The latest news, analysis and data on corporate strategic initiatives, the latest mergers and acquisitions, IPOs, insolvencies and cooperations in the eyewear industry.
Safilo comments FY 2025 solid performance, M&A targets
Confirming preliminary results released at the end of January, Safilo Group announced yesterday that its Q4 revenue declined by 4.6 percent to €225 million. At constant exchange rates, the topline inched up by 0.4 percent, with both North America and Europe growing at a low single-digit margin rate (see table). ...
Topcon Healthcare launches EMEA innovation center
Topcon Healthcare has launched the Topcon Healthcare Innovation Center EMEA (THINC EMEA) in London’s Knowledge Quarter, modeled from its first THINC facility in La Jolla, California. The new London center will serve as a collaborative platform between eye‑care specialists, healthcare professionals, academics, industry partners, and patient associations across Europe, the ...
Del Vecchio heir looks to increase stake in controlling shareholder
Leonardo Maria del Vecchio, Chief Strategy Officer at EssilorLuxottica and one of the heirs of Luxottica founder Leonardo del Vecchio, is looking to increase his stake in Delfin, the Del Vecchio holding company that controls the eyewear group with a 32.2 percent stake, according to media reports. Delfin has not ...
Bidco is set to acquire INSPECS but may have to compose with Safilo
Bidco, the consortium led by British entrepreneurs Luke Johnson and Ian Livingstone, is changing tactics for its planned acquisition of INSPECS Group, which appears to be contested by Safilo Group. On Friday last week, INSPECS officially said that Bidco was switching from the court-sanctioned scheme announced in December last year ...
Bidco builds up stake in INSPECS amid stalled takeover process
The acquisition process of INSPECS Group by Bidco 1125, a new company created by British entrepreneurs Luke Johnson and Ian Livingstone, seems to have stalled as the eyewear company announced last Friday that the proxy shareholders’ votes received so far, if unchanged, would not enable the acquisition. Therefore, INSPECS is ...
Menicon turns 75 with brand new dailies factory in Malaysia
Menicon inaugurated yesterday its new daily contact lenses manufacturing facility in Kedah, Malaysia, in presence of officials from the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA). The building of the factory was first announced in 2022, and commercial production is now starting, only a few days before the 75th anniversary of the ...
Mitsui reports modest Life & Healthcare revenue hike, discusses vision care strategy
Mitsui Chemicals’ Life & Healthcare Solutions revenue inched up by 1.3 percent year over year to 174.1 billion Japanese yen (€941m) for the first nine months of fiscal 2024/25. Q3 sales were up by 2.6 percent. The division includes the group’s vision care materials business, among others (oral care, agrochemical ...
The European eyecare sector remains an attractive M&A market
There were 28 company transactions – including full takeovers and acquisitions of minority stakes – in the eyecare and eyewear sector in Europe in 2025, according to a recent report by Houlihan Lokey, a global investment bank monitoring the sector and other consumer markets. The company was involved last year ...
Kenyan retail startup aims for scale and impact in East Africa
Backed by Japanese and Indian investors and by a French optical retail veteran, Kenyan optical retail startup Mamy Eyewear plans to grow from five stores in Nairobi to over 100 locations in East Africa within five years, leveraging AI-powered eye exams and affordable pricing to address the region’s critical shortage of eye care services.
Seeing a 'strategic opportunity,' Safilo builds up a 25% stake in Inspecs
On Dec. 15, 2025, Safilo officially announced that it did not intend to make a firm offer for the acquisition of Inspecs. The announcement followed Inspecs’ statement on Dec. 10, 2025, that the board had found an agreement with Bidco for an 84 pence (€0.96) per share deal that values ...