Latest Headlines – Page 69
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Luxottica grows mostly at retail
At Luxottica, a timid organic growth of 0.9 percent at wholesale contrasted with a 4.7 percent increase for retail operations. The management blamed unseasonable weather in some regions of the U.S., but said that the digital initiatives that it unveiled in the first quarter are expected to accelerate the digital ...
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A closer look at some geographies
The group's sales in North America advanced by only 1.2 percent in local currencies in the first quarter for several other reasons. Sales of lenses showed only modest improvement in the U.S., and they declined in Canada. Sales of frames and sunglasses were largely flat in volume. According to the ...
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A French court appoints a mediator for Essilux
A Paris-based commercial court has appointed its former president, Frank Gentin, as special representative (mandataire ad hoc) to broker peace at the EssilorLuxottica (Essilux), which is bogged down in a power struggle between its executive chairman and main shareholder, Leonardo Del Vecchio, and its executive vice-chairman, Hubert Sagnières.We understand that ...
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Minority shareholders seek to undo the gridlock
In an attempt to break the stalemate, Valoptec, an association of current and former Essilor employees who hold more than 4 percent in the merged company, and seven investment funds aim to enlarge the board by appointing their own representatives at a shareholders' meeting scheduled for May 16. Essilux's board ...
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Essilux launches search for a CEO
Amid the turmoil surrounding the group's governance, Essilux has initiated the search for its future chief executive with the appointment of two recruitment agencies, Russell Reynolds Associates and Eric Salmon & Partners. Russell will coordinate the process, which will involve internal and external candidates, with the view of appointing the ...
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Hoya wants 20% of the lens market
In its latest quarterly report, which came out today, Hoya Corporation stated that it wants to raise its global market share in eyeglass lenses from the present rate of 17 percent to 20 percent over the medium term, mainly by gaining market share in the Americas and the Asia-Pacific regions.Hoya ...
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Controversy drives out Etnia Barcelona’s CEO
Cristina Trujillo has left Etnia Barcelona, the Spanish optical brand. She had been the chief executive since December 2017. David Pellicer, who founded Etnia Barcelona in 2000 and ran it until Trujillo took charge, has taken over again in the leading role.According to various reports, Trujillo's departure seems to have ...
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One more new CEO for Italia Independent
Italia Independent has appointed Mario Pietribiasi as its new chief executive. Meanwhile, Lapo Elkann has been reconfirmed as the company's chairman. Pietribiasi replaces Giovanni Carlino, who has left the company “for personal reasons.” Pietribiasi has served since 2012 as managing director of Koru Eyewear, a private label producer that he ...
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Thema launches virtual reality store concept in the U.S.
Thema Optical presented its proprietary V.E.A. store concept in the U.S. at the latest Vision Expo East in New York, which was held on March 21-24. As previously reported by Eyewear Intelligence (Vol. 20 n°2+3 of 22/02/2019), V.E.A. stands for Virtual Eyewear Assistant. The V.E.A. store, entirely dedicated to customized eyewear, is ...
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Fedon has higher losses, but core business performs well
Giorgio Fedon, the leading Italian producer of eyeglass cases, is changing strategy, down-scaling its diversification into small leathergoods. The company saw its net loss rise to €5 million in 2018 from €4 million a year earlier, due to lower sales and higher costs, but its core business of selling eyeglass ...
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Bausch + Lomb records high organic growth
Bausch Health posted first-quarter revenues for the Bausch + Lomb/International segment that were one percent higher than in the first quarter of last year, while on an organic basis, they jumped by 8 percent. The segment, which includes the group's contact lenses and solutions businesses, comprised about 55 percent of ...
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Study highlights dramatic rise of myopia among children
The number of children around the world affected by myopia is expected to increase from an already worrying 300 million today to 500 million by 2050. The revised figure was presented at Sightgeist, the international conference on eye-care that took place in London on March 28, which gathered many stakeholders ...
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Essilux is stuck in a boardroom spat
Just a few months after the merger of Essilor and Luxottica, the new company that has emerged from their combination, EssilorLuxottica, is entangled in a power struggle between the French and Italian senior managers of the group. It is possible that the infighting could last a couple of years, slowing ...
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EssilorLuxottica publishes its first results after the merger
EssilorLuxottica posted an income statement for the first time since last October's record €48 billion merger that brought together the Essilor and Luxottica groups. Although the new entity showed steady growth in constant currencies and relatively stable profits, its shares tumbled after the announcement due to concerns about its future ...
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Luxottica books slightly lower earnings
Like Essilor, Luxottica faced currency headwinds in 2018. Sales declined by 2.8 percent to €8,929 million in reported terms, due to the devaluation of the U.S. and Australian dollars and the Brazilian real, but increased by 1.5 percent in constant currencies.The second half of the year showed an acceleration in ...
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Ray-Ban ranks first or second in all major markets
In one of the findings the Optical Monitor (OMO), a semi-annual consumer survey commissioned to GfK by the Mido and Silmo trade fairs, presented on Feb. 24, Ray-Ban was rated as the favorite sunglasses brand among people interviewed in the five main European Union countries, the U.S., and Japan.The EssilorLuxottica ...
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Safilo sees turnaround at wholesale, will sell Solstice
The Safilo Group announced on April 2 that it has decided to sell its Solstice retail chain in the U.S. to a third party, after evaluating other alternatives, and said that it has already received expressions of interest for its acquisition.Safilo's retail sales, which derive from Solstice, dropped by 20.2 ...
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Carrera launches a new communication campaign as sales rise
One Safilo's house brands, Carrera, launched its communications campaign for the 2019 spring/summer collection during the Mido trade show with a high-profile event on the Vairano racing track south of Milan. The day at the circuit involved 100 guests and Carmen Jorda, a Spanish Formula 1 driver and model who ...
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Thélios expands its capacity to 4.5 million units
Thélios, the joint venture owned at 51 percent by the French luxury goods group LVMH and 49 percent by Marcolin, has started building a new production unit next to its site in Longarone, in north eastern Italy. The existing manufacturing site was inaugurated in April 2018 and the new facility ...
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GrandVision focuses on international expansion after a transitional year
In publishing its results for 2018, GrandVision's management said that 2018 was a year of transition for the company. Over the past 12 months, the group has focused on integrating the businesses it acquired at the end of 2017, led by the Tesco Opticians stores in the U.K., which it ...
