Analysis: Who is Optical Express?

The Optical Express Group is made up of nine separate subsidiary companies, making up a total of 170 stores. It provides eye tests, spectacles, contact lenses and laser eye surgery.

The privately owned group was founded in 1991 by David Moulsdale who is now chairman and chief executive. It started as a single store in Leith near Edinburgh before growing to 16 opticians by 1995. It is now the fourth largest high street optician chain in the UK, and the only one to offer laser eye surgery after buying The Health Clinic in 2002. The group has two own brands in its frame range – Occhiali and Siena.

The company expanded from being purely an optician chain to other services in the 2000s. It has provided dental services since 2004 when it bought Boots’ dental business. The deal also boosted its laser eye surgery offer after Boots disposed of its operations in that category. It also runs private general hospital, the Bridgewater, in Manchester.

In 2004 Optical Express moved into Europe with the acquisition of the laser treatment chain Free Vision Euro Eyes in Holland and a year later Laser View in the same country. In 2006 the company entered the laser market in the Republic of Ireland and in 2007 acquired a laser clinic chain in Germany, Visu Med, with 13 outlets in its domestic market plus an outpost in Croatia. In February 2008 the group acquired both Laser Vision Institut in France and Kawesch Laser Centers in Los Angeles and San Diego in the US. The group currently operates in the UK, US, Ireland, Croatia, Germany, France and the Netherlands.