Specs firm sets sights on future as revenue soars
Designer eyewear group Inspecs saw revenue leap by nearly $200 million (£148m) as it continued its international expansion last year.
Inspecs designs, manufactures and distributes frames and lenses to a network of opticians and retailers spanning 80 countries.
In a trading update for the year ended December 31, 2021 – ahead of its final results in May 2022 – the Aim-listed company reported group revenue of $241m (£178.5m), up from $47.4m (£35.1m) in 2020.
The company, which is headquartered in Bath, continued a series of acquisitions towards the end of last year.
In December it bought BODE Design, a German distributor of optical and sunglasses frames, for an upfront cash consideration of around EUR1.76M (£1.5m).
Within a few weeks it announced a deal for global design and licensing company Ego Eyewear, which helps to produce glasses for fashion brands such as Barbour, Liberty of London and Lyle & Scott, for an initial consideration of £6.175m.
Inspecs previously said it expected both deals to be “earnings enhancing” for 2022, and in the trading update the company’s management said current trading was in line with expectations and it was confident for “sustained growth” in the longer term.
The company said that during 2021 its main markets in Europe and the US had remained “resilient”. Inspecs said its integration of Nuremberg-based eyewear supplier Eschenbach, which it acquired in December 2020 along with a portfolio including US optical design house Tura, was “progressing to plan”, with the business delivering “positive trading” in 2021.
It added that its factories in Asia had maintained production throughout most of the year, despite Covid and supply chain restrictions, and that it was planning on opening a third facility in Vietnam.
The company also said its new lens manufacturing facility in Gloucester was nearing completion, with production at the site under way by the end of December 2021. Inspecs bought the manufacturing arm of Norville Group in July 2020 after the Gloucester-based glasses company went into administration.
Robin Totterman, chief executive at Inspecs, said: “The results achieved in 2021 follow on from the hard work our employees put in over the last 12 months and the implementation of our continuing strategy to build a fully integrated global eyewear business.
“The group now has over 35 licensed and owned brands available to our customers around the world, and the ability to provide a sustainable one-stop-shop frame and lens package continues to gain momentum.
“I remain confident about the group’s ability to continue to grow organically and through acquisition in the long-term and to continue to deliver further positive results for our customers, shareholders and all stakeholders.”
Inspecs’ global operations also include offices in Portugal, Scandinavia, the US and China, as well as a manufacturing site in Italy.