Essilor buoyed by innovations

Essilor reported a marginal like-for-like fall of 0.7 per cent in half-year revenue for the period ended June 30, in comparison to the same period in 2008. Revenue for the first six months of year totalled €1,663.4m.

The French manufacturer claimed it had relied heavily on new product launches to sustain lens sales in what it referred to as a 'generally sluggish ophthalmic market'.

Essilor's European consolidated revenue for the first half of 2009 fell 4.4 per cent on a like-for-like basis to €665.1m from €693.5m for the same period in 2008. Second quarter revenue fell to €335m from €348.8m for the second quarter of 2008, a like-for-like decrease of 4.6 per cent.