Actman: we must help independents survive

Independent practitioners and the optical industry must support each other to ensure the survival of the independent sector, Andrew Actman, chairman of the Federation of Manufacturing Opticians, has warned.

Speaking at the FMO's annual general meeting, Actman said he was worried about the survival of the sector and that takeovers and mergers would see the independent sector shrink further.

He said of the 7,132 business doors in optics 1,672 were controlled by the super-multiples, 628 by the chains and around 500 by the mini-chains of four or five practices. This left a situation where 60 per cent of the practices were still controlled by the independent sector but nothing like that proportion of the business.