ESSILOR INTL. : Essilor's 2012 Annual General Meeting

• All resolutions adopted
• Louise Fréchette appointed as a member of the Board of Directors

Regulatory News:

The Combined Ordinary and Extraordinary General Annual Meeting of Essilor (Paris:EI) Shareholders was held today at Palais des Congrès in Paris under the chairmanship of Hubert Sagnières, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Essilor International.

During the meeting, all of the proposed resolutions were adopted. In particular, shareholders approved the payment of a dividend of ?0.85 per share for 2011 which will be distributed to shareholders from 29 May 2012, the re-election of four Directors, Mr Benoît Bazin, Mr Antoine Bernard de Saint-Affrique, Mr Bernard Hours and Mr Olivier Pécoux, as well as the appointment of Ms Louise Fréchette, former Deputy Secretary General to the United Nations, as a new Director. All of the financial authorizations were also approved.

Louise Fréchette, of Canadian nationality, is a Distinguished Fellow of the Centre for International Governance Innovation. She is also Chair of the Board of Directors of Care Canada, a major international charity, and a member of the Global Leadership Foundation for the promotion of peace and democracy.

From 1998 to 2006, she was the first Deputy Secretary General to the United Nations. Before joining the UN, she worked for the Canadian Civil Service, notably as Ambassador to Argentina, Permanent Representative and Ambassador to the United Nations, Deputy Minister of Finance and Deputy Minister of National Defense.

Commenting on her appointment, Hubert Sagnières said, "I'm very pleased that Louise Fréchette is joining our Board. Her experience with the United Nations and various non-governmental organizations, combined with her knowledge of emerging economies, will be of considerable value to Essilor as we accelerate our growth in fast-growing markets and strengthen our commitment to corporate social responsibility. As part of our corporate mission, we take action throughout the world to promote increased awareness of the economic and social importance of good vision and to help underprivileged people correct their vision, in particular through the Essilor Vision Foundation."

Louise Fréchette is also

• A member of the International Advisory Board of the Institute for Study of International Development of McGill University (Montreal, Quebec).
• A member of the Board of Directors of the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations.
• Chairman of the Board of the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre until the end of 2010.

The videocast of this meeting will be available after 6:00 pm today on http://hosting.3sens.com/Essilor/20120511-ED9C8753/en/

About Essilor

The world's leading ophthalmic optics company, Essilor designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of lenses to improve and protect eyesight. Its corporate mission is to enable everyone around the world to access lenses that meet his or her unique vision requirements. To support this mission, the Company allocates around ?150 million to research and development every year, in a commitment to continuously bringing new, more effective products to market. Essilor's flagship brands are Varilux®, Crizal®, Definity®, Xperio®, Optifog™ and Foster Grant®. It also develops and markets equipment, instruments and services for eyecare professionals.
Essilor reported consolidated revenue of ?4.2 billion in 2011 and employs around 48,700 people in some 100 countries. It operates 19 plants, a total of 390 prescription laboratories and edging facilities, as well as several research and development centers around the world.
For more information, please visit 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.

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