Essilor reports an increase in sales of 14,7% in the third quarter of this year compared to the same period last year. Sales totaled 898 million euro in the quarter and almost 3 billion euro in the first nine months of this year. Only 3% of the increase in the third quarter however is due to like for like increasing sales. Most of the increase is due to acquisitions. Better exchange rates helped as well. This year alone Essilor acquired another 18 companies with combined sales of about 92 million euro. Already announced but not yet finalized is the acquisition of 50% of the shares of lens manufacturer Kibbutz Shamir in Israel which posted sales of 142 million dollar last year. This transaction will be finalized in 2011. Sales in Europe showed a minor growth with 4,7% including the results of acquisitions. Latin-America and Asia did much better although the results in Japan and Australia were disappointing.
