Latest Headlines – Page 168
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Amo Makes Another Product Recall, While B&L Reports Improved Results
While confirming its interest in the acquisition of Bausch & Lomb, Advanced Medical Optics (AMO) is making another product recall, this time for its Complete MoisturePlus solution for contact lenses. This latest recall is not linked with one that took place last summer, and which stemmed from production problems in ...
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Maui Jim Looks To Expand In Europe And The Middle East
After reaching a point of stability in the USA, Maui Jim is appointing more directly-employed sales representatives to expand its presence in Europe. The company started selling in Sweden last January, and has recently recruited a sales team for Portugal. A couple of months ago the company appointed some representatives ...
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Quiksilver Attacks The Optical Circuit More Directly
The surf style brand is selling more than 500,000 units in the European Union through its Omar Reef subsidiary in France, which also sells surf and snowboard accessories such as wetsuits, helmets and watches through the same sales force, targeting mainly the surf and sports specialists. However Omar Reef wants ...
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Pro Design Has Come A Long Way Since Its Problems Eight Years Ago
Pro Design reported turnover growth of 22 percent to the equivalent of €16 million for 2006, and sales grew by a further 35 percent in the 1st quarter of this year. The rise in turnover is being fueled by new product developments and new collections, the company says. The profit ...
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Thai Optical Improves Results
After meeting its financial targets for 2006, the Thai Optical Group is ramping up its production of free-form lenses and looking at a stronger role on the Chinese market, where it already has a distributor. It is considering partnerships with companies that would help develop its presence on the higher ...
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Esa Wants Better Sun Protection For The European Consumer
At the European Sunglass Association's (ESA) annual conference, which took place near Athens on June 1 and 2, one major emphasis was the need to educate Europeans on protecting their eyes from the harmful blue and ultra-violet rays of the sun, as an estimated 36 percent of Europeans are not ...
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Bausch & Lomb Is On The Verge Of Merger With Equity Firm But Amo Expresses Interest In Its Acquisition
Advanced Medical Optics (AMO) announced yesterday that it was interested in making a bid for Bausch & Lomb, adding that it was a logical move ?given the highly complementary nature? of the two businesses. In addition to its own eye care products, AMO sells medical devices for laser eye surgery, ...
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Cooper Opens New European Head Office, Gives Another Look At The Future
CooperVision (CVI) has invested £15 million (€22.1m-$29.6m) in a new headquarters and distribution facility located in Hampshire, the UK. The building, which has 150,000 square feet of space, will handle the administration and the logistics for more than 500 million lenses next year, with an adjoining building that will handle ...
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The Optical Market Reached 20 Billion Euros In The European Union In 2006
The optical market of the European Union totaled €20 billion in retail sales last year, with Germany as the biggest national market, representing one-fifth of revenues, according to a Gfk Marketing Services survey that comprises contact lenses and solutions, prescription lenses, frames and sunglasses. Germany reached sales of more than ...
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Salmoiraghi's Sales Rise By 22%
Salmoiraghi & Viganò, the Italian eyewear retailing group controlled by Dino Tabacchi, increased first-half sales by 22.1 percent to €70 million thanks to one more takeover, to additional store openings and to strong marketing, punctuated by an advertising campaign on television. Further acquisitions are likely. In the six months ...
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A Spanish Buyng Group Wants To Enter The German Market
A major Spanish buying group, Central de Compras Opticas (CECOP), is negotiating to enter the German market on the strength of its special business model. Its contracts with suppliers are only valid for 12 months. Its retail members are not obliged to respect any particular conditions, but if they do, ...
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New Franchising Concept For Italy
NAU is a new Italian company, established in 2005 by former managers of Randazzo and Salmoiraghi & Vigano, that is viewed as the first attempt to introduce in Italy a pure franchising formula that has already been widely adopted in other European countries. The company broke more or less even ...
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Safilo Signs With Balenciaga And Plans Many More Stores
Safilo plans a dramatic acceleration of its retail business with the expansion of its up-market sunglass chain Solstice and the possible roll-out of a new retail banner. The group has earmarked investment of about €20 million to increase its retail network to about 200 doors by the end of the ...
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Marcolin Turns Around In The Quarter, Rectifies Terms Of Cebe's Sale
Marcolin swung into profit in the first quarter of this year thanks to improved efficiencies after two years of reorganization and on the back of strong sales. Revenues rose by 31.4 percent to €53.7 million thanks to progress for all the main lines of the company's portfolio and the recently ...
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Rodenstock Raises Sales And Margins, Looks To Asia
While reporting a 7.7 percent sales increase to €371.7 million for 2006, followed by a 10.4 percent sales increase in the 1st quarter of 2007 to €101.5 million, Rodenstock says it remains on track to more than double its turnover objective of €750 million by 2010. Acquisitions will certainly be ...
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Kenmark Is Taken Over By Its Employees
The Kenmark Group has announced that it is now 100 percent owned by its employees, which is a unique case in the optical industry. Kenmark has about 100 employees at its head office and about 80 more working in the field as sales representatives in the USA. They previously owned ...
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Essilor Buys Majority Stakes In Two Interesting Companies
While Essilor has been looking at the possible acquisition of a big contact lens company such as CIBA Vision or CooperVision, it has not acted upon it for a variety of reasons. Meanwhile, the big French group has consolidated a small related business in the USA by acquiring a majority ...
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Hoya Expands Capacities
Hoya Vision Care is making or planning to make significant new investments in Asia and elsewhere to support its growing business worldwide. It is opening a second ?super lab? in Thailand with a capacity of 400,000 lenses per month, mainly intended for the U.S. and European markets. The first one ...
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Mido Attracts 46,000 Visitors
The 37th edition of MIDO closed in Milan on May 7 on a buoyant note. Visitor numbers were up by 9 percent to 46,000, and 60 percent of them came from outside Italy. After two years of stagnation, the number of Italian visitors was up by 17.9 percent while foreign ...
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New Campaign Brings Boom In Progressive Lenses In Italy
Italy's 2007 campaign to promote progressive lenses was in full swing during MIDO. Meanwhile, the ?vision communication consortium? promoted by ANFAO, the Italian industry association for the eyewear sector, is analyzing the striking results achieved by last year's campaign. It was a massive media operation designed to persuade the public ...
