Latest Headlines – Page 212
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Niedermeyer Augenoptik, an Austrian discount-oriented chain of 45 relatively small...
Niedermeyer Augenoptik, an Austrian discount-oriented chain of 45 relatively small optical retail stores, has gone into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. According to local reports that could not be confirmed, another Austrian discount chain, Hartlauer, and Pearle Europe, which already has a network of stores in the country, have shown interest in ...
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Like other European buying groups, Optiker Gilde has decided to...
Like other European buying groups, Optiker Gilde has decided to change its status into a GmbH, or limited partnership. One of the advantages will be a simplification and a reduction of the members' fees. Meanwhile, Optiker Gilde has launched a new TV advertising campaign this month, following earlier successful marketing ...
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Allison continues to make acquisitions to help boost its own...
Allison continues to make acquisitions to help boost its own production apparatus. After taking over Desil, an Italian firm specializing i gold coatings, it has bought a 70 percent stake in Biemme for e775,000. Based at Valdobbiadene, Biemme specializes in absolutely nickel-free galvanic painting.
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Ocular Sciences has agreed to acquire many assets of Seiko's...
Ocular Sciences has agreed to acquire many assets of Seiko's contact lens operations for $21 million. They will be folded into Ocular's own subsidiary in Japan, which will rehire about 70 Seiko Contact Lens employees. After a failed merger with Wesley Jessen, Ocular had previously purchased Essilor's contact lens business. ...
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Sola International will market a new anti-reflective coating for ophthalmic...
Sola International will market a new anti-reflective coating for ophthalmic lenses that will use Teflon, the well-known non-stick fiber of DuPont, starting next month. The two companies will explore further lens technology advances. Sola hopes that the notoriety of Teflon as a coating agent will boost confidence among spectacle wearers. ...
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Marchon Eyewear has joined VisionWeb as a minority shareholder, next...
Marchon Eyewear has joined VisionWeb as a minority shareholder, next to Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Allergan and Jobson Publishing. Essilor International is still the majority shareholder of the American internet portal. More than 100 suppliers are supporting VisionWeb, which has just finishing beta testing. Besides Marchon, a dozen frame ...
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Michael Kaschke, the 44-year-old member of Carl Zeiss' executive board...
Michael Kaschke, the 44-year-old member of Carl Zeiss' executive board who is responsible for its consumer optics operations and other business units, is going to act as the group's finance director. He replaces Olaf Berlien, who is moving over to Thyssen-Krupp. Meanwhile, the merger of Zeiss' ophthalmic equipment division and ...
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The organizers of the Mido fair in Milan anticipate that...
The organizers of the Mido fair in Milan anticipate that its May 3-6 session will be clocking up roughly the same numbers of exhibitors and visitors as last year. The 32-year-old fair and Anfao, the Italian industry association that organizes it, have agreed to donate $50,000 to the fund being ...
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Fielmann Has Nearly Flat Earnings
Fielmann, which is now Europe's largest optical retail chain and the third-largest one worldwide after LensCrafters/Sunglass Hut and Cole National/Pearle Europe, raised its net income by only about 1 percent to 39 million euros last year, according to preliminary financial data, and it would have earned less without new tax ...
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Grandvision's Margins Are Improving
Europe's second-largest optical retail chain more than doubled its operating margin before interest and charges (Ebit) to 5.2 percent of sales last year from 2.4 percent in 2000 on a pro forma basis, excluding the photo shops that it sold last spring. Before charges related to store openings and closings, ...
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Specsavers Claims Major Growth
Specsavers Opticians reports that its joint venture partners reached a 12 percent sales increase on a same-store basis in the 2001 calendar year, as compared to growth rates of 15.2 percent in 1999 and 9.7 percent in 2000. Remodeling and extensions were probably at the heart of this exceptional performance ...
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Alain Afflelou Gets Ready for A POSSIBLE PUBLIC OFFERING
Alain Afflelou, the French optical chain, is getting ready for a possible stockmarket introduction through Crédit Lyonnais, but company officials emphasize that a date has not yet been set. The flotation could help the chain to finance the planned development of a new optical store format, due to be launched ...
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Ama, The German Buying Group, Negotiates New Partnerships In Europe
The large German buying group is currently discussing a cooperation with an unnamed Spanish group. AMA already has some members in Britain and Ireland, and it has similar cooperation agreements with other European buying groups operating in Belgium, Switzerland and Greece. For the moment, AMA's cooperation with foreign groups is ...
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Pro-laser Weco Is Insolvent
Winfried Andres, the court-appointed administrator, is trying to find a solution that will allow Pro-Laser Weco company to continue to operate and to honor its numerous orders through a new cash injection. Weco, whose staff has been cut from 250 to 190 persons since July, registered more orders at the ...
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Oakley Sees Better Times Ahead
Oakley is cautiously anticipating an increase of 18-20 percent in pre-tax earnings this year. Revenues should pick up by between 20 and 25 percent, with footwear and prescription glasses showing the strongest growth. The operating margin should be comparable to that of last year. Oakley's sales of sunglasses will be ...
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Cooper Is Excited About Biocompatibles Eye Care's Acquisition
The potential benefits from the takeover of Biocompatibles' eye care business, which has now been completed, may even be greater than those that came from Cooper Companies' acquisition of the former Aspects Vision Care in the UK 3 years ago. It will give CooperVision (CVI) a sales infrastructure in France, ...
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Ciba Vision Improves Margins
Novartis says its CIBA Vision division raised its sales by 33 percent in local currencies and by percent in Swiss francs to 1.8 billion SF (e1.2bn-$1.1bn) in 2001, with the newly acquired Wesley Jessen operation accounting for 28 percentage points of the growth. The diversified Swiss pharmaceutical group is confident ...
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Bmc Consolidates Vision-ease Capacities
BMC Industries has decided to close its optical products production facility in Azusa, California in the first half of the year. Vision-Ease, the company's optical division, will transfer its expanding its production of polycarbonate lenses to its own plant in Jakarta, Indonesia, while its production of polarized lenses will be ...
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Sola's Turnaround Is In Sight
Sola International's European operations were again the star performer in the 3rd quarter ended Dec. 31. The group's total consolidated sales dropped by 0.3 percent on a constant currency and comparable basis in the 3-month period, going down by 0.7 percent in dollars to $126.3 million, but Europe was up ...
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Hoya Improves Margins In Vision Care
In the 2nd quarter ended last Dec. 31, Hoya Corp. managed to improve by 31 percent the operating income of its vision care operations, despite a sluggish market in Japan. Their operating margin improved in the quarter to 10.9 percent of sales, which grew overall by 6.7 percent to 22,534 ...
