Online retailer Coastal Contacts reported a loss of $1.6m in the third quarter, ending July 2011, and announced plans to establish Lensway.co.uk as the UK's leading optical fashion brand, selling brand-name spectacles and contact lenses.
Vancouver-based Coastal said the loss was due to higher expenses across its operations, including nearly doubling its advertising costs to $8.2m from $4.9m. However, sales in its eyewear division more than doubled at $12m, making up 24 per cent of company sales compared to 13 per cent in the same period last year. Its contact lens division improved by 9 per cent to $37.6m.
The company recently appointed Gordon Howie, a former chief financial officer (CFO) of Canadian optical chain Eye Masters/Lenscrafters, as CFO, having added Peter Lee, a former director of information and technology at Oracle, as vice president of IT earlier this year.
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