Luxottica Group S.p.A.s said net sales at its Wholesale Division, which includes the Oakley and Ray-Ban brands, rose to €704.0 million ($1.01bn) in the second quarter ended June 30 from €651.2 million ($827.5mm) in the second quarter last year.
That was an increase of 11.6 percent at constant exchange rates and +8.1 percent at current exchange rates.
Operating income for the Wholesale Division came in at €188.5 million ($271 mm) for the second quarter of 2011, up 19.9 percent over the €157.2 million ($199 mm) recorded for the second quarter of 2010. The operating margin went from 24.1 percent in the second quarter of 2010 to 26.8 percent for the second quarter of 2011. In the first six months of 2011, the operating margin came to 25.0 percent (23.0 percent in the first half of 2010).
The Italian company said it saw great improvement in all the major geographic areas where it operates, with particularly solid performance recorded in Europe, North America and the emerging markets. Despite the significant depreciation of the U.S. dollar against the Euro, going from 1.2708 during the second quarter of 2010 to 1.4391 (-12 percent) during the second quarter of 2011, net sales for the second quarter of 2011 exceeded €1.6 billion and net income stood at €162 million, the best results ever recorded in the history of Luxottica.
“Despite the weakening of the U.S. dollar exchange rate, our net sales in U.S. dollars in the fundamental region of North America were strong, growing by 7.5 percent during the quarter, said CEO Andrea Guerra.
The results recorded by the Wholesale Division are worthy of note, improving on the best-ever sales of previous quarters, recording strong growth in net sales (+11.6 percent at constant exchange rates). Emerging markets made a key contribution to this performance, along with Europe, particularly France, Germany, Spain and Italy, which enjoyed an especially positive ‘sun season.
