Swatch Group Sees Turnaround in 2018

Biel/Bienne, Switzerland--Swatch Group has reversed two straight years of sales decline and is reportedly bullish on 2018 heading into the Baselworld show.

In its annual report released Wednesday, the Swiss watch company said its Watch & Jewelry segment, which includes watch brands like Breguet, Longines and Tissot plus its Tourbillon and Hour Passion stores, posted 7 percent year-over-year sales growth at current exchange rates.

Growth was particularly strong in the second half of the year, with fourth quarter sales up 15 percent and December coming in as the second-best month in company history.

Including production (Swatch Group Assembly, ETA and Nivarox-FAR, etc.), Swatch Group’s net sales were up 5 percent over 2016 to 7.69 billion Swiss francs ($8.14 billion).

Consolidated net profit increased 27 percent to $755 million Swiss francs ($799 million), with a net margin of 9.5 percent, compared with 7.9 percent in 2016.

The company said its dividend proposal matches that offered in 2015, which was a “highly successful year” board Chair Nayla Hayek said in a letter to shareholders included in the report.

Swatch Group’s 2017 sales gain follows two straight years of declines. The company saw sales drop 11 percent in 2016—a year in which Swiss watch exports as a whole fell 10 percent in both number of units and value—and 3 percent in 2015.

Swatch Group ended the year with 35,360 employees globally, down from 35,750 the previous year.

The watch company’s annual report included brief updates on all its markets worldwide.

For the United States, Caribbean and Latin America, Swatch Group noted that its Caribbean teams were integrated into its U.S. team.

Breguet reopened its flagship store, which is now located at the St. Regis Hotel on Fifth Avenue in New York, and Blancpain moved its New York flagship to 697 Fifth Ave.

Omega opened a pop-up boutique called “Her Time,” which carried only women’s watches, on Fifth Avenue in December, and Swatch opened a new store on Powell Street in San Francisco.

The brand also collaborated with New York-based watch website/retailer Hodinkee to launch the Sistem 51 Hodinkee Vintage 84, an ‘80s-inspired mechanical Swatch watch that sells for $150.