- EBITA grew by 35.2% in 3Q20 on 2.3% revenue growth at constant exchange rates
Schiphol, the Netherlands – 30 October 2020. GrandVision N.V. publishes its Third Quarter and Nine Months 2020 results.
Third quarter 2020 highlights
• 3Q20 adjusted EBITA (i.e. excluding non-recurring items) increased to €176 million from €132 million in the third
quarter of 2019 (+35.2%) at constant exchange rates. The adjusted EBITA includes a positive one-time effect of
€10 million from COVID-19 related measures
• Revenue grew by 2.3% at constant exchange rates to €1,047 million in 3Q20 (3Q19: €1,045 million), as
GrandVision's store network fully reopened
• Comparable revenue growth was 0.8% in 3Q20, led by a strong performance in the G4 of 3.4%
• Banner e-commerce sales grew by of 225% during the first nine months
• GrandVision's net debt position as of 30 September 2020 was €602 million, a reduction of €151 million compared
to the end of June 2020
• The store base decreased to 7,247 stores from 7,271 at the end of June 2020 driven by store closures in the
ordinary course of business and openings of 45 new stores
• GrandVision intends to pay the postponed 2019 dividend contingent upon developments relating to COVID-19.
GrandVision will host an analyst call on 30 October 2020 at 9am CET. Webcast and dial-in details are available at
investors.grandvision.com and at the bottom of this press release.

Third quarter key figures - in millions of EUR
(unless stated otherwise) 3Q20 3Q19
Change vs. prior year Change at constant FX Organic growth Growth from acquisitions
Revenue 1,047 1,045 0.3% 2.3% 1.5% 0.8%
Comparable growth (%) 0.8% 4.0%
Adjusted EBITA 176 132 33.6% 35.2% 33.7% 1.5%
Adjusted EBITA margin (%) 16.8% 12.6% 421bps
EBITA 167 126 32.7%
System wide sales 1,148 1,137 1.0%
Nine months 2020 highlights
• 9M20 revenue declined by 16.6% to €2,500 million (9MQ19: €3,040 million)
• 9M20 adjusted EBITA declined by 58.2% to €153 million (9M19: €369 million)
• 9M20 comparable growth was -8.9% in 3Q20 (9M19: 3.9%)
• The store base decreased from 7,406 stores at year-end 2019 to 7,247 stores at the end of September 2020

Nine months key figures - in millions of EUR
(unless stated otherwise) 9M20 9M19
Change vs. prior year Change at constant FX Organic growth Growth from acquisitions
Revenue 2,500 3,040 -17.8% -16.6% -18.3% 1.8%
Comparable growth (%) -18.9% 3.9%
Adjusted EBITA 153 369 -58.5% -58.2% -59.3% 1.1%
Adjusted EBITA margin (%) 6.1% 12.1% -601bps
EBITA 99 352 -71.9%
System wide sales 2,739 3,316 -17.4%
Number of stores (#) 7,247 7,366

Management comments
Stephan Borchert, GrandVision's CEO said: “The third quarter of 2020 was characterized by a faster than expected recovery of our business, as we delivered revenue growth and very strong adjusted EBITA on the back of higher customer conversion across a broad range of our markets, stronger omni-channel sales and efficiency gains. The recovery we experienced in the quarter would not have been possible without the continued support from all of our customers and employees and the great collaboration with our business partners, for which I am very grateful.
We continued to invest in our omni-channel initiatives, for example by launching prescription glass e-commerce in more than 10 countries, enabling us to cater for the strongly increasing customer demand particularly for single vision glasses to buy spectacles online within the trusted environment of our banners. During the first nine months, ecommerce sales through our banner websites grew by 225%, and our online pure-plays grew by 40%.
We improved the profitability in some of our historically underperforming markets such as the UK, US and Italy. In all these markets we have made good progress which has led to a solid EBITA performance in the quarter. In addition to that, the integration of the recently acquired businesses in Spain and Switzerland has proceeded as planned.
The strong performance reconfirms the resilience of the optical retailing industry in general with its favorable longterm market drivers, the strength of our local banners and the effectiveness of our investments in our strategic
initiatives, which are allowing us to expand our customer value proposition across all channels and to leverage our global presence.
We are conscious of the risk of a second wave, which could again impact customer behavior and traffic to our stores, but we have gained valuable experience in responding to the crisis during the first wave, and have recovered quickly.
We are confident that we will come out of a potential second wave strong and well-positioned for future growth.
Finally, I would like to reiterate that we are continuing to support EssilorLuxottica in obtaining the remaining regulatory approvals for the proposed acquisition of HAL's stake in our company.”

Dividend
As a result of the strong recovery of GrandVision’s financial position since the on-set of the COVID-19 crisis, GrandVision confirms its intention to pay a dividend for 2019 as set out in our Full Year 2019 results announcement of 26 February 2020 and expects to confirm this with the publication of its trading update on 22 January 2021. This will allow the company to review and monitor the development and possible impact of a second wave of COVID-19 on the financial position of the company before taking a decision to propose a dividend for shareholder approval.

Third quarter 2020 developments
Store network reopening and traffic developments
At the end of September, more than 99% of GrandVision’s stores had reopened, an improvement from approximately 90% of our store network at the end of June. By the end of July, our store networks in most European markets and the US had re-opened. The strongest recovery in the quarter was therefore seen in the G4 and partly in the Other Europe segment. In many of our Latin American markets, lockdown measures were only eased in August, resulting in a weaker performance for the Americas & Asia segment. Nevertheless, we have also seen strong signs of recovery in Russia,

Turkey and the United States.
Although customer traffic remains below previous levels, this effect has been more than compensated by higher customer conversion in our stores, which is partly driven by an increase of online appointment bookings and a higher purchase intent by customers. We have also observed more evenly distributed traffic flows throughout the week, as customers try to avoid store visits during weekends and peak times. The more evenly distributed traffic flows and the increased customer usage of online appointment bookings have also led to an increase in store productivity. This development has particularly benefited our banners that to a large extent rely on proximity and convenience locations.

Revenue development
Revenue increased by 2.3% at constant exchange rates to €1,047 million in 3Q20 (€1,045 million in 3Q19) or 0.3% at reported rates including negative currency translation effects of approx. €19 million, primarily due to the depreciation of the Turkish lira and Latin American currencies. Comparable revenue growth during the period was 0.8%.
GrandVision's core continental European markets, particularly the Benelux, Germany, Austria and Switzerland recovered above expectations, delivering at least mid-single digit revenue growth.
Revenue growth benefitted from a mix shift due to strong optical sales during the quarter, while sunglasses continued to show a weaker performance.

Adjusted EBITA development
Adjusted EBITA grew considerably by 35.2% at constant exchange rates to €176 million (€132 million in 3Q19). The adjusted EBITA growth of €44 million compared to the prior year was in approximately equal parts driven by efficiency gains, particularly in historically underperforming markets, revenue growth and short-term cost benefits related to COVID-19 measures
A substantial part of adjusted EBITA growth is related to ongoing efficiency gains. The company had taken steps to structurally improve the profitability in certain countries that were previously lagging compared to more mature operations, in particular the UK, the US and Italy. These restructuring programs were already initiated before the COVID-19 crisis and included the staffing and efficiency of its stores, headquarter operations, optimizing the commercial proposition and making necessary changes to local management teams.
Adjusted EBITA growth benefitted from a mix increase toward the higher margin optical category and from revenu growth in our higher margin European markets.
Adjusted EBITA includes a positive one-time effect of €10 million related to cost control and other measures GrandVision had taken in the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. These measures were mostly phased out after the reopening of the store network.
3Q20 adjusted EBITA excludes non-recurring items of €10 million, which are largely related to expenses in connection with the announced acquisition of HAL's interest in GrandVision by EssilorLuxottica.

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