MILAN, Italy (BRAIN) — Italian eyewear company Luxottica Group reported this month that first-quarter sales for its wholesale division — in which Southern California-based Oakley is a key brand — jumped 7.5 percent compared with a year earlier to 781 million euros ($1 billion), helping propel overall company sales to more than 1.86 billion euros ($2.39 billion), up 4.2 percent from the first quarter of 2012.
Sales at Luxottica’s retail division, which includes the Sunglass Hut retail chain, ticked up 2 percent to 1.08 billion euros ($1.39 billion).
Though the company did not break out separate sales figures for Oakley, Luxottica CEO Andrea Guerra noted in a statement: “Ray-Ban and Oakley continued to perform extremely well, retaining their titles as captains in the industry.”
Luxottica reported that overall net income for the quarter rose 10.5 percent to 159 million euros ($204 million). Going forward, the company said it expects “robust and continued growth, particularly in emerging markets,” citing Southeast Asia and Latin America as key territories.
Luxottica is publicly on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LUX. Its stock performance is tracked on the BRAIN stock chart.
