Essilor announces interim sales and income results

The company recorded a rise in sales to E978.2m (&\#163;574.3m). Sales in Europe grew 10.5 per cent to E418.1m. Products such as the Varilux Panamic progressive lens, the Airwear line of polycarbonate lenses, the Transitions line of photochromic lenses and the Crizal lens contributed to the growth. Essilor has expanded in North America and achieved a 5.4 per cent sales growth to E451.9m. The company also announced that it has joined forces with Johnson & Johnson Vision Care to create a business-to-business website, VisionWeb, for the global eyecare industry. It will be launched next year. There was a 9.7 per cent sales growth to E86m in South America and Asia. New income rose 25 per cent to E69.4m with the operating margin widening from 13.1 to 13.3 per cent. The results were slightly better than the provisional figures the company announced in July last year.