Half-year and second-quarter results from Switzerland’s corporate sector reveal a widening gap between stagnant revenues and improving profitability. The lift and escalator maker Schindler reported a 0.7% drop in second-quarter sales to CHF 2.74 billion, yet lifted its adjusted operating margin by 0.4 points to 13.9% and beat analysts’ EBIT estimates. Novartis saw revenues edge up only 1% at constant currencies to $14.4 billion, but core operating profit reached $5.9 billion, sharply exceeding a consensus of $5.3 billion. Julius Bär, the private bank, doubled its net profit to CHF 673 million for the first half, partly because year-earlier charges fell away, but also thanks to a decline in its cost-to-income ratio to 62.6%. Across these firms, tight cost management, favourable product-mix shifts and price increases protected earnings even as the strong Swiss franc and uneven demand held back top-line growth.

Swatch Group stood apart. Its first-half revenue rose 2% to CHF 3.12 billion, or 8.5% in local currencies, on what management described as “robust momentum” across all price segments. Yet operating profit tumbled 24% to CHF 52 million and net profit slipped to CHF 16 million — far below the CHF 95 million that analysts had forecast. The group blamed currency headwinds, geopolitical disruptions in the Middle East and its decision to avoid short-time working in production. Observers in Biel noted that the steep earnings miss signals booming sales have yet to translate into bottom-line health. The company itself forecasts a meaningful recovery in the second half, pointing to an order acceleration in May and June driven partly by the new Royal Pop collaboration with Audemars Piguet, which generated queues outside stores.

Outside Switzerland, Detroit-based General Motors offered a different picture of industrial resilience. The automaker’s second-quarter net income fell 31% to $1.3 billion on vehicle deliveries down 7%, yet revenues rose 1.9% to $48 billion and the company lifted its full-year adjusted earnings-per-share guidance to $12–$14, from a prior $11.50–$13.50. GM highlighted strong performance in markets such as Brazil, where deliveries jumped 23%, and said electric-vehicle-related accounting charges are easing. Tariff costs are still expected to absorb $2.5 billion–$3.5 billion this year.

Most Swiss groups confirmed their full-year targets. Schindler reiterated its aim for low- to mid-single-digit revenue growth in local currencies and an EBIT margin of about 13%. Novartis foresees a low-single-digit sales increase and a low-single-digit decline in core operating profit, as the worst of its patent cliff passes. Julius Bär reaffirmed its goal of 4–5% net new money growth by 2028. Swatch expects a significant profitability improvement. Investors now turn to second-half execution, with currency swings and tariff uncertainties set to remain the dominant swing factors.