-
Keystone
—
1/7
Nick Hayek, CEO of the Swatch Group: Always optimistic, even in times of crisis.
—-
Keystone
—
2/7
Hayek sees light at the end of the tunnel – despite the severe corona crisis.
—-
Keystone
—
3/7
Of the 17,000 Swatch employees in Switzerland, 70 percent are on short-time work until the end of the week.
—-
keystone-sda.ch
—
7/7
Despite Hong Kong, Swatch achieved a respectable result for 2019.
—-
—-
Manufacturers like Rolex or Hublot have temporarily closed factories. And the world’s largest watch manufacturer is also reacting. The Swatch Group shuts down parts of its production in Switzerland for days. However, jobs should not be cut.
–
The world was in a difficult situation in the time of Corona, said CEO Nick Hayek at the start of the annual media conference, which was broadcast on the Internet. In his remarks, Hayek also stated that it was a temporary situation that had to be overcome.
–
In China, where the corona wave originated in late December, the situation began to normalize, Hayek continued. “In China, our shops and those of our partners have been open again for ten or 14 days. Customers come back to the shops and buy our products. » In contrast, Europe and the United States are still at a standstill.
–
Thousands of short-time workers at Swatch
China is the most important sales region for Swatch brands such as Omega, Longines or Tissot. Last year, more than a third of sales were generated in “Greater China”, ie China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
–
Swatch had to react quickly to the worsening crisis, said Hayek. The production of watches and components is also affected. Working hours were reduced and certain parts of the production were temporarily closed, Controlling boss Peter Steiger explained. One problem, for example, is that frontier workers from France or Italy are only getting more or more difficult to get to their jobs in Switzerland.
–
The Bieler Group has introduced short-time work in its factories, offices and shops. Currently, more than 40 percent of the approximately 17,000 employees in Switzerland are on short-time work and by the end of the week this figure should rise to 70 percent, said Steiger. That is almost 12,000 people! All watch brands in the group are affected. “It is decided daily and on a case-by-case basis.”
–
No job cuts
At Swatch, you don’t want to know anything about job cuts. “We need people when the watch industry recovers – and it will come,” said Hayek, as usual, optimistically. Swatch wants to be well prepared for this in order to be able to ramp up production quickly and in time should the market situation improve.
–
The group’s balance sheet, meanwhile, appears to be well protected from impending crises. She was “healthy and strong,” said CFO Thierry Kenel. This can be seen, for example, from the liquidity cushion that is well over one billion by the end of 2019. And equity is also strong, accounting for 84 percent of total assets. One is therefore hardly dependent on banks, added Hayek.
–
The Swatch Group already presented the figures for the previous year at the end of January: sales fell and this decline depressed profits. The watchmaker was particularly troubled by the unrest in the Hong Kong shopping mecca, which Chinese tourists were increasingly avoiding.
–
Hong Kong effect in 2019
The Group’s net revenue decreased by 2.7 percent in 2019 to CHF 8.24 billion. Adjusted for currency effects, the minus was 1.8 percent. If you ignore the Hong Kong effect, Swatch would have grown by around 5 percent, Kenel noted.
–
The lower sales figures had a negative impact on the Group’s profitability: operating profit (EBIT) fell by 11 percent to CHF 1.02 billion and the margin melted by 1.2 percentage points to 12.4 percent. In the best years from 2010 to 2014, the margins were over 20 percent.
–
The bottom line was that net profit fell 14 percent last year to CHF 748 million. However, an unchanged dividend of CHF 8 per bearer or CHF 1.60 per registered share is to be paid to shareholders. (SDA / ise)
—
Related
