BUSINESS Eyeglass Lens and Contact Lens Sales Helped Drive Hoya’s 2Q Growth By Staff Wednesday, November 2, 2022 12:24 AM TOKYO—Hoya Group posted 184,112 million yen in sales for the second quarter of the consolidated fiscal year starting July 1 and ending Sept. 30, 2022, an increase of 13.2 percent over the same period of the previous year. Quarterly profit before income taxes was 61,820 million yen and quarterly profit was 47,316 million yen, representing increases of 14.5 percent and 10.1 percent, respectively. In Hoya’s Life Care segment, sales of eyeglass lenses and contact lenses for health care-related products rose 10 percent, year-on-year, on a constant-currency basis.Medical-related products such as medical endoscopes and intraocular lenses for cataracts increased significantly. Overall sales in the Life Care segment also increased significantly. As a result, Life Care revenue amounted to 118,798 million yen, a significant increase of 19.9 percent. Segment profit increased significantly by 17.0 percent to 27,410 million yen. Sales of eyeglass lenses rose sharply due to strong domestic and overseas sales thanks to expanded sales of high value-added products, Hoya said. However, eyeglass lens sales varied from region to region, Hoya said. In a briefing for investors and analysts, Hoya CFO Ryo Hirooka, observed, “In the United States, the economy is not good, and the ECP market was very soft. Because of that, that negatively impacted the eyeglass lenses. It did grow double digits, but we wanted to see more growth.” Hoya also reported that contact lenses saw an increase in opportunities for wearing contact lenses, as restrictions related to COVID-19 were not issued during its second quarter, and sales promotion measures resulted in a significant increase in sales. Sales of intraocular lenses for cataracts increased significantly due to a recovery in the number of cataract operations in Japan, despite the impact of lockdowns in China.