CHARENTON-LE-PONT, France—Essilor International (Reuters: ESSI.PA) posted consolidated revenue totaling €5,306 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2016, up 7.8 percent from year ago at constant exchange rates, 5.5 percent as reported and 3.8 percent like-for-like. The company cited several growth factors including a good performance for its lenses and optical instruments and equipment business and changes in the scope of consolidation, which contributed 4 percent to the nine-month 2016 revenue.

Hubert Sagnieres, Essilor’s chairman and chief executive officer said, "Driven by its commitment to improving and protecting vision, Essilor continues to deliver a sustainable, well-balanced mix of organic and acquisitions-led growth. We remain firmly aligned with our medium- and long-term growth dynamic, despite the temporary difficulties that we have experienced in certain markets.

"Essilor continues to deploy a wide array of strategic initiatives in prescription lenses and sunlenses, in the development of online sales and in the fast-growing countries, where demand is strong and durable. We expect these initiatives to start delivering tangible results in the near future, and to provide an uplift to growth through 2017."

During the third quarter, Essilor generated consolidated revenue of €1,723 million, up 7.2 percent from year ago at constant exchange rates, 6.4 percent as reported and 3.2 percent like-for-like. In North America, Essilor’s consolidated revenue rose by 1.3 percent like-for-like in the third quarter.

The company said its U.S. sales were lifted by the good performance of Crizal lenses with independent eyecare professionals and by sustained strong business with the optical chains, led by gains in value-added lenses. The service platforms for independent eyecare professionals—Vision Source, PERC/IVA and Opti-Port—continued to record solid growth. However, as in the second quarter, overall results were dampened by the decline in Transitions Optical sales to other lens manufacturers and by the expiration of some government supply programs.

Online sales continued to be led by the success of the EyeBuyDirect and Frames Direct offerings, but remained impacted by the slower than expected return to growth for Coastal.com in the U.S., Essilor said.

Essilor’s equipment division saw sales climb 5.4 percent like-for-like in the third quarter, and continued to benefit from the investment cycle across the optical industry. In North America, upgraded surfacing and coating machines boosted sales to independent laboratories and leading optical chains alike, the company said.

Essilor reported that it acquired a majority interest in Sistemas Ópticos Integrales, S.A. de C.V (SOI), an ophthalmic lens distributor in Mexico with annual revenue of around MXN 27 million. With two prescription laboratories and several distribution centers, SOI will allow Essilor to expand its footprint in the southeast region of Mexico.

Essilor said it also acquired a majority stake in SCL International, a French manufacturer of cleaning and hard coating machines that also engineers and produces coatings for plastic lenses. The new subsidiary, which generates around €8 million in annual revenue, will expand the Satisloh product portfolio.

Since the beginning of the year, Essilor has pursued its strategy of forging local partnerships by acquiring majority interests in 16 companies representing aggregate full-year revenue of around €205 million.