Optician group GrandVision’s fourth quarter turnover grew 6.1 %, but it did experience a slight like-for-like turnover drop because of the ill-timed Christmas holiday.
Like-for-like turnover drop
There was a 1.6 % organic turnover growth in the fourth quarter, but that was actually an 0.8 % like-for-like turnover drop. The group points to a lower number of fourth quarter days of sale and an ill-timed Christmas holiday. The fact that there was still a 6.1 % turnover growth, was mainly because of acquisitions.
The like-for-like drop was entirely because of GrandVision’s “Other Europe” division, which also had a very strong like-for-like base of comparison. There was like-for-like growth in its four major markets (including the Benelux), the American and Asian markets.
Across its full fiscal year, the group achieved a 4 % growth, a 3.5 % organic growth and a 1.8 % like-for-like growth. It opened more than 250 new stores in 2017 and acquired Visilab (Switzerland) and Tesco Opticians (United Kingdom). In total, its store network now has 7,001 stores.
Its full 2017 results will be published on 28 February.
