Swatch Sees Weakening Demand in the Critical Chinese Market

BIEL, Switzerland - Swatch Group fell the most in two and a half years after reporting full-year profit that missed analysts' estimates as demand weakened in China during the final months of the year and production bottlenecks cut into sales of Omega and Longines timepieces Operating profit rose to 1.15 billion francs, the Swiss company said Thursday Market turbulence in China has been disruptive, according to the company, which says it's the biggest seller of timepieces to the region that's so crucial for the watch industry.

Swatch pledged to resolve the production problems in the first half Swatch's lower-end brands face increased competition from the Apple Watch, and the company is finding it needs to expand more in e-commerce to lure more millennial shoppers While Swiss watch exports rose at their fastest pace in six years in 2018, growth has been slowing and December showed a drop.

Swatch fell as much as 8.2 percent in early trading, the most since July 2016. . Source