CHARENTON-LE-PONT, France, July 13, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- On June 28, 2010, Essilor cancelled 4,000,000 shares, in line with its commitment not to create any dilution for existing shareholders. The two-part transaction was carried out as follows:

    - 2,130,000 shares were cancelled to offset the dilutive impact of the
      vesting of performance shares or the exercise of stock options granted
      to employees.

    - 1,870,000 shares were cancelled to offset the dilution resulting from
      the conversion of the now mature OCEANE convertible bonds. The shares
      had been purchased as part of a program launched in 2008 to buy back up
      to 6,900,000 shares for allocation on conversion of the OCEANE bonds
      then outstanding. To date, Essilor has bought back 5,200,000 shares
      under this program, of which 3,370,000 have now been cancelled.

The world leader in ophthalmic optical products, Essilor International researches, develops, manufactures and markets around the world a wide range of lenses to improve and protect eyesight. Its flagship brands are Varilux(R), Crizal(R), Essilor(R), Definity(R) and Xperio(TM).

Based in France, the company reported consolidated revenue of more than EUR3.2 billion in 2009, with 34,700 employees and operations in 100 countries.

For more information, please visit http://www.essilor.com.

The Essilor share trades on the NYSE Euronext Paris market and is included in the CAC 40 index.

    Codes and symbols: ISIN: FR0000121667; Reuters: ESSI.PA; Bloomberg: EI:FP.

    Investor Relations and Financial Communications
    Veronique Gillet - Sebastien Leroy
    Phone: +33(0)1-49-77-42-16
    http://www.essilor.com

SOURCE Essilor

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