Just weeks after reporting that trading conditions remained difficult in Spain, Luxottica SpA said it reached an agreement to buy 120 Sun Planet retail stores in Spain and Portugal for €20 million, or about 91 percent of the chain’s annual sales in those two countries.
Luxottica, an Italian multinational corporation that owns Oakley and Ray-Ban brands, said it will eventually rebrand the stores under its Sunglass Hut retail banner.
The deal was reached on the one year anniversary of Luxottica’s announcement that it would purchase the remaining 57 percent stake in the Spanish company Multiopticas Internacional for €95 million to gain access to rapidly growing South American markets. As part of that deal, Luxottica acquired control over 470 eyewear stores operating in South America, including the Sun Planet retail chain.
The Sun Planet retail chain operates approximately 90 sunglass retail locations in Spain and approximately 30 in Portugal, mainly in select malls and tourist destinations. In 2011, the business generated net sales of approximately €22 million.
In a May 7 conference call, Luxottica said its sales were flat in Spain and negative in Portugal in the first quarter and that trading conditions remained difficult in the Mediterranean and tougher in Spain than in Italy. Nervousness over the economic outlook in those countries was causing retailers to order erratically.
