Despite continued strong sales of PureVision extended-wear lenses and SofLens66 toric lenses, contact lens sales for Bausch & Lomb were down 8 per cent from last year.
Sales of lens care products fell 26 per cent, driven by results in the US.
As reported last week (News in Brief, August 3) B&L saw its profits fall 80 per cent in the second quarter.
Net sales for the three months to June 30 were $414m (£290m), down 9 per cent from the same time last year. Revenues in Asia declined 12 per cent and in the US, they fell 31 per cent from the same period last year. However, sales in Europe grew 31 per cent and revenues 15 per cent.
As the company reported in June, it pulled back on promoting its existing lens care products to US retailers during the second quarter, in order to accelerate the reduction of excess retail inventories and bring customer orders in balance with consumer demand as quickly as possible.
Revenues from products for cataract surgery were down 5 per cent. The company said sales of cataract products during the quarter were Ôhampered by disruptions in the supply of certain key productsÕ, and it is now taking Ôaggressive actionÕ to correct the situation.
Sales of products for refractive surgery fell 19 per cent, driven down by the closure of some large chains of laser centres, weaker demand for new capital equipment and competition in the Americas.
B&L stated that while the expectations are that its sales will strengthen in the second half of 2001, the volatility of the world economy for several of its key product sectors makes it difficult to set out specific expectations for the rest of the year.