CHARENTON-LE-PONT, France,
June 10, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Essilor
was notified today by Germany's
antitrust authority, the BundesKartellAmt (BKA), that it was being
fined for allegedly creating a cartel with several optical retail
store suppliers operating in the German market. The fine levied on
Essilor's two German subsidiaries, Essilor GmbH and Rupp + Hubrach
Optik GmbH, amounts to EUR50
million.
Essilor contests the validity of the BKA's conclusions as well
as the amount of the fine, and plans to lodge an appeal with the
Dusseldorf Court. No payment will
be made pending a ruling by the Dusseldorf Court.
Since the beginning of the BKA inquiry, Essilor has set aside
provisions of EUR9.2 million in
respect of this dispute in its 2008 and 2009 accounts. The market
was duly notified of the inquiry and the related provisions. Any
appropriate additional provisions will be booked following a
detailed analysis of BKA's notification.
As previously stated, Essilor is fully committed to the
principle of free competition. The Company applies a zero tolerance
approach to anti-competitive practices and expects all members of
its organization to behave in an exemplary manner in this
regard.
The world leader in ophthalmic optical products, Essilor
International researches, develops, manufactures and markets around
the world a wide range of corrective lenses to improve and protect
eyesight. Its flagship brands are Varilux(R), Crizal(R),
Essilor(R), Definity(R) and Xperio(TM).
Based in France, the company
reported consolidated revenue of more than EUR3.2 billion in 2009, with nearly 35,000
employees and operations in 100 countries.
For more information, please visit http://www.essilor.com.
The Essilor share trades on the NYSE Euronext Paris market and
is included in the CAC 40 index.
Codes and symbols: ISIN: FR FR0000121667; Reuters: ESSI.PA;
Bloomberg: EI:FP.
Investor Relations and Financial Communications
Veronique Gillet - Sebastien Leroy
Phone: +33(0)1-49-77-42-16
http://www.essilor.com
Media Relations
Paolo Ghilardi
i&e Consultants
Phone: +33(0)1-56-03-13-02
+33(0)6-88-38-28-71
pghilardi@i-e.fr