FBR Capital Markets downgrades UBS to underperform from market perform and cuts its target price to CHF14.40 from CHF17.40. "We believe that the downturn in the trading environment makes it more difficult for UBS to recover the ground lost in its fixed-income franchise, despite having paid up to hire new talent to replace those that have left or been made redundant," FBR Capital Markets says.

Novartis achieves record results in 2009 as momentum from recently launched products drives growth across its entire healthcare portfolio. Novartis completes CEO succession process with appointment of Joe Jimenez as new CEO and simplified leadership organization. Group delivers sustained business expansion and profit improvement with all divisions contributing to strong performance in 2009:
*   Net sales rise 11% in local currencies (lc) to USD 44.3 billion (+7% in USD), as innovative  products drive Pharmaceuticals to industry-leading growth and Vaccines and Diagnostics sells over 100 million influenza A (H1N1) pandemic vaccine doses
*   Core operating income grows 11% to USD 11.4 billion, as margin improves to 25.8% of net sales on business expansion and productivity gains
*   Core net income rises 8% to USD 10.3 billion, at a lower pace than core operating income mainly due to Alcon-related financing costs
*   Core EPS up 8% to USD 4.50

The SGS Group delivered a 6.3% increase in operating profit for the year largely as a result of the improvement of full year operating margin by 50 basis points to 17.3% (constant currency basis). In a challenging growth environment for many of the Group's services and geographies, the Group was able to post revenue growth of 2.5% (constant currency basis) to CHF 4.7 billion. Through the introduction of new service offerings and proactive cost control measures, the Group's preexceptional EBITDA at CHF 1 billion, increased 6.8% (constant currency basis) at a margin of 22%. Reported net profit before exceptional items remained constant at CHF 579 million (up 5.6% at constant currencies). As a result of the Group's ability to increase profits and cash generation during the year, the SGS Board of Directors proposes a dividend of CHF 60 per share, CHF 30 of which reflects the exceptional cash generation performance of the Group.

Deutsche Bank analysts upgraded Adecco to BUY. They said that the structural growth of the company is not yet included in the stock price. This growth should be lower than in the 90s, but better than for the 2001 to 2007 period.

Swissquote

In a release of 2009 sales figures, Swatch said gross sales for 2009 slipped 9.1% to 5.42 billion Swiss francs ($5.22 billion) from CHF5.97 billion a year ago. Sales in the fourth quarter--expressed in euro terms--rose by 7.1%, and by 11.1% measured in constant currencies, the company said, adding that business over Christmas was "phenomenal."Demand has picked up in many regions while the uptake in countries such as the U.S., Japan and Spain remained weak. Many customers bought products of the medium-price category, and strong brands such as Omega were in high demand, Swatch Group said.