Essilor: further growth in the third quarter

Essilor has announced its consolidated sales for the nine months ended September 30, 2005: € 1,803.1 millions, up 8.3% compared with € 1,665.2 millions reported at September 30, 2004.

Sales rose 11.4% in the third quarter, of which 3.5% from acquisitions and 1.6% from a positive currency effect. Like-for-like growth was 6.2% for the quarter.

In the third quarter, business was very strong in North America, Asia and Latin America, driving like-for-like gains of respectively 7.3%, 14.2% and 24.9%, while in Europe, a 2.8% like-for-like increase sustained the upward trend observed since the second quarter.

Essilor has completed three new acquisitions: the business assets and goodwill of Omi, its exclusive lens distributor in the French West Indies (Martinique, Guadeloupe and French Guiana); an 80% interest in Mgm, a Puerto Rico based prescription laboratory and Varilux distributor with $ 2 million in sales; the assets of Canada's Optical Software Inc., which makes prescription laboratory management software and has $ 1.2 million in sales.