Industry News
EssilorLuxottica Reports Steady Growth Driven by Innovation and Strong Market Performance
EssilorLuxottica has reported a solid revenue increase of 4% in constant exchange rates for the third quarter of 2024. Total revenue reached €6,437 million, a testament to the company's innovation-led growth strategy and strong market performance across key regions.
Francesco Milleri, Chairman and CEO, and Paul du Saillant, Deputy CEO at EssilorLuxottica commented: “In the third quarter, we maintained solid momentum, with all regions and businesses contributing to steady growth, fueled by our commitment to innovation and excellence. We solidified our positioning in the med-tech space, while preparing for the acceleration of the business in the near future, with our myopia management offering and smart glasses roll-out, Nuance Audio launch, Heidelberg Engineering and Supreme additions to the Group’s portfolio. The long-term partnership between EssilorLuxottica and Meta continues to write the bold story of smart glasses as the disruptive category in digital eyewear. Welcoming 1,000 new talented colleagues from the acquired companies strengthens our collective expertise. We’re also proud to be once again recognized as one of the top-50 companies on Fortune’s 'Change the World' list. As we enter the fourth quarter with confidence, we remain on track with our long-term targets and continue driving meaningful transformation for the years to come.”
While North America saw modest growth of 1.6%, the launch of Ray-Ban Meta wearables boosted sales, especially in the prescription eyewear sector. However, the sun retail segment only turned positive in September, following a sluggish start.
The EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) region experienced a robust 5.6% growth, with both Professional Solutions and Direct to Consumer businesses performing well. The success of innovations like Varilux XR and Transitions Gen S played a key role in driving this growth.
The Latin American region posted the highest growth, with revenue up by 10.8%, driven by the performance of luxury eyewear brands and a recovery in the sun business.
Asia-Pacific posted revenue of €794 million, up 5.0% compared to the third quarter of 2023 (+4.5% at current exchange rates), slowing down compared to the two previous quarters also reflecting the challenging comparison with +11.7% of the same quarter of last year. Despite the weakening macroeconomic conditions across the country, Greater China closed slightly positive in revenue, with positive Mailand China more than offsetting negative of Hong Kong. In Professional Solutions, Greater China was low-single-digit positive, sustained by the still buoyant performance of Stellest, which grew more than 40% year on year in revenue in the quarter and approached the mark of 2 million pairs sold year to date, more than offsetting the sales drop at Bolon due to feeble sell-out of the brand. All the other key markets were on a sound growth trajectory, with Japan and India up high-single digit. In Direct to Consumer, both optical and sun channels were slightly positive in comparable-store sales, while China as a country was negative in both, due to market conditions. In optical, OPSM grew midsingle digit in Australia/New Zealand. Sun business was slightly positive, supported by the healthy performance of Oakley stores.
According to Bloomberg, EssilorLuxottica has also taken a 5.1% stake in Japanese company Nikon. EssilorLuxottica already operates an eye-wear joint venture with Nikon that was set up in 2000.
EssilorLuxottica continues to prioritise innovation as a growth driver. The rollout of cutting-edge products like Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, Stellest lenses, and Transitions Gen S contributed to the company’s strong market positioning. The launch of Nuance Audio, part of its med-tech offering, promises further market disruption.
EssilorLuxottica remains on track to meet its long-term revenue growth target, with mid-single-digit increases projected annually through to 2026. This growth is underpinned by the company’s focus on new technologies and strategic partnerships, such as its collaboration with Meta.
As the year progresses, EssilorLuxottica is positioned to continue its growth trajectory, with further innovations and market expansions on the horizon.