerber Coburn, a subsidiary of Gerber Scientific, have seen the appointment of a new company president and of a new European sales manager. Stephen Lovass will take on the role of president at Gerber Coburn, where he has served for over five years, most recently as president ...
