Roche dethrones Nestlé as the most valuable Swiss company

Roche more valuable than Nestlé again Keystone-SDA

The pharmaceutical group Roche has again toppled Nestlé from its throne thanks to recent share price rise.

Good performance by the pharmaceutical group and significant losses in the shares of the food giant have led to a switch at the top. Nestlé currently has a market capitalisation of around CHF230 billion compared to CHF232 billion for Roche. This is due not least to the contrasting share price performance since mid-June. While Nestlé shares have been on a steady downward trend since then, Roche shares have experienced a real renaissance.

The presentation of Nestlé’s figures on Thursday as part of its half-year reporting did not help matters. At CHF87.56 per share, they are worth as much as they did at the beginning of 2019.

Roche shares on the other hand – the larger and more liquid of the two Roche classes – have been unstoppable since their low in mid-May. After a weak phase in the first half of the year, everything seems to be back to normal for investors.

Meanwhile, at number three on the Swiss stock exchange, the pharmaceutical rival Novartis, with a market capitalisation of CHF213 billion, is not far behind.

Adapted from German by DeepL/ac

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