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November 7, 2019November 7, 2019

FYidoctors | Visique Acquires Grimard Optique

FYidoctors | Visique announced on November 7 the acquisition of Grimard Optique — a Quebec-based vision care and retail chain with 22 locations.

Grimard has been serving Canadians for over 39 years with the majority of their locations in Quebec along with several in Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. The company employs 148 staff members who are dedicated to providing optimal quality eye care to its patients and are excited to continue doing so. With this acquisition, FYidoctors | Visique will now boast over 290 locations across Canada – 70 of which were added in 2019 alone.

“I am thrilled to continue our aggressive growth with the acquisition of Grimard,” said said Dr. Alan Ulsifer, CEO and Chairman of FYidoctors | Visique. “Specifically, I am excited about the strength it will now give us in Montreal – the sixth fastest growing metropolitan area in Canada and the United States. It is of critical importance for us to add value and provide solutions to clinics that join our family and we deliver that through financial strength and systems in place. We have worked extremely hard building the scalable infrastructure that allows us to realize this potential and are delighted with pace we are now growing at. This is just the beginning.”

Grimard locations will continue to operate under their current banner for the immediate future while FYidoctors evaluates how to merge the existing brand into the FYidoctors | Visique family. For patients who have recently purchased products and/or services from Grimard, warranties and guarantees will remain to be honoured under the ownership change.

“The Grimard Optique team is delighted to join the FYidoctors | Visique family,” said Robert Grimard, President of Grimard Optique. “Both our organizations share the same vision for what eye care should be, making this a move which feels very natural. FYidoctors | Visique has shown impressive growth in the Canadian market and with the addition of Grimard Optique, they have solidified their presence in Quebec.”

Click HERE for the press release.

November 6, 2019November 6, 2019

Third-Quarter 2019 Revenue Momentum Continues to Build

EssilorLuxottica announced that consolidated revenue for the first nine months of 2019 amounted to € 13,086 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 7.7% compared to the 2018 first nine months revenue.

“The continuous improvement in our performance validates our growth strategy as well as our investments in product innovation, digitalization, fast-growing markets and talent. This acceleration further demonstrates our ability to execute the business plan and deliver sales and cost synergies”, said Francesco Milleri and Laurent Vacherot. “On this basis we will confirm our efforts to transform the industry and eliminate poor vision throughout the world.”

Essilor led this performance with sales growth of 8.9% on a reported basis and of 5.9% at constant exchange rates.

Fast-growing markets led growth, with a sales increase around 10%. The direct online channel, which represented around 5% of consolidated sales, was also a meaningful contributor led by double-digit growth on Ray-Ban.com, Oakley.com, SunglassHut.com and in Essilor’s prescription eyeglasses offers.

Lenses & Optical Instrumentssales were up 9.9% to €1,713 million. This performance was driven by new products, online sales and fast-growing markets4. The successful launch of Transitions® Signature® GEN 8TM in the United States supported the improved growth rate.

In North Americarevenue grew by 8.9% to €2,298 million in the third quarter.

Essilor sales benefited from the launch of Transitions® Signature® GEN 8TM, which yielded a step change in growth for Transitions® lenses, notably with Independent Eyecare Professionals as well as through the company’s retail channels.

Equipment and Sunglasses & Readers contributed to growth during the quarter while performance in Canada weighed slightly on regional performance. E-commerce sales were particularly strong during the quarter, with a noteworthy performance from EyeBuyDirect.

Click HERE for the full press release.

November 6, 2019October 17, 2019

A New Type of 3D Glasses

Create custom 3D printed frames for every single patient. You Scan. You Design. Specsy 3D prints. It’s as simple as that! The Specsy turnkey retail kit enables ECPs to 3D scan patients and design custom frames on each patient’s 3D scan. Specsy 3D prints every single frame to order.

Distributed by Specsy: specsy.com

November 6, 2019November 6, 2019

New Survey Shows Parents Know More About Lice Than They Do About Myopia

One in four children in the United States is myopic, but according to The Harris Poll survey results released today by CooperVision, only 33% of parents know what that term means, or how it can affect their children’s future eyesight. The survey was conducted among eye care professionals, including 155 optometrists and 158 ophthalmologists, and 1,005 parents with children between 8-15 years old regarding their knowledge of myopia.

“I am not surprised that 48% of parents noted they know less about their children’s eye health than they should,” says Dr. Rupa K. Wong, a board-certified pediatric ophthalmologist. “I have diagnosed an increasing number of children with myopia in the past 5-10 years, and my patients’ parents are often surprised with the diagnosis. With the help of yearly eye exams, the condition can be diagnosed and treated to avoid more severe eye problems later in life by slowing the progression.”

“We know there is a lot of confusion about the significance of myopia, how it progresses and how to treat it,” says Dr. Michele Andrews, Senior Director, North America Professional and Academic Affairs at CooperVision. “So it comes as no surprise that while 65% of parents claimed they were somewhat or very knowledgeable of myopia, only one in three were able to identify myopia as nearsightedness. There clearly needs to be more education about what childhood myopia is and why it is important to diagnose it early.”

More highlights from the survey include:

97% of eye care professionals agree parents should know more about the ways they can help protect their children’s vision
73% of parents strongly/somewhat agree that teachers are more likely to notice that children have vision problems; 68% of parents strongly/somewhat agree that school nurses often notice potential vision problems among children before parents
Parents say they are more knowledgeable about other childhood conditions including the flu (93%), ear infections (86%) and lice (80%) compared with their knowledge of myopia (65%)
22% of parents report the top reason prompting an ECP visit is an in-school eye screening, whereas 92% of ECPs state this is the top reason for parents seeing them for their child’s vision.

Click HERE for the full press release.

November 4, 2019November 4, 2019

Microsoft Launches Free App to Help Canadians Navigate the World Around Them

As the next step on the journey to creating a more accessible Canada for all, Microsoft Canada announced the availability of Soundscape, an app that empowers people who are blind or partially sighted to explore the world around them through a 3D audio experience.

Unlike traditional navigation apps that provide turn by turn directions, Soundscape uses 3D audio – meaning the sounds are perceived as coming from the direction of the point of interest – and location awareness to provide users with information to help build a mental map of their surroundings and empower them to make their own navigational choices.

By setting an audio beacon on a chosen destination or a familiar landmark, a user can use Soundscape to keep track of that location as they move outdoors on foot or in a vehicle. The app also calls out roads, intersections and landmarks as the user passes, aiding in discoverability.

Microsoft worked closely with the CNIB Foundation and Vision Loss Rehabilitation Canada during beta testing.

Canada is the fourth market globally to launch Soundscape after the U.S., U.K. and Australia, and the first to launch in two languages – English and French.

Soundscape is free on iOS and iPhone in both English and French.

Source: CNIB