Luxottica's sales rise

Multinational eyewear maker and retailer Luxottica has announced its full-year results for 2005, with consolidated sales for the year growing 34.4 per cent to 4.37bn.

Much of this growth came from integration of the US retail chain Cole National, which increased the group's total retail sales 40.5 per cent to 3.30bn. Like-for-like retail sales grew 5.5 per cent.

But it was the Italian company's wholesale operations that achieved significant growth. Total wholesale turnover for the year grew 19.7 per cent to 1.31bn, with Ray-Ban, Bulgari, Chanel, Prada and Versace performing well. Results from the October launch of the new Dolce & Gabbana collections were also 'extremely strong'.

Chief executive Andrea Guerra said 2005 was an 'exceptional year' for the group with strong growth in both retail and wholesale. 'In wholesale in particular, throughout the entire year, we enjoyed significant additional growth in profitability thanks also to improved penetration in key markets.'

Net profits increased 19.3 per cent to 342m, with a net margin of 7.8 per cent. The group's debt fell 281m to 1.44bn compared to a year ago. For 2006, Luxottica forecasted a sales growth of 8-10 per cent to between 4.7bn and 4.8bn.