Latest Headlines – Page 198
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Sales Double At Fielmann
Many of the 1,700 apprentices at Fielmann's training centers are grinding lenses these days in order to cope with an avalanche of customers' requests at the chain's 455 stores in Germany. For the first time in company's history, business has stayed 100 percent above year-ago levels throughout the month of ...
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Lissac And Optic 2000 Become Partners
Optic 2000, the large French buying group, has signed an agreement in principle to cooperate in purchasing and marketing with the Frères Lissac optical retail chain and to develop the present network of 30 Lissac franchised stores throughout France, with the goal of expanding it to 300 doors in 5 ...
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Inspecs Buys 20 Stores In The Usa, Licenses Speedo And Cat
Following to a small extent the vertical integration policies of Luxottica or De Rigo, this fast-growing British supplier of ophthalmic frames has bought 20 of the 300 US stores previously run by the bankrupt Vista Optical chain in Arizona, Colorado, Washington state, Oregon and Alaska. Inspecs is renaming these outlets ...
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Safilo Shifts Metal Frame Production From Austria To Italy
The Traun factory of Carrera Optyl, bought by Safilo in 1997, will be closed gradually between January and May, 1994, leading to the layoff of all its 473 workers, but Safilo has agreed to spend a total of €8.65 million, three times more than the amount required under Austrian law, ...
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Moulin Raises Money To Make Some More Acquisitions
In a private placement due to be completed on Dec. 8, Moulin International is selling 54 million new shares to at least 6 independent investment firms to raise net proceeds of HK$295 million (€31.5m?US$38.0m). Moulin intends to use HK$236 million to expand its business in the USA, possibly through mergers ...
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Logo Improves Results Under New Ownership
Logo's long-time CEO, Dominique Alba, anticipates a 40 percent increase in the company's operating profit this year, resulting in an Ebit margin of about 7 percent, and the debt has been reduced to only €1.5 million. Sales should increase by 4 percent to €49 million, with exports representing about 60 ...
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Brands Are Not So Important For European Sunglass Wearers
A survey carried out by the European Sunglass Association (ESA) on a sample of 4,988 people in France, Germany, the UK, Spain and Italy found that European consumers are not particularly sensitive to the prestige of well-known sunglass brands. In the latest pan-European survey, only 47 percent of those interviewed ...
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Luxottica's Sales Begin To Rise Again
After a drop of 5.9 percent in the previous two quarters, due mainly to the end of its licensing contract with Giorgio Armani, sales in local currencies rose by 3.4 percent for the Luxottica group in the 3rd quarter. However, the strong euro led the group to post a 6.3 ...
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Safilo Says It's Doing Well With Armani
The transfer of the Giorgio Armani and Emporio Armani licenses from Leonardo Del Vecchio's group to Vittorio Tabacchi's camp was not entirely painless. In the first half of the year Luxottica got rid of its inventories of Armani eyewear at ex factory prices. The volumes were such that they ended ...
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De Rigo Performs Better At Retail Than At Wholesale
The group's British optical retail chain, Dollond & Aitchison, performed better than the market in the 9 months ended Sept. 30, raising its sales by 7.1 percent in pounds sterling, with a 7.3 percent increase on a comparable store basis, although its franchised stores did only 1.6 percent better. These ...
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Sales Are Off By 7.8% At Boots Opticians
Boots Opticians' sales fell by 7.8 percent to £100.4 million (e144.7m-$169.4m) in the 6 months ended Sept. 30, reflecting the highly competitive conditions in the UK eyewear market. Furthermore, the group's emergent LASIK operations continued to suffer from some adverse publicity about the perceived health risks in laser eye surgery ...
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Marcolin Gets The Timberland License But Its Profits Fall Below Zero
With revenues projected at over €50 million for the duration of the renewable 4-year contract, the acquisition of the Timberland license, which was revealed during last month's SILMO fair in Paris, should compensate for the loss of the Fornarina license, which expires this year. The strong Timberland brand was previously ...
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Airess Files For Bankruptcy Protection
The French company says 6 out of its 8 banks had accepted a financial solution that would have involved the cancellation of some of its debt and the rescheduling of the balance as a condition for an equity increase that would have been financed by a wealthy individual in the ...
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Allison Is Likely To Get Cerruti
Negotiations are underway between Allison and Cerruti, an Italian fashion house which has an eyewear license with Rodenstock that will not be renewed after it expires next year following the transfer of most of its frame licenses to Moulin International (see the last issue of EWI). No agreement has been ...
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Indo's Net Profits Rise Sharply
The integrated Spanish group raised its pre-tax profit sharply to €2,347,000 in the first 9 months of this year from €935,000 in the same period of 2002, thanks to better management and to the non-recurrence of certain extraordinary charges. INDO's revenues rose by 2.3 percent to €91.4 million, and the ...
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Oakley Will Introduce New Styles To Counter A Drop In Sunglass Sales
Sales of Oakley apparel have grown by about 50 percent in Europe so far this year, representing about 10 percent of its total sales in the region, and the brand's footwear range is also going strong. This spurt helped to compensate for very weak sales of sunglasses in Southern ...
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Mazucchelli Buys Into Comotec
The two companies supply the same frame manufacturers worldwide, and together they generate annual revenues of around €95 million. An agreement has been signed between these two major European suppliers of semi-finished materials, resulting in manufacturing and sales synergies for their respective plastic and metal products. Mazzucchelli, an ...
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Sola Proposes A Refinancing Package As Results Continue To Improve
After reporting improving results for some time, SOLA International is now proposing a recapitalization that would allow the company to redeem 35 percent of its outstanding 11 percent senior notes, which are due in March of 2008, reducing interest charges by $17-19 million a year and adding flexibility to the ...
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Essilor Benefits From The Apparent Market Recovery In The Usa And Japan
A 3.7 percent year-on-year uptick in the 3rd quarter, in contrast with growth of 2.3 percent in the 1st half, allowed Essilor International to book a 2.8 sales increase for the first 9 months of this year in terms of continuing operations and constant currencies. While acquisitions added 2.1 percentage ...
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Hoya's Quarterly Eye Care Sales Grow By 5.0%
At 5,812, the number of employees in Hoya's vision care division, represented essentially by its ophthalmic lenses, marked a decline of 567 persons from one year ago by the end of the 1st half of its financial year last Sept. 30. The Japanese group says it will continue to try ...
