EssilorLuxottica tops estimates in Q3 despite slowdown in growth of smart glasses

MILAN, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Revenue at eyewear group EssilorLuxottica rose 7.2% at constant exchange rates in the third quarter, beating analysts' expectations, despite a sharp slowdown in the growth of sales of smart glasses.

Sales of smart glasses, which have been a key driver of the company valuation, rose 20% in the third quarter, compared with a rate of nearly 100% in the April-June period.

The slower growth partly reflected a challenging comparison with the same period last year, when sales of smart glasses benefited from the category building up.

Over the past year, EssilorLuxottica shares have roughly halved in value, weighed down by concerns over intensifying competition and privacy issues surrounding smart glasses, as well as uncertainty about the group's profitability and governance-related questions.

For the first time on Tuesday the group disclosed the exact amount of revenue generated by its wearables business, which also includes Nuance hearing-aid glasses, although the latter account for only a small portion of the total.

Wearable sales reached €486 million ($546 million) in the third quarter, equivalent to roughly 6.5% of total revenue.

Total revenue for the quarter came in at €7.49 billion, above €7.36 billion expected by an analyst consensus by Visible Alpha.

Sales in North America, the largest region for the company, rose 4.7% in the quarter, while revenue in Asia Pacific rose by double digits, helped by the myopia management portfolio.

"Our eyecare, eyewear and medtech activities remained a powerful engine of growth, up over 6% in both the quarter and the first nine months of the year," CEO Francesco Milleri and Deputy CEO Paul du Saillant said in a joint statement.

($1 = 0.8899 euros)

(Reporting by Elisa AnzolinEditing by Keith Weir)