Latest Headlines – Page 227
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Arts Optical Forms A Joint Venture For Reyner's Stepper Brand
Arts Optical of Hong Kong has formed a joint venture with Rayner & Keeler, a British chain of optical shops and a supplier of intraocular lenses, to get Rayner's Stepper line of plastic injection-moulded eyewear frames made in China and marketed worldwide, starting in the 2nd half of this year, ...
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Luxottica Concentrates On Sunglasses
The world's leading eyewear manufacturer, which achieved a net profit margin of 11 percent in the the 1st quarter, is looking for new areas of development in this particularly profitable phase. It has chosen the sunglass sector, considering that, like laser-based eye correction technologies, it still has an enormous potential ...
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Safilo Improves Logistics, And Its Management Crisis Could Be Over Soon
The management crisis at Safilo is almost finished now, according to certain sources, but the details are not clear yet. In spite of the ongoing uncertainty, it's business as usual at the company. Giannino Lorenzon, the CEO, is supervising preparations for the fall sales campaign and the establishment of Safilo's ...
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Improving Safilo's Chairman Resigns
Safilo's management crisis is far from over. Vittorio Tabacchi, the 60-yearV-old executive who became chairman of the family-owned group 7 years ago, announced his resignation last May 16, just 4 days after the formal approval of the company's brilliant results for 1999 and for the the first quarter of 2000. ...
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Giorgio Armani Joins Luxottica's Board On Higher Earnings
Giorgio Armani has become a director of Luxottica, confirming the growing integration between the fashion and eyewear industries. Instead of simply licensing their hot brand names, Italian fashion houses have been getting steadily more involved, first in the equity and now in the management, of their eyewear licensees (see also ...
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General Optica, Prada And New Luxury Brand Licenses Boost De Rigo's Turnover
Higher earnings are expected this year for De Rigo, and its sales should grow to 890-900 billion lire (e460-465m-$425-430m), as compared to 622.6 billion lire in 1999, and then rise to one trillion lire in 2001. De Rigo's wholesale turnover should remain more or less unchanged this year. Besides ...
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Marcolin Had A Good First Quarter
Marcolin improved its pre-tax profit margin to 7,832 million lire (e4m-$3.8m) or 12 percent of sales in the 1st quarter ended March 31, as compared to a margin of only 8.2 percent for all of the past year. Sales increased by 46 percent to 65,744 million lire (e34m-$32m) from the ...
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Filos Increases Its Turnover By 15%
Filos Group, the company through which the Lozza and Benetton families operate on the eyewear market, raised its turnover last year by 15 percent to around 120 billion lire (e60m-$60m). The results fell below the management's expectations, due to political and economic problems in South America and delays in the ...
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Alain Sanne Is Viva's New Eurochief
Alain Sanne joined Viva International in 1989 to run its French operations, and he took over responsibility also for the UK market more than one year ago. Sanne has now been appointed to a new position as the US company's European director, with a brief to develop a stronger and ...
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Alain Afflelou Regains Control Of His Chain, And Plans To Launch Another One
In a transaction that values his group at 137.2 million euros, Alain Afflelou has raised from 30 to 58 percent his personal stake in the French optical chain that bears his own name. The balance of the shareholding is now in the hands of two institutional investors, Apax Partners with ...
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Two Norwegian Buying Groups Merge
Interoptik, a 15-year-old cooperative of Norwegian opticians, has merged with a 3-year-old cooperative, Z:Optikk, forming a new company, Optikk Norge, which has an estimated 34 percent market share in Norway, with an annual retail turnover of about 650 million Norwegian kroner (e80m-$70m). Halvor Bjerke, who has been running Interoptik, will ...
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Fielmann Abolishes Preference Shares, Moves Into The Netherlands
Fielmann's stockmarket value has increased by 30 percent sofar this year. Half of the increase took place after an announcement last May 4 that the 8 million preferential shares owned by the Fielmann family will be converted into ordinary shares, removing the privileges attached to them. After the change, which ...
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Sunglass Hut Recovers In Europe
The European operations of this US-based international chain of sunglass and watch stores became profitable again last year under the management of Richard Leynes, having basically completed their establishment. Aside from 55 stores in the UK, Sunglass Hut now has a further 29 outlets in Ireland, Holland, Belgium, France, Portugal ...
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Essilor's Major Shareholder Cashes Out
Saint-Gobain, the large French glass company, has announced that it wants to sell its 32.9 percent share in Essilor International in order to finance its growing diversification in the distribution of construction materials and in high-tech fields such as technical plastics and ceramics. The disposal of its shareholding, which is ...
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Euronet Sets Foot In France
Alain Afflelou and Optic 2000 have joined all the major suppliers of ophthalmic lenses, with the notable exception of Essilor International, to set up EuroNet France, the French counterpart of the EuroNet internet service launched two years ago in Germany under the auspices of Rodenstock. Besides Rodenstock, other founding members ...
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Sola Strives To Cut Corners
About 400-500 employees, representing between 7 and 8 percent of Sola International's global workforce, have been let go over the past few months, and the total tally may grow to 600 by year-end. In general, Sola is moving production from California to Mexico, and from Mexico to China, while eliminating ...
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Biocompatibles Buys Hydron
Biocompatibles, the UK-based maker of Proclear Comptatible contact lenses, has acquired its British competitor, Hydron, whose assets and goodwill outside the Americas had been sold by Allergan to a group of institutional investors in 1993. The acquisition propels Biocompatibles into the second spot in the UK after Johnson & Johnson, ...
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Fedon, King Of Eyeglass Cases, Diversifies Into Stationery After Expanding
The Western world's leading manufacturer of eyeglass cases, Italy's Fedon, is diversifying its product range, adding office stationery and related equipment. After decades of experience in satisfying the increasing demands of big-name clients in the eyewear sector, including most of the major fashion brands on the market, the Fedon family ...
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Italy's Eyewear Output Starts Growing Again, Thanks Mainly To Sunglasses
The stagnation experienced by the Italian eyewear industry throughout 1999 would seem to be over. Initial figures show that production in the 1st quarter of 2000 increased by 8.1 percent as compared to the same period last year. According to Paolo Cannicci, chairman of the Italian eyewear manufacturers association (Anfao), ...
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Mido Gets Fewer Visitors Of Higher Quality, And More Foreigners Overall
The eyewear market has been undergoing a major reorganization of retail networks, and Italy is no exception. Many small independent outlets are integrating themselves into buying groups or into national or international chains. A signal of this evolution was given at the edition of MIDO, the largest optical fair in ...
