Essilor International has posted double-digit revenue growth for the third quarter – climbing to €1.6bn despite reporting a mixed economic environment.
The French group’s overall sales increased 14.5 per cent in the third quarter compared with the same period last year.
Its strongest percentage growth category was for sunglasses and ready readers, which climbed 32.8 per cent in total to reach €126m. Sales of lens and ophthalmic instruments in the European market increased 5.2 per cent to €431m during the third quarter.
Hubert Sagnières, chairman and chief executive officer of Essilor, said: ‘Around the world, our industry is benefiting from strong, sustainable demand for vision care solutions.
‘In a mixed economic environment, our third quarter performance has validated our investment strategy, designed to drive balanced growth that is evenly spread among developed and fast-growing economies.
‘The acceleration in organic growth also reflects the benefits of broadening our business portfolio, with the ramp-up of sunwear and online sales.
‘This across the board dynamic underpins our confidence that we can meet our full-year targets in 2015 and continue to move boldly forward in 2016.’
A statement added that Essilor’s Frames Direct and EyeBuyDirect online retail operations both delivered strong gains in the US, while Coastal.com ‘continued its turnaround’.
Meanwhile, a wide product mix in the UK had a ‘favourable effect’ during the third quarter period.
Essilor’s sales for the first nine months of the year were 19.9 per cent higher than the same period last year.