Privately owned optical franchise Specsavers has achieved a 53 percent increase in gross profit to this time last year, as well as a 15 percent like for like growth, just two years after entering the Australian market.

The company hit its revenue projection of $200 million two months earlier than forecast, and according to a July 2010 Ibis World Industry Report has achieved an 18.5 percent market share.

Managing director Peter Larsen said This has been a significant year for the business. We’re continuing to see substantial growth and exceeding expectations on numerous levels. We’re taking on competitors in terms of price and service and as a result gaining market share.

Australians are demanding value for money and the response to our brand is demonstrative of this. In the coming year we will continue to invest in our customer experience, oepning a further 50 stores by the end of 2011.

The third largest optical retailer in the world, Specsavers has more than 230 stores across Australia and last year supplied Australia and New Zealand with 1.2 million pairs of glasses. Its year old multimillion dollar custom designed head office in Port Melbourne already houses about 400 employees.