Higher sales of Costa Sunglasses’ prescription and online channels helped fuel record sales growth at Essilor International's Sunglasses & Readers segment in the third quarter ended September 30.
The French optics company, which also owns the Native sunglasses brand, saw its Sunglasses & Readers segment grow 32.8 percent from the same quarter a year ago to €126 million. After adjusting for a 17.3 percentage point lift from currency translation and changes in how Essilor credits sales; that equated to currency-neutral growth of 9.9 percent.
Either way, that marked the highest growth rate at the segment since Essilor created it in 2010.
In North America, the company’s performance improved with the ramp-up of a new reading glasses supply contract with a leading drugstore chain and the gain of new shelf space with a large retail chain. The division's solid results were also driven by the strong growth at Costa, the Florida-based sunglasses brand, which is still benefiting from the ramp-up of its prescription sun wear business and accelerating online sales. Sales of Chinese brands Bolon, Molsion and Prosun also grew as did sales to the travel retail channel, where a major cruise line serving the Asia-Pacific region picked up Bolon.
For the first nine months of the year, Sunglasses & Readers revenue reached €488 million, an increase of 31.7 percent (4.5 percent currency neutral) from the same period in 2014.
