HAL Investments, the investment company that owns 67.6 percent of Pearle Europe, is set to acquire Verenigde Bedrijven Groeneveld, a diversified Dutch group that owns, among other things, a chain of 120 shops throughout the Netherlands that sell optical products and hearing aids under the Groeneveld Opticiens and Schoonnberg Hoortoestellen banners. The stores will be transferred to Pearle Europe, which already has more than 640 optical retail shops throughout the continent, if Groeneveld's unions approve the deal.

Based at Dordrecht, the Groeneveld group employs a total of 750 persons and has an annual turnover of about 198 million guilders (e90m-$81m) through a variety of activities, including wholesale sales of personal protective equipment and consulting on working conditions and climate control. HAL will consolidate these business-to-business activities into a separate division and explore opportunities for their expansion elsewhere in Europe, as it has already done in the optical retailing sector.

Groeneveld is partly owned by NPM Capital, a European venture capital fund. HAL Investments is owned by HAL Trust, a holding company with a market capitalization of 1.6 billion euros, quoted on Euronext. Last September, HAL International, a sister company in Monaco, raised to about 20 percent its own stake in Cole National Corp., which has more than 2,800 outlets throughout North America and the Caribbean, including Pearle Vision, Sears Optical and Target Optical stores. Cole also owns 21 percent of Pearle Europe.

Cole National has reported a financial turnaround in the 4th quarter ended Feb. 3 to a net profit of $3,738,000 on 11 percent higher sales of $298.8 million. Operating margins rose from 33.9 to 67.3 percent of sales. For the full fiscal year, the group's net income grew by 11 percent to $2,229,000 on 3.5 percent higher revenues of $1,077.1 million. Earnings before amortization and interest rose by 4.2 percent to $73 million in spite of the start-up expenses associated with the opening of 92 Target Optical stores. On a comparable store basis, Cole National's total sales grew by 3.7 percent last year, including gains of 2.7 percent for Pearle Vision and 3.7 percent for Cole Licensed Brands, which includes Sears Optical and Target Optical.

Cole expects its net income to more than double this year, in spite of major investments for the opening of an additional 100 Target Optical stores. Cole has also decided to roll out throughout its Pearle Vision chain the enhancements that it has already tested through its Focus Store Program, involving merchandise assortment, inventory levels, doctor support, marketing and training.