MILAN, Apr 27, 2006 / --- The eyewear business must be booming with Luxottica Group S.p.A., a global leader in eyewear announcing today that its operating incomes increased 40.3% with twice the growth in sales compared to last year.

Luxottica, which owns nearly 5,500 optical and sun retail stores worldwide and a strong portfolio that includes Ray-Ban among others, also hold licensing agreements with the fashion world’s famous brands - Bvlgari, Burberry, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Donna Karan, Prada, Versace and Polo Ralph Lauren

According to the same financial release, Luxoticca’s consolidated sales for the first quarter was 1,262.0 million euros, a 21.7% increased compared to the same period last year with consolidated net income of 103.2 million euros, a 35.3% compared to last year.

Commenting on the company’s stellar financial performance, Andrea Guerra, CEO said in a statement, "Our strong results for the first quarter represent a particularly encouraging beginning for 2006. Sales were up significantly in both wholesale and retail, by 39.4 percent and 17.7 percent, respectively, reflecting continued strength in our wholesale business and strong execution on our retail strategy -- both in North America and Asia-Pacific.”

She also noted that there was a strong sales performance in all the markets that the company operates, citing strong demands across the entire fashion and luxury brand portfolio especially Prada, Bvlgari and Chanel in addition to the recently launched Dolce & Gabbana collections.

Ray-Ban had another strong quarter, after the spectacular growth experienced in 2005 and three consecutive years of 20 percent growth. Operating margin for the entire wholesale division for the quarter improved to 26.0 percent, up year-over-year by 220 basis points."