ZURICH, Feb 6 (Reuters) – Swiss group Syngenta
forecast another year of record sales as high crop prices and
erratic weather spur farmers to use more of its pesticides,
fertilisers and advanced seeds to boost yields.

The world’s biggest farm chemicals maker said on Wednesday
it would raise its dividend by 19 percent after full-year net
profit beat expectations. But its shares fell, with several
analysts saying profits were flattered by a lower tax rate.

ZURICH, Feb 5 (Reuters) – Swiss exports fell in December,
data showed on Tuesday, dragged down by weak demand from the
country’s top trading partner Europe.

Exports adjusted for the number of working days fell by 4.2
percent to 14.049 billion Swiss francs ($15.46 billion), the
Federal Customs Office said on Tuesday.

BASEL (Reuters) – Swiss drugmaker Roche (ROG.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) forecast a rise in sales and profits this year, helped by new cancer medicines it hopes will shield it from the patent expiries ravaging many rivals.

Roche, the world’s largest maker of cancer drugs, said on Wednesday it hoped sales would grow in line with 2012, when they rose 7 percent to 45.5 billion Swiss francs ($49 billion).

ZURICH, Jan 24 (Reuters) – Swiss specialty chemicals and
life sciences group Lonza reported a better than
expected rise in profits on Thursday but dampened expectations
of another big jump this year, taking the edge off a two-month
rally in the share price.

The Basel-based firm, which also produces pharmaceutical
ingredients for drugmakers such as GlaxoSmithKline, is
now aiming for 10 percent growth in earnings before interest and
tax (EBIT) in 2013, Chief Executive Richard Ridinger told
reporters on a conference call.

ZURICH, Jan 23 (Reuters) – Daniel Vasella will step down
next month as chairman of Novartis after 17 years
leading the Swiss drug company which on Wednesday forecast a
return to growth in 2014.

The Basel-based company, grappling like others with a wave
of patent expiries, named Bayer healthcare head and
previous contender for the CEO role at Novartis, Joerg
Reinhardt, as its new chairman from August 1.

LONDON/ZURICH (Reuters) – Private investors are set to pour more money into emerging market countries this year as their economies grow strongly and interest rates in developed markets remain low, a global banking group said on Tuesday.

Europe’s emerging east especially is expected to benefit if the euro zone debt crisis continues to ease, after inflows to the region slowed last year, the Institute of International Finance said in a report.

ZURICH, Jan 18 (Reuters) – Swiss companies exporting to the
euro zone have received a boost from the recent sharp drop in
the Swiss franc, yet the currency’s decline needs to be bigger
and more sustained to have a significant impact.

So far the currency’s fall to a 20-month low of 1.2568
against the euro will boost Swiss corporate earnings
by just a couple of percentage points on average, some analysts
estimate.

ZURICH, Jan 15 (Reuters) – Swiss luxury chocolate maker
Lindt & Spruengli reported a pick up in sales growth on
Tuesday, as cash-strapped Europeans cheered themselves up with
treats like Lindor pralines and edible Christmas tree
decorations.

Shares in the group, which traces its origins to a Zurich
confectionery shop in the 1840s, climbed to a 4-1/2 year high
after it said sales rose 7.3 percent last year to 2.67 billion
Swiss francs ($2.9 billion).

BASEL, Switzerland/LONDON (Reuters) – Global regulators gave banks four more years and greater flexibility on Sunday to build up cash buffers so they can use some of their reserves to help struggling economies grow.

The pull-back from a draconian earlier draft of new global bank liquidity rule went further than banks had expected by allowing them a broader range of eligible assets.

GENEVA (Reuters) – “Happy Taxation” is a 2011 book by Pascal Broulis, finance minister of the Swiss canton of Vaud and celebrant of the low taxes that distinguish Switzerland. But as times get tougher, discontent about Swiss tax breaks is mounting.

Cash-strapped foreign governments have already chipped away at the secrecy that allows rich individuals to store tax-free funds in Swiss bank accounts. Now Europe’s governments have turned the spotlight on the incentives Switzerland offers companies.