Medtronic in Tolochenaz, Switzerland
Tolochenaz, canton Vaud (Switzerland) – Medical device maker Medtronic has reported fiscal year third quarter (period ending 29 January 2010) revenue of $3.851 billion, a 10 percent increase over third quarter revenue reported a year earlier, the company said Tuesday 23 February. Revenue from outside the US rose by 22 percent in the same period compared to the previous year and accounted for 42 percent of the total.
Medtronic’s head office for Europe and Asia is in Tolochenaz, which is also home to its European training centre.
The company employs 950 people in Switzerland.
Vevey, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Food multinational Nestlé says its profits fell by more than 40 percent in 2009 compared to the previous year largely because of a hefty profit in 2008 from the sale of Alcon eye-care company. Net profit in 2009 was CHF10.4 billion, down from CHF18b in 2008.
Sales slipped from CHF109.9b to CHF107.6b but the company says that new markets, particularly in Africa and Asia, are growing well. CEO Paul Bulcke, Nestlé chief executive struck a positive note: “With organic growth of 4.1 percent achieved in last year’s challenging environment, we were able to grow substantially faster than our industry.”
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Geneva-based scents and flavours specialist Givaudin says it faces 2010 in good shape, despite lower production, with stocks reduced. Group sales for 2009 totaled close to CHF4 billion, an increase of 1.4% in local currencies and a decrease of 3.1% in Swiss francs compared to the previous year. On a comparable basis, sales increased by 1.6% compared to 2008.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Travel agent Kuoni has reported a loss of CHF5.7 million on net income of almost CHF3 billion in the first nine months of 2009. Kuoni has not made a profit yet this year, although it says the trend in reservations is upwards and it expects to have an operational profit by the end of the fourth quarter. Kuoni has been hard hit by the recession, as households and businesses curtail travel plans.
”The continuing global financial and economic crisis and the negative impact of currency movements depressed our nine-month results,”said Peter Rothwell, CEO of the Kuoni Group. “On the plus side, further progress was made on the cost savings front with a positive effect on our operating result.”
Kuoni announced a new strategy at the end of September that will allow for greater savings in the future.
Links to other sites: Kuoni, Le Temps (Fre), Romandie News (Fre)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Sales at Firmenich, Geneva-based scents and flavours specialist, fell by 4.3 percent from June 2008 to June 2009, when the company’s financial year ends. The company’s turnover was CHF2.64 billion. Ingredients for the necessities of daily life, such as soaps and foods, remained stable but the fine perfumes business was down.
Links to other sites: Perfumer & Flavorist
CFF mobile ticketing is one of several changes boosting Swiss rail traveler numbers
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Discounted tickets, a new venture by the Swiss rail company starting in May 2009, appear to have paid off: the company says that 60,000 people took advantage of the tickets, designed to encourage people who are not regular users to discover the Swiss rail system. Half of them used the train during non-peak hours to take advantage of bargain prices, a boon particularly to tourist lines. The CFF plans to offer another discount promotion starting in October. The figures were part of the financial results published Thursday 10 September by the company, which show a surprising 26.8 percent increase in turnover, given the economic climate, of CHF132.8 million.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Adecco, the world’s largest human resources company, possibly best known for supplying businesses with temporary workers, said revenues declined by 32 percent for the second quarter of 2009, compared to a year earlier. The group posted an operating loss for the period of €173 million.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s famed yellow postal buses are not only surviving but thriving during the economic crisis, the fleet’s director, Daniel Landolf, told newspaper Sonntag in an interview published Sunday 9 August. The buses, which reach many areas not served by rail, have been increasingly popular as the Swiss travel more at home during the downturn, and the company expects to hire 280 new staff by 2012. Landolf is quoted as saying that the company, a subsidiary of the Switzerland’s La Poste, expects to see higher profits than in 2008, when it posted a CHF27 million profit.
Stefan Lippe, CEO, Swiss Re
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss Re, one of Switzerland’s largest insurance companies, has posted a CHF381 million loss for the second quarter of the year, after a small Q1 profit of CHF150m, blaming the downturn on hedge and impairment losses but insisting that the company will remain on target. “During the second quarter of 2009, our core business, despite the reported loss, continued to deliver strong underwriting results and solid earnings power. Most importantly, the measures we implemented to improve our capital base have proven to be effective,” notes Stefan Lippe, CEO.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss postal system, La Poste, had first quarter 2009 profits of CHF198 million, down CHF30m or 13 percent from the same period in 2008. The group faces greater competition in July 2009 and falling revenues from letters, down 3.1 percent in the first three months of the year. It says it expects earning for 2009 to be down sharply from 2008.
