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Swatch surprises investors with report in dialect

[March 07, 2013]  BERLIN (AP) -- How to show your attachment to your small Alpine country when you're a globally known watch manufacturer? Try writing your annual financial report in the local dialect impenetrable to outsiders.

Swatch Group AG, Switzerland's biggest watch maker, issued its 216-page report for 2012 Wednesday in Swiss German -- an idiosyncratic form of the language that often baffles other native German speakers. Swiss films are typically shown with subtitles in neighboring Germany.

Chairwoman Nayla Hayek said the language switch was meant as "a positive provocation" and she was confident the Swiss "will respond to this expression of our deep connection to our roots with a wink."

The company says net earnings rose 26 percent last year to 1.61 billion francs ($1.71 billion). Revenue rose 14 percent to 8.14 billion francs.

[Associated Press]

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