Latest Headlines – Page 213
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Marcolin's Revenues Are Up By 24%
The final results will come out in 2nd half of March, but Marcolin estimates that its revenues grew by around 24 percent in 2001 to some e157 million. Creative Optics, the US distribution firm acquired by the group, was a big factor. Cébé took in about 15 percent of ...
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Fredon Grows By 6.7 Percent
In spite of the difficulties that the eyewear industry is currently experiencing, Fedon increased sales in 2001 by 6.7 percent to e58.6 million. The Italian group thus confirms its position as the world's leading producer of eyewear cases. The production of 40 million eyewear cases and 22 million eyewear accessories ...
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New Leader Industries 2001 Will Concentrate On Manufacturing
Pierre Habib, who had joined Leader Industries 8 years ago and turned it around in 1997, has raised from 20 to 100 percent his stake in the Canadian sports and protective eyewear firm by taking over its assets from its only secured creditor, the National Bank of Canada, for 7.5 ...
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Spy Eyes A Doubling In European Sales
Spy, the hot California brand of sunglasses, is said to be enjoying one the fastest growth rates in the USA, where it reached a turnover of about $40 million last year. According to Transworld, the cult magazine of American surfers, Spy is now third in popularity after Oakley and Smith, ...
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Germany's Domestic Market Shrinks And Exports Fall
The year 2001 was a difficult one for Germany's eyewear industry. Exports fell by 7.6 percent to e519 million, while imports rose by 7.9 percent to e721 million. The domestic market also shrank, with sales of frames down by 4 percent as compared to the previous year. Last ...
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Visitor Numbers At Cologne Optica Shrink By 18.5% To 16,300
The organizers of the Cologne fair have announced that the show will go on next year, in the same spacious and comfortable pavillion that looks onto the Rhine river. So the duel with Munich is set to continue, unless Cologne throws the towel in the run-up to the next Optica ...
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American Magnetic Clip War Goes On
Aspex Eyewear, the innovative Canadian/American developer of magnetic sun clips, flexible frames and other eyewear products, has filed yet another patent infringement suit against Revolution Eyewear, the US firm which has been selling a magnetic sun clip of its own. Like before, its partners in the case are Manhattan Design ...
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Vision Council of America (VCA) says its members' sales of...
Vision Council of America (VCA) says its members' sales of frames dropped by 5.9 percent in value to $813.5 million last year. Volume deliveries declined by 1.2 percent to an estimated 23.8 million frames. Lens sales by VCA members declined by 2.1 percent in volume, but rose by 0.9 percent ...
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Luz, a French buying group that works for about 650...
Luz, a French buying group that works for about 650 affiliated optical shops in France and Belgium, has been acquired by Balsa, another French company that already controls SAPMM, a small regional buying group of 30 opticians run by André Schertz, owner of Les Opticiens Maurice Frères. Luz had been ...
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The German Apollo-Optik chain has taken over two stores of...
The German Apollo-Optik chain has taken over two stores of Der Brillenbär and placed 9 other stores of the 15-year-old Berlin-based optical retail chain under its own banner as franchises. Apollo, which was taken over by Pearle Europe in 1998, is Germany's second-largest optical retailer after Fielmann, with more than ...
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Unconfirmed reports indicate that Vendex International, the large Dutch retail...
Unconfirmed reports indicate that Vendex International, the large Dutch retail group, has decided to put up for sale its optical retail activities. Vendex is the largest optical retailer in the Netherlands. It operates about 230 shops under the Hans Anders banner, of which 15 are located in Belgium. It also ...
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Alain Mikli has opened a store in Hong Kong, adding...
Alain Mikli has opened a store in Hong Kong, adding to its own boutiques in Paris, Düsseldorf, Tokyo and New York. The French eyewear designer has appointed Bruno Herbin, 36, as assistant general manager in charge of operations and international development in Asia and America. A graduate of the University ...
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Rudolf Suter has decided to postpone until 9-10 months from...
Rudolf Suter has decided to postpone until 9-10 months from now the final release of Concepcion's new direct casting technology for optical lenses as the process development until now has turned out to be unsatisfactory. One of the problems is apparently a shrinking of the lenses during the polymerization process. ...
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Safilo never expected to repeat the record 34 percent growth...
Safilo never expected to repeat the record 34 percent growth recorded in 2000. The management had budgeted an increase of around 20 percent, so the e845 million actually posted for the year 2001 - 23.3 percent up on 2000 - was slightly above target. Since Vittorio Tabacchi decided to take ...
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De Rigo has finally fixed a date for its flotation...
De Rigo has finally fixed a date for its flotation on the Milan stock exchange. IntesaBci and Lazard, the banks that are managing the admission procedure, indicate that it's tentatively scheduled for the 3rd quarter of 2002, depending on market conditions. Some 10 percent of the equity will be floated, ...
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Ocular Sciences saw its profitability reduced for last year due...
Ocular Sciences saw its profitability reduced for last year due to a $24.1 million extraordinary charge for the writeoff of obsolete equipment. The company posted a net loss of $14.9 million in the 4th quarter of 2001 on 57 percent higher revenues of $67.1 million, against a net income of ...
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Bernard Galan has replaced Harro Lotz as managing director of...
Bernard Galan has replaced Harro Lotz as managing director of Rodenstock France. Galan, 38, previously held the posts of general manager and director responsible for strategy and finance at CIBA Vision in France. Before joining CIBA, Galan was the marketing director for Pacific Asia and Hong Kong at Essilor International. ...
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Jacques Stoerr, founder of Essilor of America (EOA), retired as...
Jacques Stoerr, founder of Essilor of America (EOA), retired as the US-based subsidiary's chairman of the board. He began his career at the French company ? then named Essel ? by being posted in the UK in the mid-1960s. After holding a variety of management positions, including that of president ...
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Indo and Viva International have started up a new 50-50...
Indo and Viva International have started up a new 50-50 joint venture in Spain, called InViva, to market and distribute Viva's products in Spain, where Indo had previously distributed Viva's Guess? collection. Viva has also opened a new sales office in Hong Kong for all its brands. Other developments include ...
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The recently merged Bacou-Dalloz group, which has become the world's...
The recently merged Bacou-Dalloz group, which has become the world's leading supplier of personal safety and protection items, suffered a 2.2 percent sales decline last year on a comparable basis and in local currencies, but acquisitions and foreign exchange gains allowed it to raise pro forma revenues by 2.7 percent ...
