Corporate

Swisscom reports revenues of CHF 2.83 billion for the first quarter of this year, down by 1.9 percent compared with the same period in 2016. The revenue decrease is caused by strong pressure on prices and increasing market saturation. In Q1 Swisscom revenue from telecommunications services fell by CHF 37 million (-2.2%). Around 50 percent of this decrease in revenue was the result of a decline in subscribers in fixed-line telephony, while the other 50 percent was due to price reductions, including roaming, and a decline in corporate business.

UBS delivered very strong first-quarter results with an adjusted profit before tax of CHF 1,934m, up 42% year on year. Adjusted operating income increased 8%, driven by the Investment Bank, Wealth Management Americas and Wealth Management, and the firm continued to make progress on its net cost reduction program. Despite facing a variety of market conditions and client activity levels, all business divisions and regions contributed to the improvement in performance. Reported pre-tax profit was up 73% year on year to CHF 1,690m. Net profit attributable to shareholders was CHF 1,269m, up 79% year on year, with diluted earnings per share of CHF 0.33. Group annualized adjusted1 return on tangible equity was 12.6%, or 17.4% excluding DTA.

Uber wants to launch a system of flying cars to move people around cities, with a goal of putting demonstration projects in place by 2020. "I hate that term (flying car), but we’ll have to live with it," the company’s chief product officer, Jeff Holden, said at the Uber Elevate Summit in Dallas. The vision was published in a 99-page white paper last year.

The ride-sharing giant announced a series of partnerships to manufacture “vertical takeoff and landing” (VTOL) vehicles and put networks in place, a system dubbed Uber Elevate.

Credit Suisse has just reported first quarter earnings which show Switzerland’s second-largest bank beating expectations, helped by a strong performance across the board. The bank simultaneously announced its intention to pursue a 4 billion swiss franc ($4 billion) capital raise.
It said the first quarter had provided "further confirmation" that it was delivering "profitable and complaint growth" and had "generated positive momentum across our businesses".

Alitalia employees late Monday rejected a government-brokered package of job and wage cuts that was aimed at saving Italy’s flagship airline from bankruptcy, now the risk of bankruptcy looms for Italy’s flagship airline.

Alitalia said Tuesday that its board concluded that in light of the employees’ vote, it has decided to "begin procedures foreseen by law," a reference to extraordinary administration. The board could meet on Thursady to chart the next step. Such a scenario could result in shedding unprofitable routes, most likely predominantly domestic ones, to competitors, and selling off aircraft to help pay creditors.

Swiss pharmaceuticals group Novartis says net income fell 15 percent in the first quarter, as it continued to adjust to generic competition for its Gleevec leukemia drug and stopped work on a hoped-for treatment for heart failure.

The Basel-based company said net income dropped to $1.7 billion in the quarter, compared to $2.01 in the year-earlier period. It cited a $200 million charge to discontinue RLX030, which failed to pass tests in trials as a treatment for acute heart failure.

Eric Olsen, CEO of the Swiss-French giant LafargeHolcim, has stepped down following an internal investigation into one of the company’s manufacturing plants in Syria. In 2013 and 2014, one of world’s largest cement company allegedly paid armed groups protection money to keep its Jalabiya plant open while the country’s civil war intensified.

“While I was absolutely not involved in, nor even aware of, any wrongdoing I believe my departure will contribute to bringing back serenity to a company that has been exposed for months on this case,” Olsen said on Monday, who will leave on July 15, two years after becoming chief executive and taking responsibility for implementing the €41bn merger between the French company Lafarge and its Swiss rival Holcim in 2015.

Swiss Economic Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann had strong words for Credit Suisse bonus. Asked over the issue on Sunday by Zentralschweiz am Sonntag, he said that so-called fat-cat salaries for top bankers are stupid and divisive.
The minister, part of the nation’s governing seven-member cabinet, was commenting about payouts to senior managers of Switzerland’s second-largest bank, Credit Suisse.