Swatch stocks gain again as CEO says delisting speculation nothing new
ZURICH, Sept 27 (Reuters) -Shares in Swatch Group UHR.S made further gains on Friday on speculation the Swiss watchmaker could be taken private even though CEO Nick Hayek played down his earlier comments, saying there was nothing new on the issue.
Shares in the maker of Omega, Tissot and Longines watches jumped as much as 16% on Thursday after Swiss magazine Bilanz published a preview of an interview with Hayek.
Hayek, whose family group controls Swatch via around 43.3% of the votes and 25% of the share capital, said he favoured taking the company private - pushing up its shares which had previously lost 31% in value this year.
On Friday, the shares rose again, and were up 2.1% in late morning trade, even after Hayek put out a statement on Thursday afternoon saying the possibility of quitting the stock market was not a new idea.
"We have always said it would be nice to take the company off the stock exchange, and it would be all the more tempting given the ridiculously low share prices we have seen for some time," Hayek said in his statement on Thursday.
"In that respect, today's interview contains nothing new. Everything else is pure speculation."
In the interview with Bilanz, Hayek said he did not measure Swatch's performance by its share price, referring to the stock market as a "casino."
While Swatch did not have to leave the market, it would "certainly be an advantage," he told the magazine.
"We have no time pressure, because the company is not threatened by the situation on the stock market," he said. "Legacy is not an issue," he said. "But yes, we are thinking about what we can do."
Bernstein analyst Luca Solca said it could make sense for Hayek to take Swatch private. The company currently has a market capitalisation of 9.06 billion Swiss francs ($10.73 billion), according to LSEG data.
"Swatch's brands have substantial potential, and the changes
needed to improve the business could be better executed away from the glare of the public markets," said Solca, noting that Swatch appeared to be a reluctant market participant.
"Paying existing external shareholders a takeover premium could be a more attractive option for the Hayeks," added the analyst.
($1 = 0.8446 Swiss francs)
Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Susan Fenton
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