Straumann to reduce salaries for Swiss staff
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- Published: Tuesday, 17 February 2015 08:27
- Written by News Editor
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Reuters reports that Swiss dental implant maker Straumann will reduce bonuses for Swiss-based staff and management to cut costs after the Swiss National Bank scrapped its cap on the franc, triggering a strengthening of the currency. Straumann also wants to pay cross-border workers in euros to counter the negative effects of the rising Swiss franc.
Straumann said employees in Switzerland would take a 5 percent cut in overall compensation, while its chief executive officer and board of directors would see a 35 percent and 28 percent reduction in compensation, respectively.
The firm, which employs 2,200 people worldwide, said a range of recently implemented measures to cut costs are not enough to cope with the Swiss National Bank’s (SNB) decision to end its franc-euro exchange rate cap last month. “Almost overnight, we were thrown back to where we were in 2012 in terms of revenue and profits,” chief executive Marco Gadola said in a statement, “If our key strategic initiatives, restructuring and cost reductions over the past 18 months had not been effective, the new situation would have meant severe job losses.”
Some 95% of the company’s sales are generated outside of Switzerland, with the eurozone accounting for 40% of turnover. However, 45% of costs are booked in Swiss francs, the company said. If currency exchange rates in general continue at recent levels, Straumann's full-year revenue could take a hit of as much as 75 million Swiss francs ($80.9 million), the firm said. It had 2013 sales of 680 million francs.
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