Latest News Briefs – Page 333
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News briefs
Carl Zeiss Vision spent €7 million last year to upgrade...
Carl Zeiss Vision spent €7 million last year to upgrade its competence center in Aalen. The company generated a turnover of €845 million in the financial year ended last Sept. 30, up from €789 million in the previous one on a pro forma basis. Only the first half of the ...
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News briefs
Jimmy Choo, the luxury footwear company that was acquired by...
Jimmy Choo, the luxury footwear company that was acquired by TowerBrook Capital Partners in February, is to launch its first eyewear collection later this year. The name of the licensee has not been confirmed, but it has been speculated that it will be Safilo.
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News briefs
The Socodeix group, which sells Jean Reno frames, is launching...
The Socodeix group, which sells Jean Reno frames, is launching a new designer collection called Ziggy. The line, developed for men and women, will have a distinctive, modern aesthetic. The collection comprises some 20 models, available in duo tones or monotone in a range of colors.
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News briefs
For the six months ended last Dec. 31, Visbilia posted...
For the six months ended last Dec. 31, Visbilia posted a turnover of €13,522,000, up by 24 percent over the figure recorded for the same period of the previous year. The doubling of the group's sales force in Italy to a total of 43 sales agents by January 2007 contributed ...
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News briefs
Optixx AG, a Swiss-based producer of progressive lenses, has opened...
Optixx AG, a Swiss-based producer of progressive lenses, has opened a distribution center in Dubai. The company's distribution there will be handled by GKB Ophthalmics Products FZE, which will act as the Swiss company's exclusive distributor not only for the United Arab Emirates, but also for Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, ...
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News briefs
For the year ended Dec. 31, 2006, Shamir Optical Industry's...
For the year ended Dec. 31, 2006, Shamir Optical Industry's revenues grew by 21 percent to $97.3 million. The Israeli company reported a gross margin of 54.7 percent, down from 55.2 percent in the year before. Operating income plummeted by 41.4 percent to $7.1 million. Excluding the effects of non-cash ...
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News briefs
Revenues for Gerber Coburn's ophthalmic lens processing unit were up...
Revenues for Gerber Coburn's ophthalmic lens processing unit were up by 1.1 percent to $18.0 million in the 3rd quarter ended Jan. 31, 2007. The segment's operating profit grew to $501,000 against $329,000 in the year-ago quarter. In the first nine months of the financial year, Gerber Coburn's revenues increased ...
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News briefs
Italy's exports of eyewear grew by 19.2 percent to an...
Italy's exports of eyewear grew by 19.2 percent to an estimated €1,892 million for the first 11 months of 2006, performing better than other products of the «Italian Style» sector. Sunglasses put up the best performance, rising by 24.1% to €1.2 billion, but frames also went up by 11.5 percent ...
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News briefs
Ready-mounted prescription eyewear can now be sold in Italy by...
Ready-mounted prescription eyewear can now be sold in Italy by all stores authorized to sell health articles, not only pharmacies and optical stores. The Italian Ministry of Health announced the new measure in a letter to the country's eyewear associations, specifying that the law «doesn't require specific authorization to sell ...
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News briefs
Retailing of contact lenses has been liberalized in Belgium. The...
Retailing of contact lenses has been liberalized in Belgium. The law previously demanded the presence of a certified optician to do that, but that is no longer requested, making the situation similar to the way it is in the Netherlands. Sales over the internet are apparently still forbidden, however. Belgian ...
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News briefs
Phoenix Optical, a Manchester-based company that supplied prescription lenses to...
Phoenix Optical, a Manchester-based company that supplied prescription lenses to independent opticians in addition to making underwater cameras, binocular lenses and prescription goggles, is going into liquidation at the end of March. Its main customers were practitioners in the Manchester area.
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News briefs
Alice Mahon, the former member of the British Parliament who...
Alice Mahon, the former member of the British Parliament who was threatening legal action against her local health trust for refusing to fund the Lucentis drug to treat her age-related macular degeneration (AMD), has dropped her case. Mahon lost the sight in one eye due to AMD and vowed to ...
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News briefs
Ocutec, a Scottish technology company specializing in eye care, is...
Ocutec, a Scottish technology company specializing in eye care, is said to have designed a material for contact lenses that will halve manufacturing costs. Ocutec has developed a thermoplastic hydrogel polymer and manufacturing methodology designed to reduce the 15-step production method to only five steps. The objective is reportedly to ...
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News briefs
Rachel Stevens, the British pop star, is the face of...
Rachel Stevens, the British pop star, is the face of CIBA Vision's latest Focus Dailies ?Smiling eyes' campaign, which is targeting 16-24 year-olds to wear the daily disposable contact lenses. Stevens appears in advertorials in the March issues of women's and celebrity-driven magazines, such as Elle, Glamour, OK!, Bliss, Closer, ...
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News briefs
Atol has chosen Julien Bonnaire, the French rugby player, to...
Atol has chosen Julien Bonnaire, the French rugby player, to represent the company in technical matters. According to the French buying and retail marketing group, Bonnaire shares its ?spirit of solidarity, audacity, confidence and the taste of performance.? It is hoped that through his experience of being a high level ...
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News briefs
The British Federation of Manufacturing Opticians (FMO) has launched a...
The British Federation of Manufacturing Opticians (FMO) has launched a new website at www.fmo.co.uk. The site features news, training courses, a directory of FMO members and international exhibitions listings.
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News briefs
Vision Monday celebrated its 20th anniversary by hosting the first...
Vision Monday celebrated its 20th anniversary by hosting the first Optical Industry Global Leadership Summit in New York on March 21. The conference included presentations by Andrea Guerra, chief executive of the Luxottica Group, Bob Gray, president of Highmark Vision Group, Scott Olivet, chief executive of Oakley, Al Bernstein, president ...
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News briefs
Boots Opticians has opened its twentieth franchise practice and celebrated...
Boots Opticians has opened its twentieth franchise practice and celebrated its twentieth anniversary. More franchises are due to open shortly. Boots Opticians has transformed six in-store and three free-standing practices into franchises since July 2006 and says it is happy with their sales growth and their adjustment to the new ...
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News briefs
Eye Care Centers of America (ECCA) has opened its first...
Eye Care Centers of America (ECCA) has opened its first Visionworks superstore in the Golf Mill shopping center near Chicago. ECCA plans to open a total of at least 20 such superstores this year, 14 of which should come on stream before July. The locations include the Chicago Loop, which ...
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A court in Hong Kong has accepted an initial settlement...
A court in Hong Kong has accepted an initial settlement with the creditors of the bankrupt Moulin Global Eyecare Holdings group. They will receive an initial payment of between 10 and 12 percent of their outstanding claims by the end of March, according to local press reports quoting Ferrier Hodgson, ...
