Latest Headlines – Page 87

  • Article

    Focus on digitalization at Opti 2017 in Munich

    2017-02-24T00:00:00Z

    The Opti show, which took place in Munich on Jan. 28-30, welcomed a total of 557 exhibitors from 35 countries on an exhibition space of over 40,000 square meters. The number of exhibitors showed a decline as compared to a year ago, when there were 576, coming from 37 countries.More ...

  • Article

    Mido continues to grow

    2017-02-24T00:00:00Z

    This year's edition of Mido edition, scheduled to take place in Milan on Feb. 25-27, will have about six percent more exhibitors than the previous year. The organizers said that there will be around 1,200 exhibitors, or about 70 more than in 2016, including about 130 newcomers. The trade fair ...

  • Article

    U.S. Optical Barometer pointed upward in 2016

    2017-02-24T00:00:00Z

    The Optical Business Barometer (OBB), a survey designed to gauge business attitudes among independent eyecare professionals in the U.S., pointed upward in 2016 as compared to 2015's ratings. Overall optical, eyeglasses, exams and contacts lenses each showed ratings increases between 1 and 2 percent over 2015.The ratings in Overall Optical ...

  • Article

    Essilor and Luxottica merge

    2017-01-28T00:00:00Z

    We had already predicted the likely merger at some point between Essilor International and the Luxottica Group. The biggest new step in the ongoing consolidation and verticalization of the industry was announced at the beginning of last week. We have collected additional information and comments since we sent out an ...

  • Article

    Challenges and opportunities in the mega merger

    2017-01-28T00:00:00Z

    Investment analysts generally greeted the announcement with enthusiasm, but some of them expressed fears about possible anti-trust challenges. Some competitors claimed that the move will antagonize independent retailers who may be pressured to buy more products from Essilor and Luxottica at high prices.There is also some suspicion that Lenscrafters and ...

  • Article

    LVMH reportedly eyes Marcolin, Safilo under pressure

    2017-01-28T00:00:00Z

    According to media reports, which could not be confirmed at the time of going to press, the French fashion group LVMH is expected to buy a 10 percent stake in Marcolin as it plans to create its own eyewear hub, along the lines of the Kering Eyewear project. If the ...

  • Article

    Novartis plans to spin off Alcon

    2017-01-28T00:00:00Z

    Novartis said that it could sell or spin off its eye care unit, Alcon, which includes one of the world's largest contact lenses companies, Ciba Vision. The business was gradually bought from the food group Nestlé for a total of $51 billion. The last stake of 52 percent was purchased in ...

  • Article

    Afflelou raises sales but deepens losses

    2017-01-28T00:00:00Z

    Alain Afflelou's network of directly owned and franchised stores posted network sales in line with the company's expectations for the three months ended last Oct. 31. They went up by 8.2 percent over the previous year's first fiscal quarter to €170.8 million, with an increase of 4.8 percent on a ...

  • Article

    Ocuco buys a Dutch software company

    2017-01-28T00:00:00Z

    Claiming that the deal has reinforced its position as the world's largest and most international supplier of software for optical retail stores and laboratories, Ocuco announced earlier this month its acquisition of B&F Group, a leading store management software provider in the Netherlands in the optical sector and others.About half ...

  • Article

    Parallel importer addresses independents’ problems

    2017-01-28T00:00:00Z

    The growing dominance of certain segments of the eyewear market by big players such as Luxottica and their sales practices have triggered the emergence and the growth an interesting aggregator of parallel imports in the sector, Eoptika, whose methods are similar in different ways to those of Uber and Costco.It ...

  • Article

    Glasses for rent - Europe looks at the Italian example

    2017-01-28T00:00:00Z

    Here is another interesting business model: The first store entirely dedicated to the rental of eyewear opened its doors a few months ago in Rome. Called Affittaocchiali, it's part of a growing network founded two years earlier by an optical retailer, Marco Tricarico, at his outlet at Ferentino, in the ...

  • Article

    Luxottica acquires 100% of Salmoiraghi

    2016-12-19T00:00:00Z

    Luxottica is taking over full ownership of Salmoiraghi & Viganò, one of the two major Italian optical retailing group by exercising an option to buy 63.2 percent of the company at an undisclosed price. The deal is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2017. Luxottica already acquired ...

  • Article

    Afflelou expands in the Indian Ocean, Switzerland

    2016-12-19T00:00:00Z

    Alain Afflelou, the big French chain of franchised optical retail stores, has continued its international expansion with the opening of a new store in Switzerland and three stores on the islands of Mayotte and Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.The two 120-square-meter stores in Mayotte and Mauritius, franchised by Optic Développement, ...

  • Article

    Safilo posts positive Q3 but outlook remains uncertain

    2016-12-19T00:00:00Z

    Safilo reported third-quarter results that beat market expectations but observers remained wary about the group's outlook over the next couple of years as it manages the exit of the Gucci and Céline licences. However, the Italian group had the satisfaction a few days later to announce the renewal of its ...

  • Article

    Safilo renews Dior license, will lose Céline

    2016-12-19T00:00:00Z

    The Safilo Group announced that its important licensing agreement with the French fashion house of Christian Dior has been renewed until Dec. 31, 2020, but said that it will terminate the Céline license at the end of 2017, after extending it for one year. Céline was due to expire at ...

  • Article

    Tag Heuer’s licensee goes under

    2016-12-19T00:00:00Z

    A French bankruptcy court pronounced last month the liquidation of Logo Eyewear's assets after another French company, Cémo, withdraw a takeover offer for some of its assets and between 14 and 34 of its 170-odd employees in France. Acquired three years ago by Pierre Verrier, a former chief executive of ...

  • Article

    Italia Independent’s boss fakes kidnapping in New York

    2016-12-19T00:00:00Z

    The latest misadventures of the Italia Independent Group's owner and chairman, Lapo Edovald Elkann, does not seem to have unduly upset the company's board of directors. His brother John Philip Elkann, chairman of the powerful Fiat Chrysler group, has decided to join him in the recapitalization of the company, financing ...

  • Article

    Essilor lowers its guidance, promotes Vacherot

    2016-12-19T00:00:00Z

    Essilor International has advised shareholders and analysts that its consolidated sales will only grow this year by around 3.5 percent on a comparable basis, down from a previous projection of 4.5 percent growth, and that they should generate a contribution margin of around 18.5 percent.The announcement sent its stock market ...

  • Article

    A record year for Zeiss

    2016-12-19T00:00:00Z

    Sales went up by 8 percent to €1,089 million for the Zeiss group Vision Care & Consumer Products division in the financial year ended last Sept. 30, thanks in part to growing demand for Zeiss eyeglass lenses and various product innovations. Recent launches included DriveSafe and PhotoFusion as well as ...

  • Article

    Hoya acquires 3M’s safety prescription eyewear business

    2016-12-19T00:00:00Z

    Hoya Vision Care, a division of the” Hoya Group, has announced a definitive agreement for the acquisition of the safety prescription eyewear business of 3M. Hoya will purchase only the prescription part of 3M's safety eyewear business, which employs around 140 people and includes an optical laboratory in Plymouth, Indiana. ...