Ornatus-Mundi
[Zenith]
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NEWS: Swatch Group's profit dives amid (slowly) rising turnover!
Biel (CH): for the first time in 5 years, the profits of the Swiss watch conglomerate Swatch Group S.A. fall in the first half 2014 on a y-o-y basis.
The operating profit sank to 830 Mio. CHF which is 8,8% less than the group accrued in the same timeframe last year. Its also significantly below analyst's expectations of 849.5 Mio. CHF. The overall profit of the group fell by a full 11.5% to 635 Mio. CHF.
Furthermore, Swatch Group's growth in total turnover is only 4% (4,347 Bio. CHF), which is a clear miss of the stated goal of a two-digit growth rate.
Swatch Group's CEO Nick Hayek lists the following factors as the major drivers behind this development: The strong exchange rate of the Swiss Frank against major other currencies, high marketing costs (Sochi winter olympics, so this is a home-grown problem (or as we would say here: 'in-house' ;-)) and the fire in the ETA factory in Grenchen which allegedly had tremendous repercussions on production.
Thanks for reading,
Magnus
(Reported with material from the Neue Zürcher Zeitung.)
