15 January 2006
The Carl Zeiss Group, Oberkochen, Germany, has announced the results for fiscal 2004/2005, which ended September 30, 2005
The fiscal year was marked by the merger of the Zeiss eyeglass business with Sola International, one of the world's leading eyeglass suppliers. The resultant new company, Carl Zeiss Vision International, is owned equally by Carl Zeiss AG and a private equity firm. Despite the changed scope of consolidation, revenues of Carl Zeiss increased four percent to Euro 2.222 billion.
Earnings before taxes reached a record level of Euro 199 million (plus 72 percent). The company's Opto-Electronic Systems (OES) group, which includes lenses for digital and analog still and movie cameras, amounted to Euro 219 million, flat with the previous fiscal year.
According to a press release, a pleasing trend was observed in the lens business. With Nokia, the business group has obtained an important partner for the joint marketing of high-quality camera phones.