Tag Archives: Editor’s Choice

Tribune de Genève. According to the NZZ am Sonntag, in September, Swiss supermarket Migros launched a new system which offers personalised discounts. The discount experiment will run for a year in stores in Geneva, Nyon, Bern and Zurich. © Hai Huy Ton That | Dreamstime.com What is it exactly? Those with Cumulus loyalty cards will receive special offers via an app on their phones or personalised discount coupons at check out. Algorithms crunch purchase history data associated with a customer’s...

Investec Switzerland. Ireland is facing another tax battle with the European Union and this time it will have to fight its own corner. © Dreamshot | Dreamstime.com Less than two months after the European Union ordered Ireland to claw back a record 13 billion euros ($14.2 billion) from Apple Inc., saying the nation illegally allowed the iPhone maker to reduce its tax rate, the European Commission will propose legislation for a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base on...

Investec Switzerland. Syngenta AG shares tumbled on concern that China National Chemical Corp.’s $43 billion takeover of the Swiss herbicide and pesticide maker risks regulatory delays in the European Union. © Perolsson | Dreamstime.com ChemChina didn’t submit so-called remedies in the EU’s early-stage review of the deal by the Oct. 21 deadline, the European Commission’s press office said by phone on Monday. Companies often decide to put off making commitments — such as...

In the third quarter of 2016, Swiss exports reached CHF 52.5 billion, 8.1% higher than they were for the same period in 2015, according to statisticians in Bern. Industries contributing to the rise were jewellery and precious metals (+21%) and pharmaceuticals (+17%). The industry showing the most negative shift was watchmaking (-8%). © Filmfoto | Dreamstime.com Stronger pharmaceuticals exports were behind 80% of the rise. Exports to North America (+24%) lead the way. Despite a decline in...

Investec Switzerland. Roche Holding AG’s third-quarter revenue rose 4.5 percent as its trio of breast-cancer therapies offset stagnating sales of some of its older drugs. Sales climbed to 12.5 billion Swiss francs ($12.6 billion), the Basel, Switzerland-based company said in a statement on Thursday. That compared with the 12.6 billion-franc average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Roche doesn’t report third-quarter earnings. The world’s biggest...

Investec Switzerland. In a report published by SECO, a group of economy experts working for Switzerland’s federal government, says it anticipates an acceleration in economic growth in Switzerland from 0.8% in 2015 to 1.5% in 2016 and 1.9% in 2017. Along side this they expect unemployment to rise from 3.3% in 2015, to an annual average of 3.6% in 2016, before falling again to 3.4% in 2017. However, they also see risks. © Flynt | Dreamstime.com The group mainly pins the...

Investec Switzerland. Swiss watch exports fell in August as demand weakened from Japan to the U.S., extending the industry’s slump to fourteen months. © Magryt | Dreamstime.com Shipments dropped 8.8 percent to 1.4 billion francs ($1.4 billion), the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry said in a statement Tuesday. The slowdown has spread from Asia to Europe and the U.S. in recent months, leading Cie. Financiere Richemont SA, the maker of Cartier and IWC Schaffhausen...

Investec Switzerland. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he was aiming to solve a two-year-old dispute with Switzerland over immigration in a country-specific manner even in the wake of Brexit. © Mykhaylo Palinchak | Dreamstime.com The Swiss government has been at pains to implement restrictions on European Union newcomers decided upon in a 2014 referendum without annulling an economically important set of treaties with the 28-country bloc. Although...

Investec Switzerland. The Swiss Market Index is set to finish the week notably weaker along with global equity markets as fears around global monetary policy hit sentiment ahead of key meetings by the Bank of Japan and US Federal Reserve next week. The SMI did manage to outperform its European peers thanks to its heavy weighting towards more defensive pharmaceuticals and consumer staples sectors. © Microstock77 | Dreamstime.com Global equity markets had a tough start to...

Investec Switzerland. The Swiss National Bank maintained its ultra-loose negative interest-rate policy and pledged to intervene in currency markets if needed, saying the Brexit vote has clouded its view of the global economy. © Macgyverhh | Dreamstime.com Switzerland’s central bank, which for years has been combating an overvalued currency, left its deposit rate at a record low of minus 0.75 percent, as forecast by all economists in a Bloomberg survey. It vowed to keep...