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Despite industry concerns over an economic downturn, few crisis effects were felt by a number of major optical companies posting their third-quarter financial announcements for 2008.

Among those revealing healthy results were ophthalmic lens manufacturer Essilor which published organic growth (not including acquisition or foreign exchange effects) of 5 per cent, eye care company Alcon, whose worldwide sales were up 10.3 per cent during the period, and Johnson & Johnson whose third-quarter profit rose 30 per cent.

J&J's Vision Care division performed strongly, achieving operational third-quarter sales growth of 9 per cent over the same period last year, rising 8 per cent outside of the US. The growth was attributed to sales of Acuvue Oasys, 1-Day Acuvue Moist and Acuvue Lenses.

'J&J doesn't expect the world economy to affect sales and won't be hurt by credit default swaps or bank failures,' said Dominic Caruso, J&J's chief financial officer.

Speaking about the economic downturn in a conference call to investors and analysts, Caruso added: 'We've seen it in just a few pockets of our business, but to date it hasn't resulted in any significant impact.'

The company's overall net income for all divisions rose to $3.31bn, with revenue rising 6.4 per cent to $15.9bn.

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