Category Archive: 3.) Investec

Roche revenue gains as sales of breast cancer drugs soar

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.

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Nestle forecasts slowest sales growth in decade as pricing ebbs

Nestle SA forecast the slowest full-year sales growth in more than a decade as food companies worldwide struggle against consumer resistance to price increases. Revenue will gain about 3.5 percent on an organic basis in 2016, the Vevey, Switzerland-based maker of Nespresso coffee said Thursday, abandoning a goal for an increase of about 4.2 percent. Growth in the consumer-goods industry is “relatively fragile,” Chief Financial Officer...

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Swiss Markets Review: SMI underperforms global stocks

The Swiss Market Index is set to finish the week largely unchanged while global stocks gain on positive US third quarter earnings results, favourable central bank statements and a rallying oil price. The S&P 500 saw its biggest advance since September on Wednesday after US banking giants Citigroup, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo all posted better-than-expected quarterly results.

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Investec Philip Shaw Interview



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SA’s political tipping point? By Stephen Grootes

Description: Senior political correspondent Stephen Grootes shares his views on the recent developments involving Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan, and the possible impact on both the ruling party and South Africa as a whole.

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Swiss cross-border shopping declines

Residents of German-speaking Switzerland appear to doing less shopping across the border, something that has also been observed in Geneva. According to the newspaper the Handelszeitung, Swiss cross-border shopping peaked in 2015 and local customs posts have seen a decline in VAT and duty collected since March.

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Global stocks at lowest levels since July

The Swiss Market Index is set to finish the week lower, but outperforming global stocks, thanks to a strong week of luxury good stocks. Global stocks fell to their lowest levels since July on Thursday as investors rushed to the safety of government bonds, yen and gold after renewed concerns over weakness in the Chinese economy and as the Federal Reserve considers raising interest rates.

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More Swiss visas for non-Europeans in 2017

Visa quotas for non-EU workers will rise next year. The increased quotas will include 3,000 B-permits and 4,500 L-permits, 1,000 more than this year. These limits are still lower than in 2014, when Swiss politics turned against the free movement of workers from the EU.

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Swiss central bank can cut rates further if needed, says bank president Jordan

The Swiss National Bank can cut interest rates further into negative territory if needed, President Thomas Jordan said. “We have still some room to go further if necessary,” Jordan said Saturday in an interview in Washington with Bloomberg Television’s Francine Lacqua. Jordan, who is attending the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, noted that the bank has already pushed rates quite far.

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Weekly Swiss Markets: Stocks fluctuated on central bank statements

The Swiss Market Index is set to finish the week mainly unchanged, outperforming global stocks modestly while markets fluctuated on speculation that the US Fed will increase interest-rate later this year.

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Switzerland’s central bank offers a glimpse behind the curtain

The Swiss National Bank is offering a rare look into how it sets monetary policy. A video of SNB President Thomas Jordan and fellow members of the governing board shows them beginning their quarterly policy assessment discussing the state of the economy with about 30 people.

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Investec UK: Sport for Success

We launched our research on how beneficial playing sport can be for women’s careers.

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Vancouver tops list of cities at risk of housing bubble. Zurich 9, Geneva 11.

Vancouver, London and Stockholm rank as the cities most at risk of a housing bubble after a surge in prices in the past five years, according to a UBS Group AG analysis of 18 financial centers. Sydney, Munich and Hong Kong are also facing stretched valuations, UBS said in its 2016 Global Real Estate Bubble Index report, released Tuesday. San Francisco ranked as the most overvalued housing market in the U.S., while not yet at bubble risk.

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Secret Alpine gold vaults are the new Swiss bank accounts

Deep in the Swiss Alps, next to an old airstrip suitable for landing Gulfstream and Falcon jets, is a vast bunker that holds what may be one of the world’s largest stashes of gold. The entrance, protected by a guard in a bulletproof vest, is a small metal door set into a granite mountain face at the end of a narrow country lane. Behind two farther doors sits a 3.5-ton metal portal that opens only after a code is entered and an iris scan and a...

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Switzerland’s best paid bosses

The Ethos Foundation recently published a list of Switzerland’s highest paid employees in 2015. The figures are striking and may leave some wondering what someone would do with such large sums. Ethos looks at the pay of the managers of the 204 largest companies listed on the Swiss stock exchange.

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Swiss stocks slump on Deutsche Bank trouble

The Swiss Market Index is set to finish the week notably lower, underperforming global stocks, as financial sector stocks sell off on questions over Deutsche Bank’s solvency.

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Switzerland stays most competitive nation as WEF warns on trade

The World Economic Forum named Switzerland the most competitive nation for an eighth straight year as it warned less open trade was threatening economic growth globally. Switzerland was ahead of Singapore and the U.S. in the annual rankings of 138 countries, with Netherlands overtaking Germany to take the fourth spot.

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Facing the Haka

Daniel Johannes ‘Duane’ Vermeulen is a South African rugby union player, who plays for French Top 14 side Toulon, having previously represented Western Province provincially and the Stormers in the Super Rugby.

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Juncker eyes Swiss-specific EU immigration deal despite Brexit

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. 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.

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European mobile roaming charges to be axed. Pity the Swiss (who just have a Swiss phone)

On Friday the European Commission announced that EU residents should soon be able to make calls and use data without any additional charges while travelling in another EU country. Countries outside the EU, but within the European Economic Area (EEA), including Norway, Iceland, and Switzerland’s neighbour Liechtenstein, will be included in the deal.

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