Finance
Swiss Watch Giant Gets Bullish as an Activist Pushes for Change
The family in control of Swatch is resisting an investor campaign.
Steven Wood, an activist investor pushing for change.
Photographer: Gili Benita/Bloomberg
American activist investor Steven Wood’s one-man mission to overhaul the governance and culture of Swatch Group AG just became a lot harder.
The Swiss watchmaker and its plain-talking, cigar-smoking Chief Executive Officer, Nick Hayek, may have spent most of the past two years disappointing shareholders with tumbling sales and shrinking profits, but last month they surprised with an upbeat outlook and bullish predictions of a recovery this year.