Latest Headlines – Page 207
-
Article
Rodenstock Changes Status
Randolf Rodenstock and his family have put up a large 6-digit amount of equity capital to transform their family-owned company from a KG with personal liability into a GmbH with limited liability. The move follows the divestiture of several non-core operations in the last few years, notably in the machinery ...
-
Article
Improving Hoya Will Move Some More Output Outside Japan
Hoya plans to transfer to its large factory in Thailand the balance of its Japanese production of eyeglass lenses for the mass market, which is relatively small, but it will continue to make high-end products in Japan. The idea is to reduce costs in view of the continued decline in ...
-
Article
Sola Improves Sales And Results
Sola International reported improved results in the 2nd quarter ended Sept. 30 that exceeded analysts' expectations, indicating progress in fulfilling the strategic objectives laid out by its CEO, Jeremy Bishop, a couple of years ago. North American sales made a 7.2 percent jump. Sales in Europe, which represent about 35 ...
-
Article
Vision-ease Gets Iso Certification But Suffers An Operating Loss
Vision-Ease Lens, the optical products division of BMC Industries, reports a negative operating margin of 0.5 percent for the the 3rd quarter ended Sept. 30, as compared to a positive margin of 6.7 percent in the same period a year ago, as the division's sales declined by 24 percent to ...
-
Article
Alain Afflelou Launches "Ephemeral" Contact Lenses At One Euro A Piece
All the 500-odd optical shops owned or franchised by Alain Afflelou in France have started to carry a private label collection of one-day disposable soft contact lenses, manufactured by Optical Sciences with its cost-effective moulded edge technology and retailing for a maximum of only e1 per pair. As shown by ...
-
Article
Ciba Vision Attacks Ocular Sciences, Whose Results Are Improving
Shortly after settling a long-standing patent dispute over its cosmetic lenses with CooperVision (see previous issue), CIBA Vision has now filed a patent infringement suit against Ocular Sciences in a federal court in California in behalf of its Wesley Jessen subsidiary. OC says it will vigorously defend itself against the ...
-
Article
Fedon Recovers And Hopes To End The Year On An Even Keel
After the 22 percent drop in turnover in the first quarter, the outlook looks a little brighter for the world's leading eyewear case producer. By the end of the first half Fedon's sales decline had been reduced to 18 percent, and third quarter sales of e12.74 million signaled a 7 ...
-
Article
The Silmo Fair Was Well Attended
At 37,716, the total number of visitors to the latest session of the SILMO fair marked increases of 6.7 percent from the level of October 2000 and 28.5 percent from that of October 2001, when many buyers decided to stay at home in the aftermath of the tragic Sept. 11 ...
-
Article
Two Major French Buying Groups Put Their Purchasing Power Together
About 2,300 independent optical stores in France, plus a few others in Belgium and Switzerland, will now talk to suppliers with a single voice in an effort to obtain better conditions on their purchases, representing the largest opticians' group of the kind in Europe. Out of all these stores, 1,102 ...
-
Article
Grandvision's Sales Growth Accelerated To 7.5% In The Third Quarter
The only major problem market for the French optical retailing group is Italy, where it has decided to slow down its expansion following disappointing results again in the 3rd quarter. GrandVision has opened 4 GrandOptical stores in Italy so far this year, and transformed another one, taking the total count ...
-
Article
Italy's Optical Retail Chains Join Forces
A new association has been founded by some of Italy's major optical retail chains in order to defend the industry's interests in negotiations with national and international institutions, and to guarantee the quality of goods and services provided to the consumer. Called Andom, a name which means ?national association for ...
-
Article
Rhunke Switched To The Synoptik Banner Today, Targeting Third Place In Germany
All the 52 stores of the Rhunke chain in Germany, the 106-year-old former family-owned firm which eventually grew into Europe's largest optical retail chain before World War Two, were renamed as Synoptik today. Like the former Optik Express stores bought by Synoptik in Poland two and a half years ago, ...
-
Article
French Production Goes Up Again
French manufacturers of lenses and frames had a very good second quarter this year, according to their national trade association, GIFO. After a 3 percent rise in the 1st quarter, as compared to the same period last year, their sales growth accelerated to a 5.5 percent increase in the 2nd ...
-
Article
Italian Eyewear Exporters Suffer A Slump In The Usa, But Grow In Europe
Italy's eyewear exports were decidedly mixed in the 1st half of 2002. They fell drastically in the USA but fared well in Europe and particularly well in France. The overall drop in value, down 0.9 percent as compared to the first 6 months of 2001, was mainly due to the ...
-
Article
Moulin's Controlling Stake In Metzler International May Evolve
Moulin International may further raise its 54.16 percent controlling stake in Metzler International to help the German-based company consolidate its international distribution network and to offset its recent losses, following the partial integration of Filos and other operations. In any case, Metzler executives indicate that its future equity structure is ...
-
Article
Oakley Downplays The Competition From The Fashion Brands
Certain large rimless styles of fashion sunglasses that have become popular in Southern Europe apparently affected Oakley's sales in Europe, which were below expectations in 3rd quarter, but the company thinks the fad will be over next year. Oakley is reacting in part by accelerating new product development, raising advertising ...
-
Article
Bushnell Opens An Italian Sales Office
Bushnell Performance Optics, the US company that bought Bollé, Serengeti and Tasco in the last few years, is taking greater control over the distribution in Europe by opening its Italian sales subsidiary for all its 5 product lines next January, while striving for a greater presence in Germany where it's ...
-
Article
Marchon Gets The Coach License
Coach, a leading US marketer of handbags and other luxury leathergoods, has awarded its eyewear license to Marchon, covering the manufacture and distribution worldwide of sun and ophthalmic models. The sunwear models will initially be offered in Coach stores. Marchon plans to sell it also to selected sunglass retailers in ...
-
Article
Cesare Paciotti Signs Up Eyevit, Replacing Ic Optics
Cesare Paciotti, a well-known Italian shoe designer, has not renewed its eyewear licensing agreement with IcOptics, which continues to generate about 80 percent of its sales from the eyewear line of its major shareholder, Gianni Versace. Paciotti has now opted for a much smaller company, located in the center of ...
-
Article
De Rigo Will Buy Back Up To 10% Of Equity
De Rigo is preparing to buy a maximum of 4,400,000 of its own shares back from the New York Stock Exchange. The board of directors met last Monday to draw up the terms of a resolution that will be put to a shareholders' meeting to be held on Nov. 22 ...
