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Luxottica stays upbeat despite profit drop

MILAN, ITALY: Italy's Luxottica, ostensibly the world's biggest maker of sunglasses, on Tuesday, 28 July 2009, said its net earnings dropped less steeply in the second quarter giving the company greater confidence about the future.

Profits for the group, whose brands include Oakley and Ray-Ban as well as licensed designer names including Bulgari and Prada, dropped 12.7% to €115.7 million ($163.9 million) in the three months to 30 June.

The results were marginally better than analysts' expectations, and an improvement on the 22.5% profit collapse in the first quarter.

Sales were also up by 3.5% at current exchange rates, but down by 3.3% at constant exchange rates, it said, with gross profits falling 5.9% to €277.3 million.

The group's chief executive Andrea Guerra said "the very positive results achieved to-date allow us to be more confident going into the second half of the year, thanks to a less challenging scenario overall."

Source: AFP

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