GrandVision, owner of eyewear chains Pearle and Eye Wish, has been hit hard by the corona crisis in the past year. The group even had to close the financial year with a loss.
Store closures
GrandVision generated sales of 3.48 billion euros in 2020, a decrease of 12.2%. The compulsory store closures in various countries weighed heavily on the results. E-commerce revenues grew by 85%.
Gross operating profit (EBITDA) decreased by 43.1% to 266 million euros. Below the line, the group posted a net loss of 45 million euros, writes De Telegraaf. In 2019, there was still a net profit of 195 million euros. Despite the poor results, there was a recovery in the second half of the year. The loss is actually entirely attributable to the first six months of the financial year.
Last year, GrandVision reduced the number of its stores from 7406 to 7260. In view of the great uncertainty related to the corona crisis, the optical chain does not express any concrete expectations for the coming year. The company thinks that the second half of the year will bring improvement.
Takeover
Regarding the acquisition by EssilorLuxottica, the Dutch group still expects the transaction to be completed within five months. GrandVision says it will support the French-Italian eyewear giant to get the acquisition approved by the relevant authorities. In particular, the deal is under review in the EU, Chile and Turkey. In the United States, Colombia, Brazil, Mexico and Russia, the transaction has already been unconditionally approved.
