OPTICAL chain Black & Lizars has named Michelle Le Prevost as its managing director. The former dental care professional replaces Geraldine Meade, who left the company in December after just nine months in the position. Ms Meade has subsequently taken a role as professional development director at rival firm Optical Express.
Ms Le Prevost joins Glasgow-based Black & Lizars from Oasis Dental Care, a provider of NHS and private care with more than 300 practices, where she was mergers and acquisitions manager responsible for key business targets and board level financial reporting. Previously, she was regional business development manager at LloydsPharmacy, having also spent time in the optometry sector as senior business development manager at Specsavers.
Ms Le Prevost called Black & Lizars a dynamic company that has a proud past and an exciting future. “It leads the field in introducing the latest technology to provide the best possible levels of service,” she said. “The company has an excellent senior team whom I am delighted to be joining and I look forward to taking the company to new success, continued growth and even more outstanding patient care."
Adding that being away from optometry for eight years had given her valuable insight into other areas of healthcare, Mr Le Prevost said that under her leadership, the company was “in a strong position to enhance our position in both sites and services.”
The company currently has 24 practices in Scotland and one in Belfast. Ms Le Prevost said the company was in a position to look at acquiring new sites.
In its most recent accounts, for the year-ending September 30 2014, Black & Lizars posted a pre-tax profit of £761,000 on sales of £13.9m. The ten per cent increase in turnover came as a result of practice acquisition. Ms Le Prevost said: “Black & Lizars continues to deliver good profitability.”
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