Swiss companies have announced their quarterly earnings with declining results in the chemical industry.

The Basel-based agri-chemical giant Syngenta has reported a decline in its first quarter sales of three per cent, which is worse than analysts expected.

The company's first quarter sales were SFr3.05 billion ($1.84 billion) down from SFr3.15 billion a year ago, with sales in crop protection also down three per cent. That comes in the context of a depressed global agriculture market.

Analysts had expected sales to drop by 1.5 per cent as distributors continued to run down their stocks and the currency in Latin America got weaker.

"First quarter performance indicates that barring further unfavourable currency movements, synergy realisation will result in some marginal improvement in 2002," the company said in a statement.

Serono

Serono, Europe's biggest biotechnology company, has announced a first quarter net profit of SFr115.3 million, a 3.5 per cent decrease.

However, the Geneva-based company is sticking by its forecast of full-year earnings growth of 15 to 17 per cent.

Total product sales rose by 10.4 per cent to SFr519 million with sales of Serono's multiple sclerosis drug Rebif, which was launched in the United States last month, rising 45.7 per cent to SFr191 million.

Geberit

The bathroom fixtures company Geberit Holding has reported a 2.1 per cent increase in sales to SFr331 million, up from SFr324.3 million last year.

The Jona-based company said in a statement it expected a similar development for the whole year.

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