The business week ahead in Switzerland

This week Sulzer Industrial group releases its financial results. The figures should throw light on whether new boss, Ueli Roost, will spin off one of its divisions, when he takes over in April.

The coming week promises to be a busy one for the Swiss corporate sector.

The banking giant, UBS, will start its previously announced share buy-back programme on Monday. The move is designed to reduce equity capital and lead to an earnings concentration for shareholders.

The shares re-purchased will be cancelled following the approval of shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting. The buy-back aims to liquidate around four-and-a-half per cent of the group’s registered shares.

The biotech company, Ares-Serano, releases its annual results on Tuesday. The company is something of a star performer, with Credit Suisse First Boston having just upgraded its equity from “hold” to “buy”.

One set of results that will be keenly awaited are those of the Sulzer industrial group, due out Thursday.

The troubled company is in the midst of a major restructuring programme which has already seen the loss of 2,000 jobs. There is mounting speculation among analysts that Sulzer wants to spin off Sulzer Medica as part of its bid to revitalise profits.

Thursday’s results will throw light on whether that’s likely to happen when Ueli Roost takes over as company chairman in April.

And the pharmaceuticals wholesaler, Galenica, will list all its shares on the Zurich stock exchange from Monday. Until now, registered shares have only been widely available to pharmacists and pharmacists’ associations.

The shares are likely to be popular – on Friday, Galenica said it expected to post double-digit profits for 1999.

By Michael Hollingdale