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SCHIPHOL, The Netherlands—GrandVision NV (EURONEXT: GVNV) has provided an update on the impact of COVID-19 on its business, and outlined some of the measures it is taking to “actively manage the risks to its customers, employees and operations.” In addition, GrandVision said it has decided to postpone its annual general meeting until June 30. The meeting had been scheduled for April 24. GrandVision is the parent company of ForEyes in the U.S. market, and is in the midst of being acquired by EssilorLuxottica, a transaction that the company said it still expects to complete in the planned time frame.

ForEyes stores closed on Saturday and are not scheduled to reopen until April 1, according to its website. In other markets—specifically Belgium, France, Italy, Poland and Spain—all of the company’s stores are closed, also. And, in some regions, store networks are only partially open.

In its announcement, GrandVision said it continues to support EssilorLuxottica with “the shared objective to obtain regulatory approval for the closure of the acquisition by EssilorLuxottica of HAL’s 77 percent interest in GrandVision within 12 to 24 months from the announcement date of July 31, 2019.” The “currently expected impact of COVID-19” on GrandVision’s business and financial position is not expected to impact the transaction, the announcement stated.

“It has become fully clear that with the current developments on the COVID-19 outbreak, we are faced with extraordinarily challenging times ahead of us,” chief executive officer Stephan Borchert said in the announcement. “Our entire focus lies on protecting the safety and well-being of our employees and customers as well as on managing the risks to our operations and financial situation.”

Borchert noted that the company is working closely with local authorities and has closed stores in those countries that have implemented strict measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus. “We have taken immediate action to mitigate the impact on GrandVision’s financial position, in particular by rigid management of cost and cash outflow,” he added. “Our net debt position and the liquidity headroom under our revolving credit facility are solid. As the situation continues to develop rapidly, the outcome and ultimate business impact is uncertain.”

Borchert said that, based on current risk analysis, GrandVision does not expect to achieve its medium term objectives of delivering at least 5 percent revenue and EBITA growth in 2020.

He added, “We remain confident that the announced acquisition by EssilorLuxottica of HAL’s 76.72 percent interest in our company will be closed within 12 to 24 months from the announcement of the transaction on July, 31, 2019. Together with EssilorLuxottica and HAL we are working on fulfilling all requirements that are necessary toward closing the transaction.”

EssilorLuxottica announced last July that it had reached an agreement with Hal Optical Investments BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of HAL Holding NV, to acquire HAL’s controlling interest in GrandVision in a deal analysts valued at €7.1billion at the time, as VMAIL reported. 

In terms of current operations, GrandVision said that in January and February its comparable growth sales totaled 5.5 percent. In the first two weeks of March, “comparable growth continued to be positive with growth across most of our core markets.”

Due to decisions by local authorities, however, all of GrandVision’s stores are now temporarily closed in Belgium, France, Italy, Poland and Spain. “In most other markets, the store networks remain fully or partially open, however, sales are negatively impacted up to a high double-digit percent range,” the announcement noted. “All of GrandVision’s online platforms, although still a small part of our current turnover, remain operational and are showing robust growth.”

GrandVision said it has formed an internal task force to monitor and proactively manage risks relating to COVID-19 throughout its business. “At this moment, priority is to preserve the operations of our business and safeguard its financial health. The company has started to implement measures to reduce operating costs, including adjustment of marketing activities and other non-business critical discretionary spend, adjust our procurement activities, optimize working capital and reduce all non-business critical capital expenditures.”