All articles by Pierre-Marie Bernard – Page 6
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New management structure and increased retail focus for MPG
Following the death at the end of 2023 of Dr. Michael Pachleitner, its founder and CEO, the eponymous MPG (Michael Pachleitner Group) is entering a new era of its history with a new management structure and a strategic focus on the development of its retail business unit. We sat down ...
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Two top-ten German optical retailers join forces to take over Edel-Optics
Optiker Bode and ROTTLER, two family-owned and historical optical retail chains respectively based in Hamburg and North Rhine-Westphalia, are joining forces to take over Edel-Optics, an online optical retail pionneer in both Germany and Europe. Founded in 2009, the company had filed for insolvency proceedings in February. Edel-Optics has ...
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Sales and profit up double digits for Conant Optical in 2023
Chinese lens manufacturer Conant Optical has reported a 12.7 percent year-on-year increase in annual revenue to RMB 1,760 million (€226m) for fiscal 2023, slightly accelerating from its performance in H1. Although the growth in the first half of the year was almost entirely due to price-mix improvements, an uptick in ...
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Product mix drives growth and profitability gains for Mister Spex as customer base stagnates
Mister Spex ended fiscal 2023 on a positive note as total Q4 revenue increased by 7.4 percent year-on-year to €46.7 million, significantly accelerating from the 2.4 percent growth reported for the previous quarter. Reflecting the company’s strategic focus on its domestic market since the end of 2022, the quarterly revenue ...
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Retail expansion, price hikes and inbound tourism boosted JEH top and bottom lines in fiscal 2024
Japan Eyewear Holdings (JEH), the company behind the Kaneko Optical and 999.9 brands, has reported a 22.2 percent year-on-year increase in revenue to 2,623 million Japanese yen (€16.0m) for the last quarter of its fiscal year ended last Jan. 31. Although this marked a deceleration from the 33.6 percent growth ...
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Afflelou maintains mid-single digit topline growth in Q2, gained market shares in 2023
The Afflelou Group has reported a 5.5 percent year-on-year increase in network sales for the second quarter of its 2024 fiscal year ended Jan. 31, in line with the growth pace reported in the previous quarter. Quarterly sales rose to €231.1 million driven by Afflelou’s two key countries, France and ...
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New owner for Horizons Optical
Oakley Capital, a London-based private equity investor focusing on mid-sized companies, has announced its acquisition of a majority share in Horizons Optical, the Spanish-based supplier of software and equipment for the production of customized ophthalmic lenses. Horizons Optical, which was originally the R&D division Indo Optical was spun off from ...
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Organic growth and network expansion fuel Krys Group momentum
KRYS GROUP claims that it consolidated its market leadership in France last year as solid organic growth and the “exceptional” expansion of its retail footprint enabled the company to outperform the French optical market growth (+5.5 percent according to GFK) by three percentage points. Total network sales in the country ...
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Safilo looks at 2024 with confidence and hope after complex 2023
Safilo Group has reported its final full-year results for fiscal 2023, confirming the 4.8 percent year-on-year decrease in revenue to €1,025 million announced when the group released preliminary figures at the end of January. Annual sales were down by 2.4 percent at constant exchange rates versus 2023 and by 1.3 ...
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EssilorLuxottica expands retail partnership with Reliance Brands in India
EssilorLuxottica is expanding the scope ot its partnership with India’s Reliance Brands, which is taking over the development of the LensCrafters banner and the managing of its franchising network in the country. The development of the LensCrafters franchise was previously in the hands of DLF Brands and a first store ...
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Kits Eyecare topline up 31% in 2023 driven by repeat customers and eyeglasses
Canadian-based Kits Eyecare has reported a 21 percent year-on-year increase in Q4 revenue to $31.6 million, slowing down slightly from the 32 percent growth in the previous quarter. The company said that the Q4 sales uptick was driven by the eyeglasses segment (+39 percent to $4.1 million), repeat customer revenue ...
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Hans Anders and Eyes + More owner up for sale
According to various reports in the Dutch financial press, which we could confirm with people close to the matter, the optical retail group behind the Hans Anders, Eyes + More and Direkt Optik banners has been put up for sale by 3i, its major shareholder since 2017. In its last ...
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Thai Optical Group sales flattish in 2023
Thai Optical Group has announced that its total revenue inched up by 1.2 percent year-on-year to 3,015 million Thai baht (€77m) in 2023, falling short of the 5-8 percent growth target announced at the start of the fiscal year. This marks a sharp deceleration from the previous year when the ...
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CooperVision raises 2024 guidance despite Q1 slowdown
As announced last December during the presentation of CooperCompanies full-year financial results, sales of CooperVision for the first quarter of its 2024 fiscal year ended Jan. 31 slowed down from Q4 2023 as the company is struggling to keep up with growing demand for contact lenses. After eleven consecutive quarters ...
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Fielmann topped sales targets and improved profitability in 2023
Releasing preliminary figures for 2023, Fielmann Group stressed that it exceeded its sales goals and improved its profitability last year thanks to its Vision 2025 plan investments and despite lingering inflation and depressed consumer sentiment. External sales increased by 12 percent year-on-year to €2.27 billion in 2023 after they rose ...
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National Vision posts good Q4, transitions out of Walmart partnership
National Vision, the third largest optical retail player in the U.S., has reported Q4 revenue of $500.4 million, up by 8.0 percent year-on-year. The company said that the quarterly growth was primarily driven by a 6.0 percent increase in comparable store sales that reflected both an increase in customer transactions ...
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TPI aims to solve the “chicken-and-egg” 3D printed eyewear problem
During the recent Mido trade fair in Milan, we stopped at the booth of Tech Print Industries (TPI), a company specialized in the development of technologies for the production of 3D-printed glasses, and had the opportunity to speak with Marc Notenboom, co-founder and chief technology officer. TPI was presenting at ...
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After a good 2023, Atol to accelerate on audition and low-cost banners
French voluntary retail group Atol has announced a 6.3 percent year-on-year increase in company revenue to €455 million for 2023, including €3 million from the sales of hearing aids. The group stressed that last year was a record high both in terms of revenue and growth pace and that it ...
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Synsam wraps up another double-digit growth fiscal year
Synsam Group has reported a 7.7 percent year-on-year increase in revenue to 1,479 million Swedish crowns (€132 m) for the last quarter of fiscal 2023, slowing down slightly from the previous quarter when sales rose by 9.9 percent. On an organic basis, excluding acquisitions, currency effects and franchised stores, quarterly ...
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Paris Miki reports Q3 slowdown despite booming sunglass segment
Paris Miki has announced a 2.6 percent year-on-year increase in Q3 revenue to 12,689 million Japanese yen (€78 m), slowing down from the 8.7 percent growth reported for the previous quarter. The Japanese-based retailer’s quarterly revenue uptick was driven by its domestic market where sales rose by 2.8 percent to ...