Latest Headlines – Page 184
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Afflelou's Same-store Sales Rise By 4.4%
The total turnover of the Alain Affelou's network of company-owned and franchised stores grew by 7.6 percent to €134.9 million in the 1st quarter ended July 31. Sales under the Alain Afflelou banner grew by 8.9 percent to €129.8 million, with increases of 8.4 percent in France, 10.7 percent in ...
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Essilor Reaches A 17.8% Ebit Margin
In the longer term, Essilor International is still aiming for a range of 16-17 percent in its operating margin. However, for the 1st half ended last June 30, the world's leading supplier of ophthalmic lenses has reported a Hoya-like operating margin of 17.8 percent, up sharply from the 16.0 percent ...
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Carl Zeiss Vision Restructures
The new German-based group born out of the merger of Carl Zeiss' ophthalmic operations and SOLA International is closing down some expensive production lines in Germany and France. At the same, following the policy of the former SOLA and like its competitors, Carl Zeiss Vision is buying up another laboratory ...
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Marcolin's Turnover And Margins Slide
Marcolin's sales results for the 1st half of 2005 show that turnover and margins have begun the downward slide triggered by the loss of the Dolce & Gabbana collections, which went to Luxottica at the end of last year, a year before Marcolin's contract was going to come to an ...
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Results Decline At De Rigo
De Rigo has reported an 18.7 percent drop in net income to €10.0 million for the first six months of 2005, representing 3.7 percent of sales as compared to 4.5 percent in the same period a year ago, but its net financial position improved to €14.3 million from the level ...
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Oakley Appoints A New Ceo
Scott Olivet will leave his current post as Nike's vice president of subsidiaries and new business development to become CEO and a director at Oakley as of Oct. 10. Olivet oversaw Nike's acquisitions of the Converse, Hurley and Starter brands after he began to work for the athletics giant in ...
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Safilo Stops Supplying Aspex' Franchises
Safilo and Aspex, the Canadian company renowned for its sun clips, are involved in a tug-of-war. At the end of August Aspex acquired a chain of 58 franchised optical stores in Canada, F. Farhat, of which Safilo was one of the main suppliers. Shortly after the deal was signed, Safilo ...
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COOPERVISION STEPS UP PRODUCTION CooperVision (CVI), which took over...
COOPERVISION STEPS UP PRODUCTION CooperVision (CVI), which took over Ocular Sciences (OC) last Jan. 6, is adding five new production lines between the end of this year and 2006 to generate up to $250 million in additional annual sales of contact lenses. The main goal is to respond to ...
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Visual Global Signs Up Another Spanish Designer
An eyewear license for a Spanish fashion designer, Jesus del Pozzo, was recently signed by Visual Global, a young Spanish eyewear company, until 2009. The collection will be launched on the market in January 2006, and some of the styles will be presented at the SILMO fair in Paris later ...
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Signature Continues Turnaround, Stops Licensing Eddie Bauer
In its 3rd quarter ended July 31, Signature Eyewear saw its net income jump by 84.3 percent to $846,090, backed by a 2.1 percent rise in sales to $6.28 million. This puts Signature's sales for nine months at $19.1 million, up 5.2 percent, with a net income of $1.32 million ...
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Gross Margins Fall At Arts Optical
For the six months ended June 30, the Chinese company's revenues rose by 13.4 percent to HK$375.6 million (€40.3m-$48.4m), but net earnings dipped by 5.1 percent to HK$48.9 million (€5.2m-$6.3m). Gross margins dropped by five full percentage points, down to 29.2 percent, for several reasons: an increased proportion of sunglasses ...
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New Eu Directive Combats Fakes, And Italy Imposes Heavy Fines On End Users
Asian competition in the fashion industry has forced European authorities to draw up stricter rules and impose more severe punishments in order to fight counterfeiters. The European Union has adopted a new directive to harmonize legislation on the defense of intellectual property rights and to reinforce European cooperation against offenders, ...
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Uk Lens Market Overtakes The German One, But The Industry Fears Government Changes
Sales of optical lenses were higher in the UK than any other European country in 2004, according to Strategy with Vision. Some 29.2 million lenses were sold in the United Kingdom compared with 28.7 million in Germany and 25.5 million in France. Strategy with Vision, a British consultancy led by ...
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A Comparison Between The U.S. And European Sunglass Markets
In terms of the pairage sold, the European sunglass markets follows close on the heels of the US market. A study presented by the European Sunglass Association (ESA) at its annual convention in the Italian resort of Camogli last June shows US consumption to have been only very slightly higher, ...
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Fielmann Picks Up Speed Again
Fielmann's net profit increased by 50.6 percent to €16,033,000 for the 2nd quarter ended June 30 as sales rose by 29.0 percent to €189.7 million for the period, pushing the share price up to new highs. From a level of €51-52 at the beginning of January, the share price has ...
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German Recovery And Acquisitions Help Drive Essilor To New Highs
Profit figures for the first six months of this year have not yet been released, but they are expected to have been pretty good, pushing up the operating margin (Ebit) of the group over the 18 percent level thanks to higher than expected sales. In fact, Essilor's management is beginning ...
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De Rigo Goes Private
The Italian holding company of the De Rigo brothers, which owns 77.2 percent of the eponymous company, has launched a tender offer to take De Rigo off from the New York stock exchange. Company officials say the cost of being listed in the USA outweigh the related benefits, adding that ...
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Luxottica Is Looking At Other Markets
In addition to the recently reported acquisition of the largest optical retail chain in Beijing, Xueliang Optical, Luxottica has set up its own sales subsidiary in Russia and it will complete over the next few months the establishment of a wholesale operation in China. Looking to the West, it has ...
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The Dissolution Of Moulin Begins
Ferrier Hodgson, the company's provisional liquidator, has started the process of tearing apart Moulin Global Eyecare Holdings, selling off HK$80.0 million (€8.4m-$10.3m) worth of assets in China to repay some of the firm's debts, but Moulin's creditor banks have asked for a three-month extension of the liquidation process as negotiations ...
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Safilo Has Improved Sharply
The world's second-largest producer of eyewear, which is reportedly still eager to go back to the stock exchange, has announced a consolidated net income of €24,032,000 for the first six months of this year, up sharply from €4,019,000 in the 1st half of 2004. Sales grew by 8.9 percent to ...
