Friday, 28 February 2025 Reading time : 3 minutes

Some medium-sized Swiss companies are looking back on a difficult year, as the earnings reports of Adecco, Emmi, Georg Fischer and SIG show. By combining these four stocks in a Barrier Reverse Convertible, investors benefit from attractive product conditions.

The workforce solutions provider Adecco reported mixed annual results. The Zurich-based company reported lower sales in 2024, but increased its market share. "We have steadily gained market share in a difficult environment, optimised our business model, reduced costs more than planned and generated a strong cash flow," CEO Denis Machuel commented on the results. Adecco will continue to focus on debt reduction. To achieve this, the dividend will be reduced from CHF 2.50 to CHF 1.00 per share. The focus on cost discipline seems to outweigh the dividend cut: shares rose more than 7% since earnings were published on Wednesday.

Dairy processor Emmi is also facing challenges, with rising raw material prices creating a difficult business environment. The price of cocoa almost tripled in 2024, while the price of coffee doubled. Despite this, Emmi increased its sales and profit last year, partly due to efficiency programmes and cost discipline, CEO Ricarda Demarmels told the news agency AWP. However, consumers will have to adjust to higher prices. "We will have to adjust prices responsibly in some cases," said Demarmels. 

For Georg Fischer, 2025 will be a year of change. The industrial group wants to focus on piping systems and plans to sell its machining (GF Machining Solutions) and light metal casting (GF Casting Solutions) businesses. The sale of GF Machining Solutions is expected to be completed in the first half of the year. In view of the slowdown in core markets such as construction and automotive, Georg Fischer considers the past business year to have been satisfactory. In the current year of transition, the company expects business to stagnate. However, Georg Fischer has set itself ambitious targets for 2030 and aims to become the market leader in "Flow Solutions". 

Following the publication of the annual results, SIG equities suffered a significant price setback. Earnings paled in comparison to the looming legal dispute within the Board of Directors of the packaging solutions provider, unsettling investors. SIG announced that board member Laurens Last has initiated legal proceedings in connection with the acquisition of Scholle IPN. The entrepreneur from the Netherlands sold the company to SIG in 2022 and has since been SIG's largest single shareholder. The Board of Directors has decided not to propose Last for re-election at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting.

Barrier Reverse Convertible on Swiss Mid Caps
9.30% p.a. BRC auf Adecco, Emmi, Georg Fischer, SIG
Barrier: 60%
Valor: 142 529 370

Indicative terms

 

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