All Eyewear Intelligence articles in Volume 23 No. 9+10

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    Eyewear Intelligence: Vol 23 - No 9+10

    17 May 2022

    Italian eyewear recovery driven by eyeglasses’ frames | MIDO on the starting blocks | Fielmann sales up 9% in Q1 despite headwinds | Mister Spex Q1 sales up 6% despite flat | rescription eyewear business | Synsam maintains growth pace, ramps up Swedish factory | Optic 2000 group just over €1bn in revenue last year | National Vision outlook down, prices up as inflation bites | Hoya lenses sales up 7% in Q4, margins slightly down | Biometric lenses boost Rodenstock sales and profits | European rebound fueled Safilo Q1 growth | Marcolin builds on 2021 momentum in Q1 | Strong wholesale and retail rebound for De Rigo in 2021 | Bausch + Lomb sees 5% organic sales growth in Q1 as IPO wraps up | Ortho-k and overseas market keep driving Menicon | Russian contact lenses market in turmoil | Myopia management research updates presented at ARVO | Lentesplus raises $9m for development in LATAM | New French retailer wants to ride the healthcare reform wave

  • News briefs

    opti highlights the emotional experience, looks forward to 2023

    17 May 2022

    The organizers of opti have announced that about 13,000 visitors from 71 countries took part in the 2022 edition of the Munich show from last May 13 to 15. The show had been canceled last year due to the COVID-19 outbreak and rescheduled from January to May this year because ...

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    Higher gross profits limit Q1 loss at KITS

    17 May 2022

    Revenues at KITS dipped by 1.9 percent to 20.052 million Canadian dollars for the first quarter of 2022, but gross margin increased from 24.0 to 30.5 percent, thanks to a 10.2 percent drop in cost of sales. As a result, the recently established Canadian online eyewear specialist was able to ...

  • Menicon
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    Ortho-k and overseas market keep driving Menicon

    16 May 2022

    Menicon reported a 16.2 percent year-on-year growth in total revenue for its fiscal year ended March 31, with total net sales reaching 100.2 billion Japanese yen (€743m). The Vision Care division, which accounts for over 90 percent of group revenues, reported a double-digit sales increase, driven by a strong expansion ...

  • News briefs

    Sales up, profits down for Q1 at TOG

    16 May 2022

    Revenues were up but profits down year-on-year for the first quarter at Thai Optical Group (TOG). Specifically, revenues went from 607 to 662 million Thai baht (€18.8m to €18.3) and profits from THB 96 to THB 76 (€2.6m to €2.1m). The company attributes much of the sales increase to economic ...

  • National Vision
    Article

    National Vision outlook down, prices up as inflation bites

    16 May 2022

    National Vision, the U.S. optical retail group addressing the entry-level segment of the market with its America’s Best and Eyeglass World chain, has downgraded its outlook for the 2022 fiscal year and increased its prices following a decline in both Q1 revenue and income. Quarterly net revenue decreased by 1.2 ...

  • News briefs

    Carl Zeiss Meditec slowed down by supply chain hiccups

    16 May 2022

    Carl Zeiss Meditec reported revenues of €855.4 million for the first six months of its 2021/22 financial year, up by 11.5 percent in reported terms and by 10.7 percent in constant currencies from H1 2020/21. The Ophthalmic Devices division posted sales of €651.9 million, up by 9.7 percent year-on-year at ...

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    Article

    Mister Spex Q1 sales up 6% despite flat prescription eyewear business

    16 May 2022

    Mister Spex has announced a 6 percent year-on-year increase in revenue for the first quarter of 2022 to €47 million in spite of a strong comparison basis in the previous year and depressed consumer sentiment due to inflation. However, the quarterly revenue growth dropped down from the 13 percent growth ...

  • News briefs

    Silhouette has a new country manager for France

    13 May 2022

    On April 28 Silhouette appointed Camille Masson to be its country manager for France, Acuité reports. He is overseeing the subsidiary’s sales, marketing and administrative departments, reporting to Frank Cornelis, sales director for Europe, and will be helping to launch a line of sports eyewear, called Evil Eye, in France. ...

  • News briefs

    Alcon posts 14% contact lens sales gain in Q1

    13 May 2022

    Alcon saw sales of contact lenses in the first quarter ended March 31 grow by 14 percent to $557 million in constant currency terms, as strength in silicone hydrogen (SiHy) lenses continued to underpin growth, including Precision 1 and Dailies Total 1 product families and Total 30. Revenues for the ...

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    CooperVision launches new campaign for its myopia-control contacts

    13 May 2022

    CooperVision has launched an online marketing campaign – what it calls a digital ecosystem – to recount the evolution of myopia in a group of children, aged eight to 12 years, who wear the company’s MiSight one-day contact lenses. Included are twin gymnasts, a hockey player and an ice skater ...

  • Synsam
    Article

    Synsam maintains growth pace, ramps up Swedish factory

    12 May 2022

    The Synsam Group has reported a 14.7 percent year-on-year sales increase for its first quarter in 2022, with total revenues reaching 1,186 million Swedish crowns (€111.8m). The retailer’s performance was in line with the 14.0 percent growth reported for the previous quarter. Q1 2022 sales were up by 12 percent ...

  • Bausch Health
    Article

    Bausch + Lomb sees 5% organic sales growth in Q1 as IPO wraps up

    12 May 2022

    Bausch Health sold 35 million common Bausch + Lomb shares, or a 10.0 percent stake, at a price of $18.00 per share, in an initial public offering yielding gross proceeds of $630 million and valuing its subsidiary at about $6,300 million. Joseph Papa, chairman of Bausch Health and CEO of ...

  • News briefs

    The Vision Council releases first quarterly consumer report

    12 May 2022

    The Vision Council has released its Consumer inSights Q1 2022 Report, the first publication from its recently established newinSights Research Program. The report presents the results of a survey of 15,015 adults in the U.S. It covers vision correction, eye exams, eyeglasses, contact lenses, readers and plano sunglasses. It ...

  • News briefs

    New warehouse at Novacel HQ

    11 May 2022

    Novacel has announced the completion of the building of a new 3,000 square-meter warehouse for its equipment division at its headquarters in the north of France. The company said that the investment was meant to support the growth of its instruments business that doubled in the last six years, as ...

  • News briefs

    French voluntary groups up 7.5% in 2021

    11 May 2022

    French optical voluntary groups saw their sales increase on average by 7.5 percent in 2021 compared to 2020, according to a report by l’OL Mag based on data from the Fédération du Commerce Coopératif et Associé. Optical banners covered by this research include Atol, Optic 2000 and Lissac, Optique Leclerc, ...

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    Article

    Myopia management research updates presented at ARVO

    11 May 2022

    Three recent studies by the three main players that have developed myopia management eyeglass lenses were presented at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) conference earlier this month. Hoya Vision Care has announced results from a six-year study of its MiYoSmart lens, which is based on the ...

  • News briefs

    Top management is changing at ABDO

    10 May 2022

    Top management is changing at the Association of British Dispensing Opticians (ABDO). After a term of two years, Jo Holmes has yielded the presidency to Daryl Newsome, who will himself serve a term of two years. Newsome has in turn yielded the vice presidency to Kevin Gutsell, who will serve ...

  • Hoya
    Article

    Hoya lenses sales up 7% in Q4, margins slightly down

    10 May 2022

    HOYA has reported another quarter of record sales and profits at group level, with Q4 FY21 revenues increasing by 12 percent year-on-year to 169.6 billion yen (€1,233m). Both business units contributed double-digit growths in reported terms, partly boosted by currency tailwinds. At constant exchange rates, group sales were up by ...

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    Article

    Lentesplus raises $9m for development in LATAM

    10 May 2022

    Lentesplus, a Bogota-based company specializing in online retail of contact lenses, raised $9 million last month in order to further expand its footprint in Latin America as well as to accelerate its transition to a vertically-integrated omnichannel business model and to develop its eyeglasses’ catalog. Founded seven years ago by ...