SWATCH: Plastic fantastic

Best known for its colourful plastic watches, the Biel-based Swatch group is the world’s largest watchmaker. With the first half of their 2013 earnings divulged today, the group generated a net profit of 768 million Swiss francs, a 6.1% increase compared to the same period last year.
The group, which recently purchased US jeweler and watchmaker Harry Winston, said that it aimed to launch a series of new products in the second half of 2013. Swatch’s CEO said that the outlook for the remainder of the year remained “very promising.”
The encouraging results saw the group’s worldwide workforce total 31,000, which is an increase of 1,150 compared to December 2012. 560 of these jobs were created in Switzerland.
Following the announcement, the groups share price increased by 1.89% to 539.50 Swiss francs in early trading, well ahead of the Swiss stock exchange's main index, which dipped 0.2 percent.

Source: Tribune de Genève