SCHIPHOL, the Netherlands—GrandVision NV (EURONEXT: GVNV) reported solid growth for the full year and fourth quarter of 2018. For the full year, the optical retail chain posted a 10.3 percent increase at constant exchange rates to €3,721million with comparable growth of 3.4 percent. Adjusted EBITDA rose 6.2 percent at constant exchange rates to €576 million. The net result for the period decreased by 4.7 percent to €237 million in 2018, compared with €249 million in 2017. The total number of stores expanded by 94, to 7,095.

"2018 represents a transitional year and marks the beginning of an exciting journey to drive GrandVision through its next phase of growth,” commented Stephan Borchert, GrandVision's CEO. “For full year 2018, our revenues grew by 10.3 percent at constant exchange rates and our financial performance was strong, with EBITDA growth of 6.2 percent.
We also know our customers appreciate us more than ever before, as reflected in our average Net Promoter Score (NPS) which has increased to over 60.

"Our strategic priorities are sharper than before and are helping us to drive further growth and long-term value creation for our stakeholders. Our expansion generally progressed well in our focus markets. Of course, there are years in which we acquire more companies or enter new geographies than in other years. However, the focus during this year was to integrate the businesses we acquired at the end of 2017.

"In particular, we successfully integrated the Tesco Opticians stores in the United Kingdom and rebranded them to Vision Express. Through this acquisition we now have a stronger business in the U.K. with higher proximity to our customers. In the Americas & Asia segment, we significantly improved our profitability. Over the past few years, we built up scale in important growth markets like Mexico and Turkey, and are now seeing benefits of that operating leverage in our margins for these markets.

"This year, our focus in the segment was on improving the effectiveness of our operations and the quality of our store network, which we achieved by closing underperforming stores in a few markets. Overall, we now have a stronger business in the region with improved margins, but still significant room for further improvement remains.”

Borchert also noted that Grand Vision’s e-commerce sales grew by 60 percent during the year from a small base, partly through acquisitions in Switzerland and Germany.

During 2018, GrandVision achieved the highest level of top-line growth since 2015 with revenue growth at constant exchange rates of 10.3 percent and comparable growth of 3.4 percent. Organic growth was 3.9 percent with a lower contribution from new stores than in previous years due to a higher number of store closings. Acquisitions contributed 6.4 percent to revenue growth for the full year 2018. This included the Visilab and Tesco Opticians acquisitions, which were completed at the end of 2017.

GrandVision opened around 400 new stores in 2018, resulting in a net addition of 94 stores to 7,095 at the end of the year, further strengthening the company’s position as the world’s largest retailer of prescription glasses. System-wide sales, which reflects the retail sales of GrandVision’s own stores plus that of its franchisees, increased by 7.8 percent to €4,079 million.

In the fourth quarter, Grand Vision’s revenue growth at constant exchange rates was 4.4 percent, with organic and comparable growth of 2.1 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively. The company attributed the slowdown in organic growth to the higher number of store closings across several markets during the year coupled with a lower contribution from new stores and lower franchise revenues. During the quarter, the net number of stores rose by 54 to 7,095.

Adjusted EBITDA increased by 6.2 percent at constant exchange rates to €576 million in fiscal year 2018 with 3.7 percent organic growth and 2.5 percent growth. The operating result (EBIT) increased by 3.2 percent to €337 million in 2018, compared to €327 million in 2017.