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Thursday, 17 May 2012 |
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 Following the non-renewal of its Armani license Safilo has announced that 1000 preliminary redundancies have been identified in its Italian production sites. Safilo has immediately set in motion a negotiation table with the trade unions and workers’ representatives in order to identify the best industrial and organizational structure for the future, with the aim of minimizing the social impact and safeguarding the Safilo's competitiveness, for the benefit of the workers who will remain in force, by carrying out its mid and long term plans for which “Made in Italy”, innovation, and product quality remain an absolute priority.
All parties have agreed upon and set down a calendar of technical meetings to closely examine the situation which will take place until May 28. It has been furthermore agreed that, during this period, all possible efforts will be made to identify shared solutions to ensure the best possible management of the overstaffing problem.
The Armani license is now with Luxottica.
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Wednesday, 09 May 2012 |
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The first quarter of 2012 was the best first quarter in Luxottica’s history largely as a result of the various initiatives implemented during the period.
Net sales growth in both Divisions increased by double digits compared to the first quarter of 2011, which was also a period characterized by strong growth. Especially strong performance was achieved in emerging markets, which grew by more than 36%, with peak sales growth of approximately 40% in Brazil, India and East Asia.
Comparable store sales of the optical business in the Asia-Pacific region increased 6.3%, benefiting from the measures taken in recent quarters and which are expected to yield their full effects in 2012. OPSM comparable store sales in Australia increased by approximately 9%. Favorable results were also reported by the Retail Division in Latin America and China, where both net sales and comparable store sales increased and where the sun segment is steadily increasing
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Thursday, 03 May 2012 |
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 Marchon Eyewear has announced the purchase of Dragon Alliance, one of the world’s leading goggle and eyewear brands in the action sports market.
Will Howard, founder and CEO of Dragon said, “This is a very significant day for Dragon. We are very excited about becoming part of the Marchon family. Since our founding in my garage in Capo Beach, California in 1993, Dragon set out to be the leading independent eyewear and accessories brand in the active youth lifestyle market. We do this by supporting the best athletes with the best product, and remaining very connected to our core retailers and consumers. This is the driving force behind the company’s success. With the support of Marchon and VSP, we will become an even stronger company, while remaining true to our heritage.”
Fuelling Dragon’s recent growth have been innovative, diversified products in all eyewear categories. There is an emphasis on creating high-quality functional products that appeal to the youth market and push outside the boundaries of the status quo. This includes the recent groundbreaking launch of the frameless Advanced Projects Infinity snow goggle.
Claudio Gottardi, Marchon President and CEO said, “This new partnership with a young, dynamic team at Dragon will significantly increase Marchon’s presence in the action sports market. Dragon is a first class company in this category. Dragon’s emphasis on quality products and innovative design completely aligns with Marchon’s. We look forward to further extending the reach of Dragon and leveraging its design and technology leadership.”
The Dragon team will continue to be based in Carlsbad, California. Will Howard will remain as CEO, leading Dragon’s growth and the team into the future. Dragon will continue to be a free-thinking, alternative brand that appeals to the core participants of action sports and youth lifestyle markets.
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Thursday, 26 April 2012 |
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 Essilor International has announced that consolidated revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2012 totaled €1,269.9 million, an increase of 21%, excluding the currency effect, over the year-earlier period.
Essilor's 8.5% like-for-like growth rate reflects strong momentum in all of its host regions and divisions, particularly in the United States, and the successful launches of new products such as Optifog™ and Crizal UV®. Changes in the scope of consolidation increased revenue by 12.5%, with bolt-on acquisitions accounting for 3.3% of the increase and the 2011 strategic acquisitions of Shamir Optical and Stylemark representing 6.7%. The remaining 2.4% improvement was attributable to the Nikon-Essilor and Essilor Korea joint ventures, which are now fully consolidated after being consolidated on a 50% basis before. Lastly, the 2.6% positive currency effect was mainly due to the rise in the US dollar and – to a lesser extent – the Chinese yuan and the Australian dollar against the euro.
In the Asia-Pacific & Africa region, very strong momentum was maintained in fast-growing markets like India and China, where Essilor continued to expand in the mid-range segment. The developed markets of Japan and Australia also performed well during the period, partly due to temporarily higher volumes.
In Australia, Essilor increased its stake in prescription laboratory Wallace Everett Lens Technology (annual revenue of approximately €3.2 million) from 33% to 66%.
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Tuesday, 03 April 2012 |
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 Six months after the closing in October 2011, caused by the worst flooding to hit Thailand in decades, HOYA Lens Thailand Limited has re-opened its manufacturing facility in Ayutthaya. HOYA starts production with limited volumes of prescription lenses [RX] which will increase progressively on a monthly basis.
HOYA has taken several flood-protection measures to secure its facility in case inundations may occur in the future. These include the reinforcement of surrounding factory walls, placement of secondary steel walls and shutters, additional pump systems and drain pipes and a so-called irrigate wall that can be opened to let out water.
Additionally, the Hi-Tech Industrial Estate, where HOYA’s RX facilities are based, is in the process of building a new flood barrier of 5.4 meters high, as well as redesigning its pumping systems to accommodate higher water volumes.
In addition, HOYA is working on the re-establishment of its global production system to pursue a partial deconcentration of production facilities, while maintaining a secure and stable supply chain structure.
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Monday, 02 April 2012 |
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 In the fourth quarter of 2011, financial results remained healthy for Safilo, with trends substantially in line with the third quarter of the year. Top line growth was again driven by the strong performance of the Group’s licensed brand and own brand portfolio in the main fast-growing markets in Asia and Latin America as well as by the resilience of the US market. In the quarter, the net result was positive and benefited from the good performance of the operating result.
Results in full year 2011 proved to be very solid for Safilo, underlining year-on-year improvements at all economic and financial levels. The Group’s 2011 revenues increased by 6.0% at constant perimeter and exchange rates, EBITDA and EBIT improved double-digit, driving the net result to a profit of Euro 27.9 million. The Group finished the year with a strong balance sheet, with the financial leverage of net debt to EBITDA at 1.9x.
Key economic and financial highlights (in millions of euro): Net Sales were 1,101.9 in FY 2011: +6.0% at constant perimeter and exchange rates; EBITDA was 122.6 in FY 2011 (11.1% margin): +13.7%; EBIT was 86.2 in FY 2011 (7.8% margin): +27.1%; Net Profit was 27.9 in FY 2011 (2.5% margin) compared to 0.7 in FY 2010; and Net Debt was 238.3 at the end of December 2011 from 239.4 at the end of September 2011 and 256.2 at the end of December 2010.
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