Milan, Italy – April 28, 2005 - Luxottica Group S.p.A. (NYSE: LUX; MTA: LUX), global leader in the eyewear sector, today announced consolidated U.S. GAAP results for the three-month period ended March 31, 2005.
 
Consolidated financial highlights
First Quarter 20051
• Sales: €1,037.0 million (+34.8%, +39.7% assuming constant exchange rates2)
- Retail sales: €756.8 million (+47.4%); Retail comparable store sales3: +3.6%
- Total wholesale sales: €326.9 million (+9.4%)
• Operating income: €136.4 million (+13.6%); Operating margin: 13.2%
- Retail operating income: €76.5 million (+19.5%); Retail operating margin: 10.1%
- Wholesale operating income: €77.7 million (+14.3%); Wholesale operating margin:
23.8%
• Net income: €76.3 million (+7.3%); Net margin: 7.4%
• Earnings per share: €0.17 (US$0.22 per ADS)
 
Andrea Guerra, chief executive officer of Luxottica Group, commented: “We are particularly pleased with our results for the first quarter. Both the retail and wholesale divisions performed quite well. In particular, the strong results of the retail division confirm that the Cole National integration continues to make progress and is on track, reflecting its importance to the growth of our overall business.”
Within retail, our optical and sun brands continued to perform better than the market, especially in terms of profitability, which improved at all our chains. In North America, profitability continued to rise notwithstanding the significant resources dedicated to the integration of the recently acquired Cole National business and its historically significantly lower profitability. In Asia Pacific, our retail business showed a further improvement in profitability, while our overall business is picking up momentum after OPSM Group became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Luxottica Group.
 
In the quarter, wholesale sales to third parties rose by 9.6% (by 10.6% assuming constant exchange rates), while operating margin for the entire wholesale division reached 23.8%,
up 100 bps year-over-year despite the nearly five percent devaluation of the U.S. Dollar against the Euro for the quarter. These results reflect the strengthening of our brand portfolio and improved penetration in several markets. Key house brands continued to perform strongly - Ray-Ban and Vogue above all - showing potential for additional growth in new markets. The Donna Karan eyewear collections, originally launched in January of this year, were well received by the market, although our results benefited only partially from their impact.
 
Cash flow generation for the quarter was positive. As of March 31, 2005, consolidated net outstanding debt was €1,657.2 million, compared with €1,716.0 million as of December 31, 2004, reflecting a net improvement of €58.8 million. Assuming constant exchange rates, consolidated net outstanding debt would have improved by €91 million.
For the quarter, the tax rate rose, as expected, to 38.0 percent, from 35.0 percent for the first quarter of 2004.
Luxottica Group consolidated results for the quarter include the consolidation of the Cole National business.
Forecast for fiscal year 2005 Luxottica Group, based on a €1 = US$1.30 average exchange rate for the full year and an expected tax rate of between 37 percent and 40 percent, confirms the previously announced forecast for fiscal year 2005:
• Sales: between €4,000 million and €4,150 million
• Earnings per share: between €0.68 and €0.70 (earnings per ADS between US$0.88 and
US$0.91)
Luxottica Group’s consolidated results for the first quarter of 2005 were approved today by its Board of Directors.
 
Source : Communiqué de presse Luxottica