MORNING NEWS

Adobe said Chief Executive Shantanu Narayen, credited with leading the software company’s transformation over the past 18 years, will step down after it finds a new leader for the artificial intelligence era. Narayen’s departure comes as the software company struggles to convince investors that it can outpace AI’s industrywide disruptions.

Life insurer Swiss Life managed to improve its insurance premium income last year, however net profit remained flat. Shareholders will nevertheless benefit from a dividend increase of CHF 1.5 to CHF 36.50 per share, the Zurich-based group announced on Thursday. In 2025, the company recorded gross premiums growth of 3% to CHF 20.87 billion.

Oracle raised its sales outlook as demand for artificial intelligence continues to outpace supply. Oracle now expects fiscal 2027 revenue to be $90 billion, ahead of the $86.61 billion analysts are projecting. It reaffirmed its 2026 guidance. The company expects revenue to grow between 18% to 20% in the current fourth quarter, with adjusted earnings per share of $1.92 to $1.96. Wall Street is estimating $1.93 a share in adjusted earnings. Shares climbed 8.7% in after-hours trading Tuesday. Revenue rose 18% to $17.19 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet forecast revenue of $16.92 billion.

Chocolate manufacturer Lindt & Sprüngli increased its net profit in fiscal year 2025. The Zurich-based group hiked its prices to offset higher food raw material costs and declining volumes. From January to the end of December, the net profit of the manufacturer of chocolate bunnies and Lindor balls stood at CHF 727 million, compared with CHF 672 million a year earlier, according to a statement released on Tuesday. Operating profit (EBIT) reached CHF 971 million, up from CHF 884 million. The corresponding margin was 16.4%, up 20 basis points.

UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti will pocket a stable salary in 2025. As in 2024, he will be paid CHF 14.9 million for the past financial year. According to the annual report published on Monday, CHF 2.8 million of this is fixed salary and CHF 12.1 million is variable remuneration. The entire Group Executive Board of Switzerland's largest bank will receive a total of CHF 145.3 million for 2025, up from CHF 143.6 million. Ermotti is currently challenged on all fronts: operationally, strategically, and in public relations. The Ticino native took over as CEO again in April 2023 to lead the integration of the acquired Credit Suisse. In terms of integration, the bank is on track without any major incidents: in 2025, the important migration of former CS customer accounts in Switzerland to the UBS platform was largely completed and is expected to be finalized by the end of the current first quarter of 2026.

Broadcom posted higher sales in the latest quarter as the type and number of AI customers kept expanding. AI revenue in the quarter more than doubled to $8.4 billion, driven by demand for custom AI accelerators and networking, Chief Executive Hock Tan said. Demand is now coming from both hyperscalers and regular companies looking to build out their own AI agents, he told investors on a call Wednesday. “Some of them are hyperscalers, some of them are not hyperscalers, but they all have one thing in common, which is to create LLMs, productize it and generate platforms,” Tan said. The semiconductor and software maker’s customer base is expanding beyond its core focus of hyperscalers like Google and Anthropic, Tan said.

ASM International reported higher-than-expected net profit for the last quarter of 2025, buoyed by stronger demand and a rebound in orders from its Chinese customers. The Dutch supplier of equipment for the semiconductor industry announced a drop in net profit to €166.1 million ($194.2 million), compared with €225.8 million a year earlier.

Kuehne + Nagel reported a sharp drop in 2025 earnings following a year it said was marked by a deteriorating economic environment. The Swiss transport and logistics company said full-year recurring earnings before interest and tax - a preferred profitability measure - fell 17% on year. It expects recurring EBIT of between 1.2 billion and 1.4 billion Swiss francs ($1.54 billion-$1.8 billion) this year, after reporting 1.38 billion francs in 2025. As the freight industry contends with overcapacity and pressure on profitability, the company has been working to right-size its cost base and streamline its organizational and sales structure as it seeks to accelerate growth.

The escalation in the Middle East has driven up the price of gold sharply at the start of the week. The price of a troy ounce of gold is currently trading at around US$5,350, well above Friday's level. The precious metal is continuing its strong performance from last week and is once again heading towards the record high of $5,595 reached at the end of January. JP Morgan and Bank of America have reaffirmed their targets of $6,000, with JP Morgan forecasting $6,300 by the end of the year, supported by continued purchases by central banks.

Nvidia reported a 94% increase in profit and record sales for the fourth quarter, helping ease concerns over a possible artificial-intelligence bubble that rippled through markets in recent months. The chip maker reported net income of $43 billion, up from $22.1 billion in the year-earlier quarter, on sales of $68.1 billion, up 73% from $39.3 billion a year earlier, easily beating consensus estimates. Analysts polled by FactSet had predicted net income of $37.5 billion and revenue of $66.1 billion for the quarter.