Lonza manoeuvres dominate week

Sergio Marchionne made headlines as he swapped one top executive position for another Keystone

Changes at the top of two of Switzerland's biggest companies dominated the business news over the past week.

Lonza chief executive Sergio Marchionne unexpectedly announced on Wednesday that he was quitting after leading the life sciences group to a 30 per cent gain in net profit in 2001.

Marchionne, a 48-year-old Canadian, will leave on February 1 to head the Swiss inspection services group SGS, Société Générale de Surveillance. He replaces Antony Czura, who is leaving the company.

The move has been welcomed by analysts amid hopes the management changes would end a lack of transparency for which SGS has been criticised.

Chief executive at Lonza since 1997, Marchionne said it was time for a change as Lonza neared completion of its strategic reorganisation into a pure life sciences firm from a broader speciality chemicals firm.

He will be replaced by Markus Gemeund, current head of Lonza’s biologics division, as its new top executive. Analysts said the move underscored the group’s efforts to shift its focus to biotechnology.

Shares in SGS rose sharply on Wednesday on the news that Marchionne would be the new chief executive.

“He did a good job at Lonza, where he worked for shareholder value. He is a strong positive personality and will be good for SGS,” said Bernhard Pomrehn, an analyst at the cantonal bank of Zurich.

But not all analyst comment was positive.

“There is some disappointment that Marchionne is going to SGS and that is weighing on the share price,” said Petra Matt, head of sales at Rahn and Bodmer Banquiers.

Ascom see-saws

Shares in Ascom bounced back on Wednesday as the Bern-based technology group once more defended its position, saying its financial situation was sound.

The company said revenues in 2001 rose 1.7 per cent to SFr3.115 billion ($1.87 billion). It also noted that at the end of the fourth quarter of 2001, its net interest-bearing debt was below SFr700 million.

Shares in the company surged 23 per cent higher on Wednesday.

Rumours that the company had been denied a credit line by a bank hit its shares on Tuesday, causing Ascom to issue a strong denial.

Shares in Ascom were at one point down 33 per cent, ending the previous session off 29 per cent at SFr16.00.

Refocus at fashion giant

Charles Vögele, Switzerland’s biggest fashion retailer, announced plans to refocus its operations over the next nine months following a set of poor results.

Recently appointed chief executive Daniel Reinhard told a press conference in Zurich on Tuesday that Vögele needed to have a clearer focus on its target customers and collection.

He said some 25 people at the head office would work the project and it would take nine months to do.

The company reported earlier that its sales growth slowed in 2001 and it expects its income to suffer as a result.

The group, founded in 1955 as a motorcycle accessories shop, said on Tuesday that its 2001 net sales rose 15.3 per cent to SFr1.63 billion ($981.9 million).

CSFB pays up

Investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) confirmed a $100 million (SFr166 million) United States legal settlement for alleged malpractices on the stock market.

CSFB also said in a press release on Tuesday that it had signed an agreement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) to implement revised procedures governing the allocation of new stock issues.

The bank – a unit of Switzerland’s Credit Suisse Group – was among a number of investment banks under scrutiny for allegedly mishandling stock offerings between April 1999 and June 2000.

The investigations, which took more than one year, focused on whether banks required rich customers to buy more IPO shares on the first day of trading to guarantee a jump in the stock price.

by Tom O’Brien