Latest Headlines – Page 175
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Luxottica Upgrades Forecast After Another Strong Quarter
The 2nd quarter ended June 30 was as good as the first one. For the full 1st half of 2006, Luxottica achieved net income of €224.5 million, 34.1 percent better than in the same period a year ago, on 17.1 percent higher net sales of €2,556.8 million. Revenues were up ...
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Oakley Suffers A Drop In Profitability
A new partnership with Luxottica is guaranteed to last through Dec. 31, 2008, following Oakley's signing of an agreement with the optics giant, retroactive to last Jan. 1, but the most important terms could not be determined. Luxottica will continue to sell its products into Oakley's retail channels, which now ...
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De Rigo Enjoys Big Growth, Reinforces Partnership With Indo
To further promote sales of its lines in Spain, where it owns a big optical retail chain, General Optica, the Italian company has signed a joint venture agreement with INDO, which has been allowed to acquire a 40 percent stake in the share capital of Vogart Line, De Rigo's sales ...
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Essilor Grows Strongly, Annexing More Labs In The Usa
Softness in all the major Western European markets, where its sales grew by only 1-2 percent in the period, didn't prevent Essilor International from recording a strong 8.7 percent sales increase on an organic basis during the 1st half of 2006 - much better than the industry leader's longterm goal ...
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Hoya Achieves 18.5% Margin In Vision Care
Sales of vision care products grew by 12.4 percent to 27.93 billion yen (€189m-$242m) at Hoya Corp. for the 1st quarter ended June 30, with a 20.4 percent increase outside Japan. Sales in the domestic market were off by 1.6 percent and came to represent only 31.3 percent of vision ...
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Zeiss Buys A Swedish Firm, Reduces Layoffs
On the strength of a 10 percent increase in orders, Carl Zeiss Vision has decided to lay off only 220 employees at its German headquarters in Aalen, instead of the originally threatened 400, reducing the total staff at the site to about 1,200 persons. This is part of an agreement ...
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Bausch & Lomb Slashes Guidance
The battered American company indicated to investors yesterday that it stands to make a pre-tax profit of only $27-80 million for this year on sales of $2.33-2.4 billion, growing to a $220-270 million profit in 2007 on sales of $2.5-2.625 billion. Its U.S. operations will show a loss in 2006. ...
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Senator Introduces Bill For Childrens' Vision Care In The Usa
Senator Christopher Bond of Montana has introduced a bill that would provide federal funding to the states to help diagnose and correct eyesight problems at an early age, before children enter kindergarten or school. The terms of the new Senate legislation are still very broad and the precise budget will ...
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Hans Anders Moves Into France
After moving into Belgium, where it already has 40 shops that are operating relatively well, Holland's leading discount optical retailer has decided to move into the French market, where it has little or no competition in the low-priced segment aside from a recent new entrant, the Leclerc chain of hypermarkets. ...
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Sunglass Hut Moves Into The Middle East, Expands In China
Luxottica has signed a 5-year franchising deal for Sunglass Hut with Azal Group, a company with some 30 other retail operations in the Middle East in Europe. A total of 50 Sunglass Hut stores will be opened in the Middle East over the next two years. They will be housed ...
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Luxottica Is Doing Better Than Expected
Luxottica indicates that it will probably upgrade its previous projections for this year's financial performance in connection with the announcement next month of its 2nd quarter results, as its operating results were very positive in April and May for both the retail and wholesale sectors. The Milan Bourse reacted ...
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De Rigo Climbs Back Up After Tough Year
De Rigo, which is no longer trading on the stock exchange, is making new retail investments in the UK, Spain and Portugal, while negotiating new licensing deals after a transition year in which its results deteriorated. The loss of the Fendi brand to Marchon and the end of a big ...
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Boots Opticians Is Doing Better, Too
British consumers spent less on fashion eyewear last year, and the deregulation of contact lenses during the year added to a significant price deflation in the country's eyewear market, says Boots plc, adding that the conditions of this highly competitive market are unlikely to improve in the foreseeable future. ...
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Oakley Is Ready For Turnaround In Europe As It Becomes The Second Largest Eyewear Retailer In The Usa
Seen as a ?problem child? in the past, Oakley is implementing several measures aimed at growing its presence at retail in Europe. Focusing on independent opticians in each country, the company wants to increase by 15 percent the number of doors in which its products are sold. Oakley has begun ...
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Osa Goes International Seriously
Targeting mainly customers who like to blend luxury with a young rock and roll inspiration, Optical Shop of Aspen, alias OSA International, wants to push its wholesale business on a global basis after selling its famous chain of luxury optical retail shops in the USA to Oakley earlier this year ...
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Zeiss Proceeds With Sola's Integration, Sells A Lab To Specsavers
Carl Zeiss Vision has sold a laboratory in the UK to Specsavers as part of a reorganization of its activities in the UK, where the former Zeiss optical business is being integrated with those of SOLA and American Optical, apparently faster than in some other countries. A new company called ...
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Rodenstock Becomes More Profitable
Before amortization, depreciation and exceptional charges, Rodenstock's operating margin (EBITDA) rose by 18.1 percent in 2005 to equal to 18.9 percent of revenues. The gross margin amounted to 53.1 percent, and the equity/debt ratio stood at 24 percent at year-end. The company attributes the excellent results to an improved ...
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New Product Development And Branding Lie Behind Intercast's Takeover
The recent acquisition of Intercast Europe by PPG Industries, which has been completed, was partly motivated by the desire to integrate technologies and marketing for two state-of-the-art patented lens materials, Trivex and NXT, which use basically the same polyamide-based monomer. Some 60 years ago PPG patented CR-39, which ...
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Thai Optical Group Clarifies Figures
Additional information collected after we last went to press allows to correct some blatant mistakes in the last issue about Thai Optical Group, which went public on the Stock Exchange of Thailand last May 16, with Ayudhaya Securities acting as the underwriter. After an equity increase connected with the public ...
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Menicon Strikes Strategic Alliance With Dutch Company
In line with its global expansion efforts, Menicon, Japan's largest contact lens manufacturer, has appointed Jeanne Bear as general manager of global sales operations and business development. Bear was most recently with SynergEyes as director of marketing, before which she had a 16-year term as vice president of international sales ...
