WTO in Geneva predicts slower exports in 2012
Source: WTO, Geneva, April 2012
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The high Swiss franc went higher against the dollar Wednesday 11 April, as it “appreciated against 11 of 16 major peers”, Bloomberg reported late 11 April, noting that “strengthened against the dollar after the country sold bonds amid demand for its assets as a refuge from the euro region’s debt crisis.”
Thursday the exchange rate was $1.09/CHF1, with the dollar up from a January low of $1.04, but down from late January.
Roche Pharmaceuticals says it is being hurt by the strong franc, with sales dipping 1 percent in the first quarter of the year, but up 2 percent if the franc is taken out of the calculation. The company hinted it might raise its hostile bid for US drug company Illumina if the latter enters negotiations.
Swatch Group, riding on the continuing wave of success of the Swiss watch industry despite the high franc, announced 12 April that it is buying supplier Simon Et Membrez SA in Delémont, a family business founded in 1975 that now has 250 employees. In addition, Swatch Group is acquiring a related 60 percent holding in Termiboîtes SA (case polishing) in Courtemaîche, with 50 employees.
“Simon Et Membrez SA is a seamless fit alongside the existing Swatch Group production companies and logically complements Comadur, Ruedin and Lascor, the companies active in the production of watch casings within the Swatch Group,’ says Swatch. Simon Et Membrez SA manufactures high quality watch cases for the top price segment out of precious materials such as gold, titanium, platinum, palladium and premium-quality steels. Swatch Group has a long-standing business relationship with Simon Et Membrez SA for a number of its watch brands (Breguet, Blancpain). Simon Et Membrez SA will continue to supply third parties.”
Shock waves from sovereign debt crisis will ripple through trade world in 2012
In other business news Thursday the World Trade Organization in Geneva says growth in exports will continue to slow down in 2012, mainly as the result of a series of shocks such as Europe’s sovereign debt crisis. “World trade expanded in 2011 by 5.0 percent, a sharp deceleration from the 2010 rebound of 13.8 percent, and growth will slow further still to 3.7 percent in 2012, WTO economists project,” the organization says.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Swatch Group continued in 2011 to have “record numbers at all levels” as it posted its 2012 financial figures Tuesday 7 February. Gross sales were CHF7.14 million, up nearly 22 percent over 2010′s record sales, at constant exchange rates. “The continued weakness in the euro and the dollar during the year had a major negative impact on sales of about CHF 700 million,” the watchmaking-centred group announced in a statement.
Investors will be happy with its operating profit of CHF1.61 million, up 12.4 percent over the previous year, net income up 181 percent to CHF1.28m and proposed dividends 15 percent higher. More than 2 800 new jobs were created in 2011.
The group says the outlook for 2012 is promising despite the “higher benchmark” challenges and it will continue to invest in production in Switzerland “despite the high Swiss franc”.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Swiss company news continues to be haunted by the record strong Swiss franc. Swatch says its sales remain strong despite the franc, but the currency impact is clear, with sales up 27.4 percent at constant rates, over 2010 half-year sales, or 13.3 percent at current rates. Credit Suisse confirmed rumours of job cuts, saying 2,000 are to go, with fixed income and trading income down by 59 percent. Switzerland’s second largest bank
Credit Suisse follows on the heels of UBS, which also announced job cuts and falling profits this week, but as the Financial Times pointed out 14 July, they are not alone “in an industry that is under intense pressure to slash costs”. Credit Suisse, like others, added employees, in its case 2,000 jobs from March 2010 to March 2011, based on expectations that markets would recover after the financial crisis. Factors marking the second quarter for the bank, it says in a statement included: “low levels of client activity and a difficult trading environment with concerns over the European debt crisis and deteriorating global economic indicators; low interest rate environment and strong Swiss franc that reduced pre-tax income by CHF348 million versus 2Q10 and CHF637 million versus 6M10.’
Logitech published its first quarter results for fiscal year 2012 late Wednesday 27 July, showing flat sales of $480 million, up from $479m a year earlier. The Morges and California-based company showed an operating loss of $45 million, compared to income of $12m in the previous year. “Excluding the favorable impact of exchange rate changes, sales declined by 4 percent year over year,” the company’s statement notes. Business Week points out that “Logitech has been affected by the proliferation of tablet computers, which may erode its traditional desktop and notebook business.” The net loss for the quarter was larger than analysts expected, at $30m, compared to $20m net income for the same period a year earlier.
Industry’s main watch fair will pull in 100,000 people in 7 days
India's trade minister, Arnand Sharma, was guest of honour as Baselworld 2011 opened (photo, ©Baselworld)
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Baselworld opens today, 24 March and runs until 31 March, giving Switzerland and the rest of the world a good look at the latest timepieces, but also a chance to reflect on the growing impact of developing economies.
Watches make up about two-thirds of the products exhibited with jewelry and “other products” accounting for the rest. Watchmakers are only one-third of the 1,892 exhibitors, however.
Victorinox Swiss Army's new Alliance model
European manufacturers are 80 percent of the exhibitors, who come from a total of 45 countries.
Geopolitical events are a dark cloud for forecasters
All industry eyes are on Asia, however, as developing economies push the watch industry into healthy profits. Swatch’s phenomenal growth has been in the news several times since January, with chief executive Nick Hayek saying the company will be hard-pressed to keep up with demand, much of which is coming from Asia, as well as South America.
The Swiss watch industry in 2010 exported nearly half of its watches, in terms of value, to Asia: CHF1.17 billion out of CHF2.06b. The trend continued in the first two months of 2011.
Swatch is not the only watchmaker to point to the extraordinary swing back into strong sales. Jacques Duchêne, president of the exhibitors’ committee, said at the opening ceremony that “the watch and jewelry industry can look back on a truly remarkable year, and the indicators continue to remain excellent. The way out of the tunnel materialized faster and more energetically than the market observers had been forecasting for us.
Nick Hayek, Swatch Group
Biel/Bienne and Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swatch Tuesday 1 March confirmed its strong forecast for 2011 worldwide watch sales by saying it plans to hire 1,000-1,500 workers in 2011, at its Swiss plants, to keep up with demand. The company added 1,600 new employees, worldwide, in 2010.
Chief executive Nick Hayek told Le Temps newspaper in an interview that the company expects to have sales of CHF7 billion in 2011, up from the CHF6.44b in 2010 sales, and that it is looking to hire 1,000-1,500 people in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Granges, Boncourt, Sion and in Ticino.
The company expects to have delivery logjams, even with the new personnel, for some of its hottest-selling brands such as Longines, Tissot, Swatch and Calvin Klein.
Hayek says that January 2011 was the company’s fourth best-ever month, and it is normally the lowest sales month of the year, and this despite the strong Swiss franc.
Swiss cut back on imported chocolate but eat a little more Swiss chocolate: 12 kg per person
Swiss chocolate makers are smiling despite the high franc
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Key companies in three Swiss industries whose business is linked to the country’s reputation, have noted, noted Tuesday 8 February that while the strong franc has not helped them, they are upbeat about the outlook for 2011, after good figures for 2010.
Swatch, the country’s largest watchmaker, the chocolate industry, and Givaudin, the Geneva-based fragrance company, saw good sales growth in 2010.
Swatch Tuesday 8 February confirmed its 2010 figures and published its forecast for 2011, saying it expects to achieve sales of CHF10 billion, up from CHF6.44b in 2010.
“The current outlook for 2011 appears positive, despite the unfavorable currency constellation at present, particularly the US Dollar and the Euro against the Swiss Franc”, the company notes in a press release.
Chocosuisse, the chocolate industry’s group of 18 major producers, said sales were up 2.4 percent in 2010 to CHF1.74b, after falling in 2009. Swiss chocolate accounts for 66.8 percent of the country’s chocolate, and for the first time in nine years the share of imported chocolate slipped slightly. The Swiss are eating more chocolate, however, adding to the manufacturers’ good news. The 300 grams extra a year consumed by the Swiss brings annual consumption up to 12 kg per person a year.
Givaudin’s chief executive told the Wall Street Journal in an interview that the company’s sales were up 7.1 percent in 2010 in Swiss francs, to CHF4.2 billion. The company sees little impact from the strong franc on its operating profits because it buys and sells in the same markets, he notes.
Geneva’s new Superwatch award goes to first-ever time display with no hands, numbers, disks
Swatch says 2010 was record sales year
The new Ladymatic from Omega, shown here, Gent from Swatch, and the Type XXII 10 Hz chronograph from Breguet, introduced in 2010, pulled up Swatch sales
Geneva and Biel/Bienne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swatch Group, based in Biel/Bienne reported 2010 financial results Wednesday morning 19 January, showing record sales of CHF6.44 billion, up 21.8 percent compared to 2009, and 12.7 percent over its previous record year in 2008, using constant exchange rates.
The watch segment of the company saw sales climb by more than 28 percent compared to 2009.
Strong franc dampened sales slightly
The strong franc in relation to the dollar and the euro hurt sales: CHF164 million or –3 percent compared to 2009 and CHF285m, or –4.7 percent compared to 2008.
The company says the outlook remains optimistic for the entire year of 2011.
The Asian luxury market and new markets offered by its Breguet and Omega brands in particular led the strong showing.
The watch group’s shares gained 34 percent in 2010, according to Business Week/Bloomberg, and shares in the maker of Jaeger-LeCoultre watches, Cie. Richemont Financiere, have risen 45 percent during the same period, two good indications of the watch industry’s strength despite the strong franc. “Swatch Group bearer shares rose as much as 8 francs, or 2 percent, to 401 francs and were up 1.3 percent as of 9:17 a.m. in Zurich” reports Bloomberg Wednesday morning.
Small, independent, highly innovative: Geneva Time Exhibition, year 2
The financial results of Switzerland’s top-selling watchmaker comes as Geneva enjoys watches from the other end of the Swiss watch spectrum.
Sixty exhibitors, mostly small independent companies, are taking part in the second annual Geneva Time Exhibition 16-21 January at the city’s International Conference Centre.
Strong trade with Asia, Latin America; watch and machining industries recovering
Swiss exports, November 2010, by industry, compared to November 2009 (source: Swiss Federal Statistics Office)
(video, Hublot watchmaking) Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss foreign trade improved in November 2010 compared to November 2009, with exports of CHF17.5 billion up 7.4 percent and imports of CHF15.6b up 11.3 percent, both in real terms, adjusted for inflation.
The trade balance, with a surplus of CHF1.9b, was 5 percent lower than in the same period a year earlier. The trade balance in October was more than 13 percent down from a year earlier, and in September 8 percent, indicating a closing gap as Swiss foreign trade rebounds from the global economic crisis.
Euro at record low against franc Monday
The news comes as the euro Monday 20 December reached an all-time low against the Swiss franc, dipping to CHF1.2636 at one point, report Dow Jones and Le Temps. The dollar was at CHF0.96 in trading Tuesday (Reuters chart, dollar/franc since October 2010).
For 2010 as a whole, rounded figures show that Swiss exports have risen 7 percent and imports 8 percent. The trade balance of CHF18.76 at the end of November was down 1.2 percent compared to 2009, for the year to date.
Watchmakers at Hublot in Nyon, part of a sought-after highly skilled group
The watch industry was the main driver in November, with a 30 percent increase in exports, well up from a year earlier. Metal-working, machining and electronic industries also showed good growth, but the clothing industry continued to perform weakly, with exports lower than a year earlier.
Le Temps reports 21 December that while the watch industry is hiring again, and more than 700 jobs are currently advertised in the Jura region which is the heartland of the Swiss watch industry, some of the companies are still struggling to recover.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – Swatch is well and truly out of the economic slump, but Swisscom is still weighed down by its purchase of Italy’s Fastweb. Financial results for the two companies published Wednesday 4 August show Swatch with half-year profits up 54.4 percent, to CHF465 million. Strong growth in Europe accounted for much of the 22 percent increase in sales and the company expects the second half of 2010 to be strong.
Swisscom saw its net profits fall from January to June by 14.4 percent, burdened by a CHF102 million provision for legal costs related to the continuing court case of its Italian company Fastweb. The subsidiary contributed euros 935 million to turnover.
Nicholas Hayek turned a staid watchmaking industry on its head, left entrepreneurial legacy
[swissinfo video] Bienne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – The most startling thing about the death Monday of Nicholas Hayek, founder of Swatch, might be the extent to which it caught everyone by surprise, despite the fact he was 82 years old. Politicians, business leaders and many people who knew Hayek well have made comments about how his death was so unexpected. But two days later talk is turning to the legacy he left: a Lebanese by birth who not only turned around a flailing watch industry in the 1970s but who gave Switzerland a new way of looking at business and who wedged notions about entrepreneurship into the country’s business life.
What French-speaking Switzerland is saying about Hayek
Swatch Group shares fell Tuesday by 5.6 percent to CHF307.20, the largest drop in eight months according to Bloomberg, over speculation about who will now chair the board, which meets Wednesday 30 June to decide. Bilanz ran an article saying that Hayek’s son Nick is a shoe-in for the job, but the company denied the information Tuesday.
L’Hebdo magazine: online, a notice about Hayek’s public memorial service Saturday at 14:00 in Bern. Expect heavy coverage in the print edition.
Swissinfo: Hayek’s departure will have a real impact on the watch industry, which he held together during a period of strong growth, but the impact of the economic crisis and the re-balancing of the world’s economies might mean change will come soon.
Le Temps: the Geneva newspaper carries a recapitulation of how Hayek saved the watch industry, pointing out that the creation in 1983 of Swatch and its subsequent growth as a maker of trendy items is only one part of the story. A key to the success of the Swatch Group, has been the bundling of Swiss watch component parts production. Le Temps also carries a good photo display showing the history of Swatch watches.
TSR television: Swiss public television has carried a number of reports on Hayek’s death, but also him impact on the economy and his anger at banks in recent months. “I’m furious about this mentality in the financial community, about. . . making money, making money and nothing but making money.” He was a huge supporter of loyalty, on the part of workers to their companies, but also companies to their workers.
Tribune de Geneve: The Geneva newspaper focuses on what happens next at Swatch in terms of the family empire, who will take over, what the impact will be of the 65 percent of shares held by the family and close friends.
Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai, grand opening of ground floor boutiques area
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swatch Group opened the 2,000m2 ground floor of the newly renovated Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai officially Wednesday 26 May. The fanfare was accompanied by good news about group sales that promptly sent shares up by the most in seven months, according to Bloomberg/Business Week. Switzerland’s largest watchmaking firm had said in early May at its annual general meeting that sales in January were very strong and that the Olympics in Vancouver were expected to boost sales. Today CEO Nicholas G Hayek, in an interview, said that sales were “up 33 percent in January, 58 percent in February and 45 percent in March,” says the news service.
The Art Peace Hotel’s ground floor opening comes just as the Swiss Pavillion at the Shanghai Expo is enjoying enormous success, with long lines waiting to ride the chairlift over a recreated Swiss Alpine meadow. The rest of the hotel, which houses major boutiques for the group’s four most prestigious brands, Blancpain, Breguet, Omega and Swatch, will open in August 2010. It will house 18 workshop/studio apartments for artists from around the world who will be invited to live and work there for limited periods. The six storey hotel restauration is a joint venture, with the Peace Hotel a culturally protected landmark on Shanghai’s famous waterfront Bund.
Background, GenevaLunch
Links to other sites: Bloomberg/Business Week, Art Peace Hotel project
Omega at the Torino Olympics 2006
Omega has a long history with the Olympic Games
Update (link added) Biel-Bienne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Gross sales in 2009 were down 6.3 percent for the Swatch Group, which 9 February published audited figures in advance of its March annual meeting, but it gained significant market share. The group notes that the overall sales figure for the Swiss Watch Federation were down 21.3 percent. The watch segment of the group’s business had “a very convincing operating margin” which contributed to the 17.6 percent increase in operating margin for the year.
The group puts 2009 into perspective against a backdrop of an outstanding 2008, the 2009 global economic crisis and unfavourable exchange rates. But 2010, it says, is off to a good start, with January sales the highest on record for that month, and orders strong. Swatch’s Omega brand as the Vancouver Olympics timekeeper is expected to give group sales a boost.
Biel/Bienne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swatch reported in an upbeat mood Wednesday morning 20 January that 2009 turned out to be its third-best year on record and that unexpectedly strong sales in December made it the company’s best-ever December. Orders on the books for 2010 plus expected growth in middle class consumer spending in developing markets lead the company to predict continuing sales growth this year.
Gross sales for 2009 were CHF5.42 million, down only 6.3 percent at constant exchange rates. Sales in the second half of the year exceeded, although just barely, 2008 sales for the same period, making up for a weak first half of the year.
Biel/Bienne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swatch subsidiary Tech-Airport Holding SAS has won the watch store contract at Nice Côte d’Azur Airport, bringing to 29 the number of shops the company operates, mainly in France, but with a new one opening soon in Austria. The company specializes in airport watch and jewelry shops. The Nice plans include a specialty shop in the business terminal.
Photo ©2009 PHOTOPRESS/Gaetan Bally)
Update 15 August 08:10 Bienne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swatch group, the world’s largest maker of watches, posted profits of CHF301 million for the first half of 2009, 28 percent down compared to the same period last year, which was a record year. By late Friday 14 August when the market closed in Zurich the company’s shares had risen 13 percent, the most in 10 months according to Bloomberg, which says the company led a surge in luxury goods share prices.
The watchmaker’s results confirm that the Swiss watch industry is suffering the effects of the global downturn, but the company says it sees signs of recovery and that sales in the second half of the year are expected to beat last year’s sales for the same period.
Title: Exhibitions: Swatches, watches and masks
Location: Geneva
Link out: Click here
Description: Three exhibitions at the Cité du Temps:
- Touch your time by Tissot
- The mask dance by Y. Shimizu
- And the Swatch collection permanent exhibition.
Start Date: 22 Apr 2009
End Date: 22 May 2009
Photo ®PHOTOPRESS Gaetan Bally
Bienne/Biel, Jura, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swatch Group had a 17.4% slide in profits in 2008, to CHF838 million, but the fall in operating profits was only 2.7%, to CHF1.2b francs on gross sales of nearly CHF5.97b. The company notes that the operating profits, which slipped only “marginally”, were achieved despite a record negative currency impact of CHF233m.
Biel/Bienne, Jura, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swatch Group sales finished the year up 4.3% in constant terms and 0.4% in Swiss francs, to CHF5.97 million, the company announced 29 January. The year ended with double-digit sales increases in China and some Middle East countries despite the economic downturn.
Groundbreaking ceremony, Swatch Art Peace Hotel, Shanghai, 2008
Shanghai, China and Biel/Bienne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Jura-based Swatch Group and Chinese hotel group Jin Jiang Thursday held a groundbreaking ceremony for restoration work on a waterfront Bund building that is designed to serve as an international art centre.
