All Eyewear Intelligence articles in Volume 26 No. 21+22
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News briefs
Lenskart shares trade slightly up in stock exchange debut
Following the group’s largely oversubscribed Initial Public Offering (IPO), Lenskart’s shares started trading yesterday morning on two Indian stock exchanges at a unit price of 395 rupees (€3.9), down 1.7 percent from the IPO price. Their value picked up thereafter and seems to have settled at around 410 rupees (€4.0) ...
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PDF NewsletterEyewear Intelligence: Vol 26 - No 21+22
Lenskart’s 240x earnings valuation raises some eyebrows | EssilorLuxottica posts record growth in Q3 as wearables boom comes with side benefits | Fielmann reports higher margins, 4% Q3 sales hike despite Germany slowdown | National Vision raises guidance again as sales momentum continues in Q3 | Warby Parker moderates 2025 sales growth guidance, pitches ‘third act’ of innovation | HOYA reports fast topline growth but lower margins | Kering reports progress in Q3, stresses eyewear is a core asset after beauty unit sale | Safilo reports solid margin gains on mixed regional sales | Marcolin posts strong Q3 ahead of VSP Vision takeover | Private equity firms look at Inspecs takeover, Safilo too but only for some assets | Investor pressures Inspecs for sum-of-the-parts deal | Modo gets $100m cash injection | Bausch + Lomb Q3 contact lens sales rise by 8%, evaluates potential deal with Cooper | French consumers spent €8.3bn on eyeglasses and contact lenses last year | Eye care and telemedicine in France: a case study | Topcon launches global oculomics platform, bolsters Harmony in Europe | Essilux makes Stellest smart, expands scope to not yet myopic children | Aspiring smart-glasses producer raises $250m | Optiswiss accelerates its international development | EssilorLuxottica launches new B2B event with focus on innovations | Ultracheap Blacksheep flagship store to open at Paris’ BHV – except not | Allsides set to open NY flagship as it expands capacity, fine-tunes scanner technology
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News briefs
Alcon and STAAR Surgical amend merger agreement
STAAR Surgical has announced the amendment of its agreement for its acquisition by Alcon, which has been criticized by Broadwood Partners and other shareholders in the California-based refractive surgery company since the initial announcement in August. Among other things, the new agreement allows STAAR Surgical to solicit other third-party bids ...
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News briefs
Mondottica partners with DEG for distribution in Germany and Austria
Mondottica Group has appointed Design Eyewear Group (DEG) as new distribution partners in Germany and Austria for its Hackett, Pepe Jeans London, Scotch & Soda and Ted Baker brands. The new agreement follows the bankruptcy of Menrad Group, with which Mondottica was associated in a joint venture for the distribution ...
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News briefs
Topcon Eye Care unit sales dropped in Q2
Sales at Topcon Corporation’s Eye Care division dropped by 10.2 percent to 17.9 billion Japanese yen (€100m) in the quarter ended Sept. 30, following a flattish performance in Q1. For the first six months of the fiscal year, the unit’s topline declined by 2.2 percent in reported terms and by ...
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ArticleWarby Parker moderates 2025 sales growth guidance, pitches 'third act' of innovation
Warby Parker said it was entering a “third act” of innovation through artificial intelligence, as it announced that it is also partnering with Samsung for smart glasses after revealing earlier this year that it is working with Google to bring intelligent eyewear to the market. “We believe that Samsung’s innovation ...
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ArticleEssilux makes Stellest smart, expands scope to not yet myopic children
EssilorLuxottica presented its new Essilor Stellest 2.0 lenses at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai last week. The second generation of the myopia management lens delivers higher efficacy in slowing the axial elongation of the eye by generating a stronger optical signal to double the mean power, the group ...
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News briefsAnother strong quarter at Kits
Kits Eyecare saw a 25.1 percent year-on-year boost in revenues to 52.4 million Canadian dollars (€32.2m) in the third quarter of FY 2025, ended on Sept. 30. Gross profit increased by 31.6 percent to CAD 18.1 million (€11.1m) in value and by 1.7 percentage points to 34.6 percent as a ...
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News briefs
Synsam Group expands Essilux smart glasses distribution with Nuance
Synsam Group has announced that it is starting to distribute Nuance, EssilorLuxottica’s hearing aid glasses, in the Nordic region. The company says the glasses will be available at 150 of its Synsam stores in Sweden by the end of this year and that distribution will be expanded to all Swedish ...
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ArticleFielmann reports higher margins, 4% Q3 sales hike despite Germany slowdown
Fielmann Group consolidated sales amounted to €618 million in Q3, up 3.0 percent year on year and decelerating from the double-digit growth in H1, as its Shopko Optical business in the US has been integrated for more than one year into the group’s accounts. Various dynamics in Europe, ...
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ArticleNational Vision raises guidance again as sales momentum continues in Q3
National Vision raised its guidance for fiscal 2025 for the third time in as many quarters, as revenues from continuing operations in the third quarter increased by 7.9 percent compared to the year earlier to $487.3 million after rising by 7.7 percent in the second quarter and by 5.7 percent ...
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ArticleSafilo reports solid margin gains on mixed regional sales
Safilo Group Q3 sales declined by 2.1 percent to €220.8 million in reported terms, but they were up 2.3 percent at constant rates, in line with their pace during the first half of the year. The difference between the two ratios is explained primarily by the appreciation of the euro ...
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News briefs
WOF's first ASEAN trade show gathers 5,500 industry professionals
WOF ASEAN Int’l Optics Fair, a trade show by the China Wenzhou International Optics Fair (WOF) group, took place in Bangkok, Thailand, on Oct. 9-11. Organizers have announced that 230 exhibitors and over 5,500 professionals from over 30 countries (including Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and Australia) took part ...
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News briefs
Change at the helm of Kering Eyewear in North America
Kering Eyewear promoted Davide Righetto from Deputy Head of North America to Head of North America on Nov. 3. Righetto, who joined Kering Eyewear from Safilo Group 11 years ago, has been focusing on the management and integration into the group of Maui Jim. He will now be overseeing the ...
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News briefs
SILMO announces 2026 eyewear design contest
Aspiring eyewear designers have until June 16, 2026, to send in their projects for the SILMO 2026 Optical Design Contest, whose theme is “seeing tomorrow.” Finalists will be showcased at the next edition of the Paris eyewear trade show, in September of next year. The winner and their school will ...
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ArticleUltracheap Blacksheep flagship store to open at Paris’ BHV – except not
Blacksheep, a French-based pure online player selling ultra-low-priced eyewear, is reportedly preparing to open a 200-square-meter shop at the BHV department store in Paris, for what seems to be the brand’s first venture into brick-and-mortal retail. Founded by Pierre Wizman – the French entrepreneur that created Polette, another DTC eyewear ...
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ArticleLenskart’s 240x earnings valuation raises some eyebrows
Indian eyewear retailer Lenskart’s IPO was oversubscribed 1.70 times after the second trading day, with institutional investors including Singapore’s government and Norway’s pension fund participating in a €710 million offering that values the company at €6.8 billion.
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ArticleAllsides set to open NY flagship as it expands capacity, fine-tunes scanner technology
Allsides, an Italian 3D scanner startup that is also active in the eyewear sector, is planning to open new scanning centers in the US, Europe and Asia in coming months and is working to fine-tune its technology, which is rooted in the application of artificial intelligence to images. The expansion ...
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News briefsMagic Leap, Google present prototype AI glasses
Magic Leap and Google have just presented – at the ninth annual Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh, held on Oct. 27-30 – a prototype model of AI glasses that are to serve as a “reference design for the Android XR ecosystem.” Magic Leap is expanding its horizons – from, ...
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News briefs
Meta's Reality Labs almost doubles sales, remains deep in red ink
Revenue for Meta’s Reality Labs, which includes VR headsets and AI smart glasses, jumped by 74.0 percent year over year to $470 million in Q3. It was up 17.8 percent to $1,252 million for the first nine months of the year. During the earnings call, group CFO Susan ...
