Significant sales increase in Essilor
According to figures of Essilor in third-quarter, the company continues to grow bigger and stronger. Over the past years, Essilor has made several acquisitions, which are considered to greatly contribute to the company’s overall performance.
As the world’s largest maker of corrective lenses, Essilor International recently posted that the firm had gained a 6.3% sales growth in the third quarter. In addition, the company also predicted a better operating margin in 2009. Although the sales figure was below forecast, it was a significant increase.
Greatly contributed by acquisitions, the quarterly sales reached 805 million euros. And the number from a Reuter poll among eight analysts averaged 822.2 million euros. This increase in sales significantly benefited from growth in Asia’s emerging economies. Essilor had launched specially adapted lenses in these countries.
Sales in Europe and the United States have been traditionally main contributors to the performance of Essilor. However, sales in Spain only showed an upturn while in Nordic countries the demand was still lingering. The sales of the first nine months rose 8.4% to 2.5 billion euros.
In January this year, Essilor split the posts of chairman and chief executive. Xavier remained chairman and the former chief operating officer Hubert Sagnieres served as CEO. Now promoting brands including Varilux and Crizal, Essilor had forecast an increase in sales this year. The company also estimated an improvement in operating margin. In the first half year, Essilor gained an 18.2 operating margin, which was better than expected.
There is strong support for Essilor’s confidence and prospects. The first aspect is the firm’s product launches and bolt-on acquisitions. Moreover, there are promising signs of Essilor’s stocks. While stocks of Hoya of Japan and Carl Zeiss of Germany closed down, the stock of Essilor has gained more than a fifth of its value this year.