SFS welcomes Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank
Media release – September 16, 2022
The Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) paid a visit to the SFS Group AG in Heerbrugg (Switzerland) on Friday, September 16. SFS took that opportunity to provide some information on its positioning, the expansion of its business activities and the development of the economic environment. The SNB’s Governing Board and representatives of SFS also discussed the security of the energy supply, the exchange rate trend as well as developments on the job market.
The Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, led by Thomas Jordan, paid a visit to SFS in Heerbrugg. Members of SFS’s management, led by Jens Breu (CEO) and Board member Nick Huber, took this opportunity to inform their guests about the developments and activities of the SFS Group, focusing on the Group’s activities in Switzerland.
Switzerland’s manufacturing and trading center is currently dealing with many different issues:
- The availability of energy and the energy price trend, to which SFS is responding with cost cutting, an expansion of its own energy generation – with one example of this being the planned wind turbine – and other measures.
- The CHF-EUR exchange rate trend, which weighs heavily on Swiss exports despite the inflation differential with other countries. In response, SFS is focusing its activities on particularly innovative, know-how-intense products that are capital-intense and necessitate highly automated processes.
- Uncertainties related to the bilateral framework agreement between Switzerland and the European Union, which could have an impact on free access to the European market going forward.
The risks of the current developments were discussed during an open exchange and SFS pointed out how the company is responding to these challenges.
The presentation and discussions were followed by a tour through the plant, including a visit to new Hall 6, where newly developed products in particular are produced for the Automotive industry.