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October 24, 2016April 24, 2018

Essilor Reports Like-for-Like Growth in Third Quarter Revenues

Charenton-le-Pont, France – Essilor International announced that consolidated revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 totaled €5,306 million, representing an increase of 5.5% as reported.

Nine-Month Revenue

Combined growth (like-for-like growth plus acquisitions) came out at 7.8% and reflects the following key factors:
– A like-for-like increase in consolidated revenue of 3.8%, including good performances for Lenses & Optical Instruments and Equipment, and a slight decline in sales for Sunglasses & Readers, although business rebounded during the third quarter.
– Changes in the scope of consolidation contributed 4% to nine-month 2016 revenue, illustrating Essilor’s active acquisitions and partnerships strategy, especially in Europe and Latin America.

The currency effect reduced revenue by 2.3% in the nine months to September 30, due mainly to the depreciation of the British pound, Brazilian real, Chinese yuan, Canadian dollar and, although the impact diminished in the third quarter on the back of a rebound in the real.

Equipment

The Equipment division saw sales climb 5.4% like for like in the third quarter, and continued to benefit from the investment cycle across the optical industry. In North America, upgraded surfacing and coating machines boosted sales to independent laboratories and leading optical chains alike. Sales rose sharply in Latin America, driven by the growing take-up of digital surfacing equipment by small-sized laboratories. In Asia, strong sales growth was reported on the back of higher production capacity for both the domestic and export markets. Backlog is on the rise.

Acquisitions and Partnerships

Since the beginning of the year, Essilor has pursued its strategy of forging local partnerships by acquiring majority interests in 16 companies representing aggregate full-year revenue of around €205 million.

During the third quarter:
In Europe, Essilor completed the acquisition of MyOptique Group Ltd., a leading European online prescription glasses, contact lenses and sunglasses business. Based in the United Kingdom, MyOptique Group reported £57 million in revenue in its last fiscal year, which ended April 30, 2016.

In addition, as announced on July 29, Essilor of America deepened its footprint in the United States by acquiring a majority stake in US Optical LLC, a New York-based wholesale optical laboratory with around US$35 million in annual revenue.

Click HERE to read the full press release.

October 21, 2016April 24, 2018

Casual, stylish glasses with round and square shapes

Mexx introduces two new styles for women with ultra-clean lines (Mod. 5167, 5168-photo). The casual, rounded stainless steel front with an understated keyhole bridge, combined with high-quality acetate temples fit in perfectly with the current trend towards a slim, light aesthetic. New acetates come in modern colour combinations and have a linear milling which reveals vibrant flashes of colour that match the inner side of the front. Two casual styles for stylish women of all ages.

Distributed by Lanctôt: www.rlanctot.com

October 21, 2016April 24, 2018

New Look to Acquire Visions One Hour in British Columbia

New Look Vision Group Inc. has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire substantially all the assets of Abbotsford-based Visions One Hour Optical Ltd, expected to close around December 1, 2016.

Founded in 1988, the acquisition will provide New Look with 10 retail optical locations in key local markets across the province and annual revenues over $5 Million. The purchases price is Rev $6.6 million, subject to customary price adjustments.

Antoine Amiel, President and Director of New Look Vision stated that: “Although currently small in stature, this successful chain has an established footprint in key local communities across British Columbia and will be a solid base for future growth in Canada’s third largest market after Ontario and Quebec. Entering British Columbia is another step forward towards our goal of becoming a national player across Canada.”

New Look Vision is a leader in the eyecare industry in Eastern Canada comprised of a network of 212 corporate stores mainly under the New Look Eyewear, Vogue Optical and Greiche & Scaff banners and laboratory facilities using state-of-the-art technologies.

Source: http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/new-look-vision-group-inc-agrees-to-acquire-retail-optical-chain-in-british-columbia-tsx-bci-2168221.htm

October 20, 2016April 24, 2018

No Longer Lost in the Blink of an Eye

It’s a problem as old and as aggravating as eye drops themselves: as soon as the medicine goes in, almost all of it washes right back out again.

Now, McMaster chemical engineer Heather Sheardown and the graduate students in her lab have developed a better way to deliver medicine to the surface of the eye.

They have created microscopic packets of medicine that lodge themselves imperceptibly in the base of the tear film that makes up the wet surface of the eye.

There, the molecular packets, or depots, dissolve gradually, releasing medicine slowly and making it possible for people with conditions such as dry eye and glaucoma – which require daily drops – to receive the same degree of treatment from using drops just once a week.

Sheardown, a Canada Research Chair in Ophthalmic Biomaterials and Scientific Director of the 20/20 NSERC Ophthalmic Materials Research Network, says that partners in the field had named the problem with conventional eye drops as one of the top issues in all of eye care.

The problem is that the eye does a good job of defending itself against foreign substances, making it difficult for the active ingredients in eye drops to do their work before the eye sheds them.

With conventional drops, 95 per cent of the medicine is typically lost before it has a chance to work, a frustrating inefficiency, especially for patients.

“It’s a lousy delivery system,” Sheardown says. “If you can deliver drops to the front of the eye at lower concentrations that work over a longer period, it could be huge.”

Sheardown’s team is in the final stages of proving the safety and effectiveness of the new technology, which was described recently in the journal Biomacromolecules. The research was funded by the 20/20 NSERC Ophthalmic Materials Research Network and The Boris Family Foundation.

Sheardown is presenting the new technology to the Tear Film and Ocular Surface Society in France in September.

She says there has been interest in commercializing the technology, and she hopes it will be on the market in the near future.

October 20, 2016April 24, 2018