Weekly "Focus" and The Swiss Alps

Living in London, England for over 5 years allowed to me to get over to the Swiss Alps for several ski trips. Verbier was my favourite destination but I did get to Davos (host of this week’s World Economic Forum) and can recall skiing there in very deep snow conditions.

However, this year’s European ski season has been extremely challenging due to unseasonably warm weather and many resorts have had to close. Like many global stock markets, the Swiss market was challenged last year, but it is off to a decent start in 2023 with a gain of approx. 5% (i). For a small country with a population under 9 million, it is quite remarkable how many global industry leaders call Switzerland home.

The iShares MSCI Switzerland ETF (EWL-US) is an easy way to track the performance of the largest Swiss companies.

Company (Symbol)	Sector	Price Return in 2022	Price Return in 2023	Dividend Yield
Nestle (NESN)	Consumer Staples	-15.9%	+4.8%	2.5%
Roche (ROG)	Health Care	-23.6%	+1.4%	3.2%
Novartis (NOVN)	Health Care	+4.1%	+0.8%	3.7%
Richemont (CFR)	Consumer Discretionary	-12.8%	+12.8%	2.4%
UBS Group (UBSG)	Financials	+4.7%	+11.2%	2.4%

SSource: (i) ThomsonOneource: ThomsonOne, Values as of January 19

Click on the link to access this week’s "Focus"  from our economics team.

Have a great weekend and please stay safe,

Brad

Bradley Goldhar | Senior Portfolio Manager and Senior Investment Advisor

 

 

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