TOKYO—Hoya Corporation (7741:Tokyo) has announced consolidated revenue of 220.8 billion yen for the third quarter ending December 31, 2024, up 13 percent from year-ago, and up 11 percent on a constant currency basis. Pretax profit rose to 65.2 billion yen, a 31 percent increase compared with the year-ago period, up 28 percent with the constant currency effect. Operating profit increased 17 percent to 66.1 billion yen compared with the prior-year period, an increase of 13 percent in constant currency, according to Hoya.

Hoya said its operations in Japan generated revenue of 46.5 billion yen during the third quarter, up 21.1 percent compared with the year-ago period. Revenue for its Americas operations grew to 38.14 billion yen, up 17.3 percent compared with the year-ago period. Hoya said Europe generated 44.6 billion yen in revenue in the third quarter, a 20.2 percent increase compared with the year-ago period, and Asia/Oceania reported revenue of 87.6 billion yen, up 39.70 percent compared with the year-ago period.

Hoya said that revenue in its Life Care business, including eyeglass lenses, contact lenses and intraocular lenses, grew to 139.41 billion yen in the third quarter, up 4.4 percent compared with the year-ago period. Hoya attributed the growth to an 8 percent increase in revenue from eyeglass lens sales, and a 5 percent increase in contact lens sales. Operating profit in Life Care decreased, however, due to what the company said was continued aggressive investment of sales promotion expenses. 

The company noted that although sales of eyeglass lenses in China were slow due to macroeconomic factors, sales in Japan, where it focused on sales promotion measures, and Brazil, where it has been working to strengthen its foundation, continued to be strong.

The company said it achieved stable contact lens growth in the mid-single digits by acquiring new customers, including contact debut users, and improving retention through online services. Hoya also said it plans to strengthen its sales promotion activities to acquire new customers in the fourth quarter.

Despite a reported 2 percent revenue increase in IOLs, the company noted that since the introduction of the National Volume-Based Procurement (NVBP) in China, not only have unit prices fallen, but there have also been changes in the market, such as a shift in demand toward multifocal lenses. Hoya does not currently have multi-focal lenses available on the market.

In the third quarter, Hoya reported net income of 50.48 billion yen, representing a year-over-year increase of 31 percent.

Hoya announced adjusted financial guidance for its fourth quarter and for the full year 2024. Fourth quarter 2024 revenue is now projected to be 219.9 billion yen, a 12 percent year-over-year increase. For full-year 2024, Hoya expects total revenue to come in at 869.2 billion yen, a year-over-year increase of 14 percent.

For the nine months ended December 31, 2024, revenue grew 14.8 percent to 649,276 billion yen compared with 565,787 billion yen for the same nine-month period last year.

Hoya also announced that it decided to acquire up to 3 million of its own shares in order to improve capital efficiency and ensure a flexible capital policy.