Latest Headlines – Page 26
-
ArticleInspecs posts mixed results for 2023, resumes acquisitions strategy
Releasing a trading update for 2023, UK-based Inspecs Group has reported margin improvements on flattish year-on-year sales for last year (£200.3m, €234.9m). On a constant-currency basis, the group’s topline declined by 1.6 percent versus 2022, which the company attributed to softer trading in December. This apparently more than offset the ...
-
ArticleThe Vision Council publishes new US optical-market and consumer data
Announcing the release of its Market inSights 2023, the Vision Council has estimated the total value of the US optical market for last year at $65.6 billion. The organization explains that it changed it has changed research methodology again this year, adding advanced analytics, updating its sources to include consumer ...
-
ArticleJohnson & Johnson Q4 contact lens sales rise 7.9%
Johnson & Johnson’s global sales of contact lenses in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31 grew by a reported 6.1 percent to $882 million. Sales at constant currency rates increased by 7.9 percent, with growth driven by price actions and the continued strong performance of the Acuvue Oasys 1-Day family ...
-
ArticleFielmann remains committed to Italian market after closures announcement
After reports in the Italian press at the end of last year that Fielmann was preparing to shut down 11 of its 54 stores in the country, the German-based retail group confirmed some closures but remains intent on developing its network in the country. “Fielmann reaffirms commitment to the Italian ...
-
ArticleStore network upgrade, digitization and HR key to Paris Miki rebound
Like all well-established Japan retailers across all sectors, Paris Miki is facing an apparently unsolvable equation: finding sustainable growth in a country where the population is forecast to decline by approximately five percent every ten years. While many of these companies are heavily investing to develop their business abroad, particularly ...
-
ArticleMorrow Eyewear kicks off European expansion with Novacel partnership
Morrow Eyewear, the Belgian-based company specializing in autofocal glasses, has announced the signature of a partnership with Novacel Optical for the distribution of its eProgressive Glasses in France and Switzerland. The company said that the agreement would enable over 30 million presbyopes in the two countries with its pioneering technology. ...
-
ArticleKaneko mother company posts very strong 9-month results
Japan Eyewear Holdings (JEH), mother company of the Kaneko Optical and Four Nines (or 999.9) brands, published its quarterly financial results in December last year and for the first time since its IPO on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in November. For the third quarter alone, sales jumped by 33.6 percent ...
-
ArticleOpal Demetz acquires Roussilhe
In an agreement aimed at ensuring the longevity of both businesses and at developing French manufacturing, Opal Demetz, an eyewear SME based in Lyon has announced the acquisition of Roussilhe, a smaller French eyewear company with a large portfolio of in-house brands produced at its Oyonnax factory. “Together, we ...
-
ArticleSmart glasses and AR technologies on display at the CES
In our last CES 2024 report, after our previous articles on EssilorLuxottica’s Nuance launch and on the winners of the CES awards, we present a selection of other smart eyewear products and companies that caught our attention at the Las Vegas show that closed its doors last Friday. RayNeo, a ...
-
ArticleGerman eyewear industry sales inched up in 2023 as exports slowed down
German eyewear industry association Spectaris has released preliminary data for the sales of its members on both the domestic and export markets at the recent opti trade fair in Munich, based on figures for the January to September 2023 period. As reflected in the table below, the total industry revenue ...
-
ArticleEyewear stock price up 8% in Q4, sector market capitalization up 10% year-on-year
Along with our usual quarterly update on public eyewear companies’ stock price variations, we are also publishing in the table below the year-on-year changes to provide a longer-term perspective, as well as our annual market capitalization ranking further down on this page. After a negative third quarter, the average stock ...
-
ArticleEssilux unveils Nuance, announces U.S. and Europe launch dates at CES
EssilorLuxottica unveiled its new Nuance Audio technology at a press conference on the eve of the CES show in Las Vegas (Jan. 9-12). The group announced that its goal is to “revolutionize” the hearing market and penetrate an industry where, similar to eye care decades ago, consumers are averse to ...
-
ArticleGuenther Fielmann has died
Fielmann Group has announced the passing of Guenther Fielmann, founder of the company and longstanding chairman of the board, on Jan. 3, 2024, at the age of 84. “My father Guenther Fielmann re-defined optical retail to the benefit of customers. His lifework fills us with respect and inspires us to ...
-
Article“We need to train the eyewear factory workers of the future”
During our previous interview with Giovanni Vitolani in December, the president of Mido also shared some thoughts on the state of affairs in the Italian eyewear district and at ANFAO, the Italian eyewear industry association which he led for six years until December last year. “As anticipated after a solid ...
-
ArticleAI comes to Meta and Ray-Ban’s smart glasses
Meta is providing “early access” in the US to multimodal AI in the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses – the equivalent of a beta launch for software. The company is seeking feedback from customers, presumably to help tune the AI. Customers can opt in through the latest version of the Meta ...
-
ArticleZEISS Consumer Markets unit up 5% in fiscal year, group topline over €10 bn
ZEISS Group has reported record revenue of €10.1 billion for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, up by 15 percent compared with 2021/22 and over the symbolic €10 bn mark for the first time. As shown in the table below, the group’s growth was largely driven by its semiconductor business ...
-
ArticleOpti gets ready for a 2024 rebound
The numerous changes and initiatives implemented after a difficult edition of the show earlier this year, including a roundtable with stakeholders to rethink the concept this summer, seem to have paid off as opti has announced a significant increase in both exhibiting space and exhibitors’ participation for their 2024 edition. ...
-
ArticleMido, ANFAO put CSE front and center in 2024
Just a few weeks before the opening of Mido 2024, we sat down with Giovanni Vitaloni, president of the event, to talk about what exhibitors and visitors should expect for this next edition but also more generally about current and future strategic focus areas for the organizers. In the second ...
-
ArticleDouble-digit sales growth but lower margin in full year for Carl Zeiss Meditec
Carl Zeiss Meditec has reported a 9.8 percent year-on-year increase in revenue to €2,089 for its full fiscal year ended Sept. 30. In constant currencies, the topline was up by 10.1 percent with market share gains in both business units - ophthalmic devices and microsurgery. The company stressed that it ...
-
ArticleMitsui aims to boost its Life & Healthcare business’ profits by 2030
During its Vision 2030 business strategy presentation held earlier this week, Mitsui Chemicals has announced that it was planning to increase the operating profit of its Life & Healthcare Solutions division from 36 billion Japanese yen (€229 m) in the current fiscal year to ¥65 billion (€413 m) in fiscal ...
