EssilorLuxottica’s old-fashioned spectacles offset smart glasses slowdown

EssilorLuxottica shares leapt 14 per cent on Wednesday after the Ray-Ban maker reported that strong sales of its traditional eyewear compensated for a slowdown in its smart glasses business.

The Franco-Italian group reported third-quarter revenues of €7.49bn, a 9 per cent rise year-on-year. Its eyecare, eyewear and medical technology businesses, which account for most of its annual sales, grew by more than 6 per cent.

Revenues from wearables — which include its AI-powered glasses developed with Meta and Nuance Audio hearing devices — increased 20 per cent, marking a sharp slowdown from the previous quarter when the category had almost doubled its revenues.

The results will come as a welcome relief for chief executive Francesco Milleri, who has been in the spotlight in recent months amid a public feud with Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio, one of the heirs of the group’s late founder. Del Vecchio has questioned his leadership and threatened to challenge his reappointment next year.

EssilorLuxottica’s shares have lost almost half their value since reaching a record high in November 2025, owing to concerns over the profitability of its smart glasses business, intensifying competition from US technology groups and the impact of tariffs.

“The prospect of smart glasses disrupting traditional eyewear will likely stay as a sword of Damocles hanging over EssilorLuxottica,” said Bernstein analyst Luca Solca. “The upcoming launch of Google glasses will be a first acid test. If competitor smart glasses prove at some point to be compelling — and that remains an if — the first casualty will be once again EssilorLuxottica’s [valuation] multiple.”

Uncertainty over the governance of its largest shareholder, the Del Vecchio family’s holding company Delfin, has also weighed on the stock, according to analysts.

Milleri previously predicted that wearable devices could eventually replace smartphones, but he has also pushed EssilorLuxottica’s expansion into medical technology during his tenure. In a statement on Wednesday, he said medtech, alongside the group’s traditional eyewear and eyecare businesses, “remained a powerful engine of growth”.

He also played down concerns surrounding the feud among the Del Vecchio heirs who have been challenging each other in court over their late father and Luxottica founder Leonardo Del Vecchio’s estate.

In an interview with Italy’s La Repubblica on Wednesday, Milleri said EssilorLuxottica’s leadership was not in question and it is for Delfin’s board, rather than individual heirs, to decide on the matter.

In North America, its largest market, EssilorLuxottica reported revenue growth of 4.7 per cent to €3.2bn, ahead of analysts’ expectations. Milleri has focused on reorganising the group’s North American operations this year.

Revenues increased by 7.5 per cent in Europe and 16 per cent in Asia-Pacific.