Preparing to Go Public, Texas-Based Eye Care Firm Alcon Details Finances.

Byline: Trebor Banstetter

Feb. 26--FORT WORTH, Texas--Since 1999, sales have steadily increased at eye care company Alcon Laboratories, but profits tumbled nearly 10 percent as overhead swelled and management prepared to introduce a new glaucoma drug.

The decline in net earnings was disclosed in a voluminous report that Alcon filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Friday. Meanwhile, Nestle, its parent company, announced that it will offer 23 percent of Alcon's stock, worth as much as $2.4 billion, for sale on the New York Stock Exchange in late March.

It's the first time in more than two decades that Alcon, the world's leading eye care company, has released a detailed accounting of its finances, structure and long-term business strategy. Since 1978, when Nestle bought the company, Alcon executives have had to disclose little more than general revenue figures and descriptions of its products in a short "annual report" available to the public.

Alcon executives declined to comment on the filing. The company has entered an SEC-mandated "quiet period," in effect through the initial sale of the stock, during which officials are forbidden from publicly discussing the company.

Friday's announcement boosted the stock of Nestle, which is traded on the Zurich stock exchange. European analysts have been critical of Nestle for years for sitting on subsidiaries such as Fort Worth-based Alcon, which is unrelated to its core food business.

"The market is interested in how Nestle views its future," said analyst Rene Weber of Bank Vontobel in Zurich.