MORNING NEWS

Construction chemicals and adhesives manufacturer Sika suffered a decline in profits in the 2025 financial year. Negative currency effects, the weak Chinese construction market, and the US government shutdown at the end of the year all contributed to slower growth. As already announced on a provisional basis in January, sales in local currencies shrank by 4.8 percent to CHF 11.20 billion, the company confirmed on Friday.

The Zurich Group once again increased its earnings in the 2025 financial year. In view of the positive profit development, the insurer's shareholders are set to benefit from a higher dividend payout. Zurich's operating profit jumped 14 percent to $8.86 billion last year, and net profit climbed 17 percent to $6.80 billion, the company revealed on Thursday. Both figures are record highs.

Amrize, an American company specializing in building materials, aims to increase both its revenue and operating profit in the current fiscal year. When presenting its figures for 2025, the company issued a forecast for 2026. Sales are expected to rise by 4 to 6 percent to between US$12.29 billion and US$12.52 billion, as announced on Tuesday evening by the company, which was spun off from Holcim last summer. Operating profit (EBITDA), adjusted for special costs, is expected to increase by 8 to 11 percent to between $3.25 billion and $3.34 billion. In 2025, Amrize boosted sales of building materials by 2.2 percent to $8.51 billion, while sales of building envelopes decreased by 2.2 percent to $3.30 billion.

Activist Elliott Investment Management has built a more than 10% stake in Norwegian Cruise Line and plans to push for changes to turn the struggling cruise-ship operator around, according to people familiar with the matter. Elliott, now one of Norwegian’s top investors, is planning to engage with the company to try to help fix its underperformance, the people said. Norwegian is the fourth-largest cruise operator in the world by number of passengers, with a market value of roughly $10 billion. Its brands include the more premium Oceania Cruises and the luxury Regent Seven Seas Cruises.

Anthropic’s artificial-intelligence tool Claude was used in the U.S. military’s operation to capture former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, highlighting how AI models are gaining traction in the Pentagon, according to people familiar with the matter. Former Microsoft and General Motors executive Chris Liddell, who helped take the automaker public, has joined Anthropic’s board of directors, the company said. The appointment adds a board member with experience steering a large company through a public listing as Anthropic eyes a potential IPO.

Airbnb posted higher fourth-quarter revenue but lower profit, as investments in new business drive up expenses. The vacation rental company on Thursday posted a profit of $341 million, or 56 cents a share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31, down from $461 million, or 73 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts forecast 67 cents a share, according to FactSet. The decline in earnings was due to planned investments in new growth and policy initiatives, as well as a $90 million charge related to non-income tax matters. Total costs and expenses increased 22% from the year before.

McDonald’s shares stalled in after-hours trading (-0.4%) even though the fast-food chain handily beat expectations for fourth-quarter earnings and revenue. The company reported adjusted earnings of $3.12 a share and revenue of $7.01 billion. Global comparable sales rose 5.7%, and comparable sales in the U.S. rose 6.8%. Wall Street was expecting McDonald’s to show growth as the fast-food chain’s value-led strategies offset the challenge of a tough economy. For the quarter ended in December, analysts polled by FactSet expected McDonald’s to report that net revenue increased by 7% to $6.84 billion. Earnings were expected to come in at $3.04 a share, up from $2.83 a year ago.

Lift and escalator manufacturer Schindler generated slightly less revenue and orders last year, yet earned significantly more. In the new year, Schindler aims to continue growing moderately and become even more profitable. Overall, revenue fell by 2.6 percent to CHF 10.95 billion, as the Central Swiss group announced on Wednesday. Once again, the strong Swiss franc had a negative impact on the result. Foreign currency effects cost CHF 431 million in sales. In local currencies, sales would have grown by 1.3 percent. Adjusted operating profit (EBIT), on the other hand, increased by 8.2 percent to CHF 1.45 billion. The operating margin improved to 13.3 percent from 12.0 percent in the previous year.

Gucci owner Kering has reported accelerated sales growth for the final quarter of 2025. The group is pushing ahead with its restructuring plan to lure customers back into its boutiques. The Paris-based group posted sales of €3.905 billion ($4.65 billion) in the fourth quarter, an important shopping period with Black Friday and Christmas. Although the result represented a 9 percent decline on a year-on-year basis, it was an improvement on the previous quarter. At that time, the company had recorded a 10 percent decline in sales to €3.415 billion.

Roche presented new results from a pivotal study on the experimental drug fenebrutinib at the Actrims conference in California. In patients with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS), the drug slowed the progression of disability at least as effectively as Ocrevus, the only Roche therapy approved to date.