Swatch Group CEO’s salary rises as the company marks a profitable year, with a strategic focus on Swiss production and innovation.
كيستون/بيتر كلونزر
The Swiss watch company significantly increased its sales last year and also made more profit. The Group intends to stick to its current strategy.
Hayek received remuneration of CHF 6.67 million, compared to CHF 6.53 million previously, according to the annual report published on Thursday.
The 16-member Executive Board was remunerated with 28.86 million Swiss francs after 28.97 million. In 2022, 17 people were part of the Group Executive Board and the Extended Group Executive Board.
Meanwhile, the six members of the Board of Directors together earned 5.22 million Swiss francs last year compared to 4.83 million in 2022. 4.38 million of this went to the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Nayla Hayek, alone.
Increased Sales and Profit
On Thursday (today), the Swatch Group is holding a media conference to present its financial results. The Group’s key figures for 2023 have been largely known since the end of January.
The Group has achieved a “really good” result despite the strong Swiss franc, Nayla Hayek is quoted as saying in the foreword to the annual report.
Sales rose by 5.2 percent to 7.89 billion Swiss francs. Growth was slowed by the strong Swiss franc. In local currencies, this would have resulted in an increase of just under 13 percent. Currency losses cost the company more than half a billion francs in sales.
The strength of the Swiss franc also left its mark on profitability: operating profit (EBIT) rose by just 2.8% to CHF 1.19 billion and the margin fell slightly to 15.1%. This was also due to the very extensive investments of over 800 million francs.
Net profit increased by 8.1 percent to 890 million francs. Shareholders are to receive a dividend increased by 50 centimes to CHF 6.50 per bearer share. This will be voted on at the Annual General Meeting on May 8.
Nayla Hayek also noted that it is not only Swatch’s task to generate more sales and profits, but also to create jobs. In Switzerland alone, around 800 employees were added in 2023, and 739 worldwide. In total, the Group had 33,602 employees at the end of the year.
Arabic 
English 
German 
French 
Spanish 
