Swatch Group’s CEO Nick Hayek has delivered an upbeat message about the company’s 2018 performance thus far.
Hayek specifically welcomed the recent weakening of the Swiss franc, which has returned to roughly the levels of 3-4 years ago.
In an interview with CNBC earlier this week, Hayek said: “You know we saw an end of the year that was very strong – double-digit growth – and now it continues, so every month is a record month for us”.
The positive noises from Hayek come as Swiss watch exports were reported as rising 4.8% in March, year-on-year, with Q1 representing a massive 10.1% increase year-on-year.
As has been the case for a number of luxury watch brands, growth in China after a few stagnant years has been key to Swatch Group’s good start to the year.
“We have growth everywhere, from local consumers in the United Kingdom, in the United States, of course also in China”, Hayek said, while also saying that the effects of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s corruption crackdown were now over.
“It’s true that some people didn’t want to show up with golden watches…because it was not what you should show yourself with. But this has normalised since a long time”.
