Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. Richemont, the maker of Cartier jewelry and IWC Schaffhausen timepieces, reported its first decline in Christmas revenue since 2008 amid weak demand for watches in Asia. Revenue excluding currency shifts slipped 4 percent in Richemont’s fiscal third quarter, which ran through December, the Geneva-based company said Thursday in a […]
UBS expects home prices to fall in Switzerland in 2016
This week the bank UBS and the consulting firm EY released their 2016 real estate reports. UBS says home prices are expected to fall for the first time in 17 years. EY is bearish on some sectors but more sanguine on home prices. UBS highlights affordability issue The main brake on home prices is affordability according to […]
Swiss toilet maker Geberit’s shares up
Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. Higher sales in Germany, expected to remain a bright spot this year, helped Swiss sanitary equipment maker Geberit AG to match analysts’ 2015 revenue expectations, sending its shares higher. The company, which supplies bathroom fixtures and water piping systems, also lifted expectations for operating profit for the full year […]
SNB pledges willingness to intervene on strong franc
Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. Swiss National Bank Vice President Fritz Zurbruegg said the economic backdrop remains far from normal and kept alive policy makers’ ongoing threat of currency interventions to tackle the “overvalued” franc. “Under certain conditions, however, the SNB is prepared to intervene directly in the foreign exchange market,” Zurbruegg said in […]
Around 30 Geneva airport staff banned from the tarmac for security reasons
Tribune de Genève. Around 30 people have been banned from the tarmac at Geneva airport. Just before Christmas a number of airport staff had their access passes revoked for security reasons. Angry, some have called on the SSP union and a lawyer. Bag handlers were among the employees affected. Removing tarmac access means these staff have […]
Gender related work inequality persists in Switzerland
24 Heures. In the Swiss canton of Vaud more and more mothers work. The traditional model, where dad worked and mum looked after the home and the kids, now feels like it’s from another time. In Vaud, 77% of mothers with young children worked in 2014. This figure hides something though: only a minority were the […]
80% of 12-year-olds in Switzerland told they can’t go to university
Relatively few qualify for university in Switzerland. To apply you need to score well in school exams at the age of 11 or 12, enter the academic stream and graduate from it, normally at the age of 19. In 2015, only 20.8% of Swiss-based school leavers gained the chance to apply for entry to a Swiss […]
David Bowie’s life in Switzerland
David Bowie died on 10 January 2016 two days after his 69th birthday. His death was announced on his Facebook page. January 10 2016 – David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with… Posted by David Bowie on Sunday, 10 January 2016 Tributes to the artist have flooded […]
Swiss People’s Party (UDC) leaders quit one after the other
Le Matin. Yesterday, Toni Brunner, president of the Swiss People’s Party (UDC/SVP), announced he would quit as the party’s president on 23 April 2016. Then today the Swiss newspaper SonntagsBlick, reported that Christoph Blocher also plans to resign from his post as one of the party’s several vice presidents at the same time as its president. Brunner, who described Blocher […]
Swiss stocks hit by China fears
Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. SMI stocks, along with markets around the world, started 2016 in a state of chaos this week as weak economic data from China, heightened tensions in the Middle East and crude oil prices tumbling to multi-year lows wreaked havoc on investor sentiment. Markets slumped around the globe after Chinese […]
