MILAN -Citing strong retail and wholesale sales and its progress in completing the integration of Cole National, Luxottica Group S.p.A. [NYSE: LUX] reported that its consolidated sales for the second fiscal quarter ending June 30, 2005, reached a record 1,145.6 million Euros, while its consolidated net income for the period was 91.1 million Euro, a 15.3 percent increase over the prior-year period.

In reporting consolidated U.S. GAAP results for the three- and six-month periods, Luxottica also noted that its retail sales rose 53.4 percent to 842.9 million Euros in the second quarter, compared to the year-ago period, reflecting comparable-store retail sales growth of 8.3 percent for that period. The company’s total wholesale sales increased 17.6 percent for the three-month period to reach 368.3 million Euros.

For the six-months ending June 30, Luxottica Group reported that consolidated sales were 2,182.6 million Euros and total wholesale sales were 695.2 million Euros. Retail sales for the six-months were reported at 1,599 million Euros, an increase of 50.5 percent from the prior year first-half, while retail comparable-store sales increased 5.9 percent for the first half.

Andrea Guerra, chief executive officer of Luxottica Group, said, “Today we are reporting record sales results for our Group and continued progress toward the successful completion of the Cole National integration. For the quarter, we posted consolidated sales levels again well above the one billion Euro mark, in line with our forecast of between 4 and 4.15 billion euro for the full year. These strong results--sales for the quarter were up by over 41.1 percent, earnings per share by 14.9 percent--reflect the strength of our business and continued good performance by our entire team as we prepare for the second half of the year.”

Results of the retail division for the second quarter were particularly strong, especially in North America, Guerra noted, where the sun business experienced significant comparable store growth. Retail results were strong also in Asia-Pacific, with comparable store sales growth in excess of 5 percent as well as improvements in terms of profitability.

Wholesale sales to third parties rose by 16.3 percent (by 17 percent assuming constant exchange rates), while operating margins for the entire wholesale division reached 24.5 percent, despite the additional decline in the value of the U.S. currency against the Euro, by an average of nearly 5 percent for the quarter, the company reported.