Latest Headlines – Page 91
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Essilor’s external growth continues
The company signed ten new transactions in the first six months of 2016 that will generate extra revenues of about €100 million on an annualized basis. Others are in the pipeline after its more recent acquisition of US Optical, a wholesale optical laboratory based in New York with annual sales ...
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Eyeglass lenses are a bright spot at Hoya
Eyeglass lenses were one of the few bright spots in the results reported by Hoya Corp. for the first quarter of its financial year, ended June 30. On a constant-currency basis, their sales grew overall in the mid-single digits from the corresponding period of a year ago, with increases of ...
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MPG expands German production and Czech logistics
The Michael Pachleitner Group (MPG) has made a significant investment in the expansion and modernization of the Schulz Optical Factory, a lens production facility in Glücksburg, Germany, and work has now been completed. In 2015, the company invested €2.5 million in the expansion of the factory, and more recently, it ...
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Italy's first half exports up by 6.2%
Italy's eyewear exports continued to grow in the first half of 2016, although the pace slowed down a little in important markets such as Asia and Latin America, mainly due to the Brazilian recession. The domestic market seems to be maintaining last year's level, with sales picking up both for ...
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Alain Afflelou expands widely
Alain Afflelou, which claims to be the world's largest franchisor of optical retail stores with the exception of Specsavers, which follows a different joint venture model, is moving swiftly with the acquisition of a discount-oriented Spanish franchising group, Optimil, and the opening of its first franchised stores in China and ...
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SWV sees frames faring better than lenses in Europe
Sales of prescription frames are expected to undergo overall a compound average annual growth rate (CAGR) in value of 1.7 percent in the five major European countries during the 2015-20 period, according to Strategy With Vision (SWV), the international consultancy run by Mark Mackenzie. This compares with a CAGR of ...
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De Rigo acquires REM, grows by 7%
De Rigo Vision announced on June 14 an agreement for the takeover of REM Eyewear and all its operations. The terms were not disclosed. With this acquisition, the Italian company expands its brand portfolio and boosts its presence in the important U.S. market. Its total annual sales will grow to ...
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Italia Independent seeks refinancing
The Italia Independent Group has announced its intention to conduct a capital increase before the end of 2016 and to launch a program intended to cut costs and to regain sales momentum, after a poor first quarter, possibly with the help of “strategic partners” who can accelerate its implementation.The company ...
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New name and new management for ProDesign
ProDesign International, the Danish company that two years ago took over two French brands of designer eyeglasses, Face à Face and Woow brands, has renamed itself as the Design Eyewear Group, establishing a clear segmentation of its various product lines and a new, integrated management structure, in order to set ...
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Glasses help find smartphones
A French start-up, Code ADN, is putting out a funny and captivating video about its latest functional product release. Called Find Me, it's an application that allows the wearer of one of its iHuman glasses to locate his smartphone, and vice versa. The new application was first launched in the ...
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Mykita opens new stores and gets ready for MVO launch
Mykita says it will open its first Scandinavian store on a franchise basis in Copenhagen in July, although the official opening will take place at the beginning of September. The franchise partner is one of the German eyewear manufacturer's best clients in the region.Another store, owned and managed by Mykita, ...
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CVI upgrades its guidance
CooperVision (CVI) continued to grow faster than the global soft contact lens market in the first three months of this year, with sales rising by 9 percent in constant dollars in a market that grew by 3 percent to $1.77 billion, according to the management's estimates and independent market research.Sales ...
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Essilor launches the See Change Challenge competition
Essilor is launching a competition to facilitate access to low-cost vision care in underserved areas. The initiative, which is named See Change Challenge, is aimed at optometrists, start-ups, app developers, engineers, universities, vision scientists, and any other individual or organization with an interest in developing innovative refraction solutions that can ...
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EYElliance and World Economic Forum pinpoint eyeglasses as a development tool
If the 2.5 billion people in the world suffering from poor vision but lacking access to the solution were given eyeglasses, the returns in educational and economic terms would be huge. This is what suggests a recent report by the World Economic Forum and EYElliance titled “Eyeglasses for Global Development: ...
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National Sunglasses Day wins widespread industry support
The call to celebrate National Sunglasses Day, championed by the Vision Council in the U.S., received widespread support from global eyewear and eyecare companies in the country. Held annually on June 27, National Sunglasses Day aims to raise awareness of the importance of ultraviolet-protective eyewear to protect long-term eye health. Major ...
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Brexit divides the industry and people
While the dust was settling on the startling vote that the British people cast against remaining in the European Union on June 24, several decision-makers in the eyewear sector responded to our invitation to outline the effects that it may have on their businesses.In general, they indicated that Brexit will ...
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Nicola Zotta will run Marchon
VSP Global has announced the retirement of Claudio Gottardi as president of Marchon Eyewear and the appointment of another Italian executive, Nicola Zotta, as his successor. The transition had been under preparation for more than a year, but had been kept under wraps.Gottardi, who has spent nearly 30 years in ...
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Safilo reacts to criticism
Safilo's 2015 financial report and its remuneration policy were rejected at the company's annual meeting earlier this month by some minority shareholders, including the founding Tabacchi family, the asset management unit of an Italian insurance giant, Generali, and some investment funds. However, the company obtained the support of its main ...
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Safilo’s Q1 is hit by Gucci’s loss, supply issues
Safilo released disappointing first-quarter results, with the top line affected by a decline in sales of Gucci eyewear sales and supply problems at the company's Italian plants.Following a change in financial disclosure rules for public companies in Italy, Safilo released a simplified version of its first-quarter performance that showed a ...
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GrandVision’s comparable growth drops to 0.9%
The biggest European optical retailing group reported last Friday a 2.5 percent increase in its revenues to €803 million for the first quarter ended 2016. Sales increased by 4.9 percent in local currencies, with acquisitions contributing 3.2 percentage points.On a comparable store basis, GrandVision's organic growth for the period amounted ...
