SCHIPHOL, the Netherlands—GrandVision NV (EURONEXT: GVNV), parent company of the U.S. optical retailer For Eyes, on Thursday reported preliminary fourth quarter and full year 2019 sales results that showed overall sales growth of 8.6 percent in 2019 and 11.2 percent in the fourth quarter. Comparable growth accelerated from 3.4 percent in 2018 to 4.1 percent in 2019 on a worldwide basis, “driven by a strong performance across all segments and product categories,” the company noted. GrandVision did not break out results for its U.S. operations.

The company also noted in its announcement that at this time “there is no further news to share regarding the announced acquisition of GrandVision by EssilorLuxottica as the two companies continue to work through the regulatory approval processes.” EssilorLuxottica had tentatively agreed in July 2019 to acquire a controlling interest in GrandVision in a deal valued at roughly at €7.1billion, as VMAIL reported. 

In its sales report, GrandVision said acquisitions added 3.6 percent to revenue growth last year—with its deals for Optica2000 in Spain and McOptic in Switzerland—while e-commerce sales grew by 66 percent as a result of Lenstore's ongoing growth. Growth of Lenstore included the expansion into France and Italy, the acquisition of Charlie Temple in the Netherlands “as well as growth in our banners,” the company noted.

In the Americas & Asia segment (which includes the For Eyes business), GrandVision said comparable growth was 8.8 percent in 2019 and 11.1 percent in the fourth quarter. The strong fourth-quarter performance was driven by strong growth in Russia and Turkey, the company noted.

The retailer delivered EBITDA growth progression “in line with expectations,” according to the announcement, while full-year 2019 adjusted EBITDA growth at constant exchange rates is forecasted in the range of 4 percent to 6 percent.

“2019 was another strong year of topline growth for GrandVision and we made great progress toward achieving our strategic objective of transforming our business toward becoming a leading multichannel optical retailer,” GrandVision chief executive officer Stephan Borchert said in the announcement. “I am very pleased with our strong revenue growth performance in 2019, which proves that our efforts of creating an attractive value proposition continues to be successful and to be rewarded by our customers.”

He added, “During 2019, the momentum behind our digital initiatives continued to build. In addition to the continuous strong performance of our pure play online business, we have been successful in launching our global omni-channel platform across 10 banners in eight countries, giving customers the possibility to purchase products online, manage their contact lens subscriptions or book an eye test in the nearest store.”