Essilor unveils its plans for Coastal, as the integration process for this recent acquisition gets underway.

 

Coastal founder Roger Hardy will act as advisor for the next three years, but Roy Hessel will serve as CEO, while remaining president of online initiatives for Essilor.

 

“The Internet complements traditional distribution channels, which remain the only ones able to provide added value in taking measurements and supporting wearers,” said John Carrier, president of Essilor of America, in an interview with VMail. “We are vigilant that the development of online sales in the optical industry does not come at the expense of wearers’ safety.”

 

Consequently, Coastal will continue with simple prescriptions and Essilor, whose name will not be visible on the Coastal website, will not add Varilux to Coastal’s product mix. “This brand requires the professionalism of ECPs,” said Carrier. Coastal will nonetheless be able to offer Transitions products.

 

Furthermore, Essilor will halt the “physical” expansion of Coastal’s stores, which had begun to open brick-and-mortar stores in Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Essilor even plans to divest itself of these stores.

 

The program of giving away free pairs of eyeglasses with a purchase will also be stopped. It would not reflect the value of optical industry services, according to John Carrier.

Source:

http://www.visionmonday.com/latest-news/article/vmail-exclusive-essilors-carrier-discusses-strategy-for-newlyacquired-coastalcom-1/

 

The acquisition of Transitions Optical by Essilor has now been finalized. The transaction, announced in Capsule DotClip on August 9, went through all the approval steps. Since acquiring 51% of the shares of PPG, Essilor has become the sole owner of Transitions Optical. The transaction is valued at $1.73 billion.

 

Various changes in Transitions’s senior management have been announced.  Rick Elias, Senior vice-president Optical and Specialty Materials and Chief Executive Officer, is retiring. Dave Cole, after working for 24 years at Transitions, is going back to PPG as vice-president of the Packaging Coatings Unit. Paddy McDermott is now the new president of Transitions. Finally, Bertrand Roy, senior vice-president of Strategic Partnerships at Essilor, will lead the Transitions Optical Business Unit for the Essilor group. All these changes are becoming effective today, April 1, 2014.

Signet Armorlite and Riverside Opticalab have signed a distribution agreement for Kodak lenses in Canada. The agreement takes effect February 27.

 

Riverside Opticalab has been licensed to produce the Kodak Clean’N’CleAR^TM coatings and Free Form lenses, namely Kodak Unique^TM, Precise^® PB, and Precise^® Short PB digital lenses.

“This is very much aligned with our corporate mission to expand our commitment to offering and developing the best optical solutions to the eyecare professionals in Canada,” said Roland Laplante, president of the Riverside Opticalab group.

“With Riverside Opticalab’s license and qualification to produce these lens designs and anti-reflective coating, more Canadian eyecare professionals will be able to offer these various lens technologies with a recognized brand name,” stated Brad Staley, president of Signet Armorlite.

The KODAK Unique^TM and KODAK Precise^® PB full backside progressive lenses are designs created by Signet Armorlite, Inc. They offer ease of dispensing and a high rate of adaptation.

Sources:

Riverside Opticalab, Signet Armorlite

Essilor has entered into an agreement with Coastal Contacts Inc. to acquire Coastal.com, a transaction worth about $430 million.

 

The purchase price of $12.45 per share to be paid by Essilor represents a premium of 43% over the three-month average price for Coastal.com on the TSX ($8.73) and 84% over the six-month average price ($6.78).

 

“Essilor shares Coastal.com’s focus on customers, innovation and growth,” said Roger Hardy, Coastal.com’s founder and CEO. “The combination will enhance Coastal.com’s ability to achieve its goals while realizing a significant all-cash premium for our shareholders. I am confident this transaction is the right decision for Coastal.com, our employees and our shareholders.”

 

The agreement remains to be approved by shareholders and the relevant authorities. It has already been unanimously approved by the Board of Directors. Since the sale has not yet been completed, the Board could receive a better offer from another buyer, in which case Essilor would have the right to match the new offer. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2014.

Source:

http://investors.coastal.com/Press-Room/News-Releases/Press-Release-Details/2014/Essilor-International-Agrees-to-Acquire-Coastalcom-for-430-Million/default.aspx

 

Missed games associated with eye injuries sustained by hockey players cost franchises in the National Hockey League (NHL) more than $32 million from 2002 to 2013, according to a study presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO).

 

The researchers identified 149 eye injuries in that time frame. The majority of them were caused by being hit by the puck (37%) or struck by a high stick (28%). Only 18% were caused by fights.

 

Players who do not wear a visor are 4.23 times more likely to sustain eye injury. By measuring penalty minutes, hits and fights, the study was also able to show that the most aggressive players are most averse to wearing a visor.

 

“Although it may seem like common sense to wear visors, until now there was little evidence that they could decrease injuries or could save the league money,” said lead researcher Jonathan Micieli, of the University of Toronto. “Quantifying these factors can make a big difference in the NHL’s policy discussions.”

 

Since June 2013, players new to the game must wear a visor. Those who had played over 26 games in the NHL at the time the rule was introduced can, however, decide whether or not they will wear one. About 73% of players wore visors during the 2012-2013 season.

Source:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131116171108.htm