MILAN, July 28 - EssilorLuxottica, the Franco-Italian maker of Ray-Ban eyewear, said adjusted operating profit for the six months to June 30 rose 15% to €2.75 billion, beating analyst expectations and benefiting from tariff refunds in the United States.
The company's reported adjusted operating profit of €2.75 billion exceeded the Visible Alpha consensus of €2.46 billion for the period. Executives said two principal factors underpinned gross profit accretion: a stronger price mix and a year-over-year net positive effect from U.S. tariff reimbursements.
"We had a strong price mix, for sure that was an important help, and we also had the net positive impact year-over-year from (refunds of) tariffs in the U.S. And those were really the two main drivers of the gross profit accretion," finance chief Stefano Grassi said on an analyst call.
EssilorLuxottica raised U.S. prices last year to partly offset the impact of import duties, with North America remaining the group's largest market. Some recent European corporate results have similarly shown margin upside partly tied to U.S. tariff-related reimbursements.
On the top line, second-quarter revenue climbed 8.7% at a constant exchange rate. That improvement reflected an almost doubling of sales for AI-enabled smart glasses developed in partnership with Meta and a 24% rise in revenue from the company's myopia portfolio over the same period.
The firm's core eyewear and eyecare business, which generates the bulk of its sales, produced mid-single-digit growth in the quarter. Total revenue was €7.7 billion, slightly under the Visible Alpha consensus of €7.8 billion.
Shares in the group have lost nearly half their value from a mid-November peak amid investor concerns about the outlook for smart glasses, questions about profitability, and uncertainty involving major shareholder Delfin.
In late June the company and its partner introduced a new line of lower-priced AI smart glasses with entry prices from $299. The company said these new models will be produced outside EssilorLuxottica's own manufacturing facilities.
Despite the mixed signals on revenue and investor sentiment, EssilorLuxottica reiterated the medium-term outlook it presented earlier in the year. The company cited the combination of product momentum in AI-enabled eyewear and myopia treatments, together with the recent tariff reimbursements and price mix, as central to the first-half profit performance.
($1 = 0.8774 euros)