“Krone” interview – “Wattens is and will always be the heart of Swarovski”

“crown”: Mr. Nasard, you published the 2022 numbers on Friday. Even if you are not yet back in the profit zone: with a turnover of 1.83 billion euros, there was a plus for the first time. Does this also affect the Wattens site?
Alexis Nasard: Wattens is and will remain the heart of Swarovski and therefore also a place of technological innovation. Over the next two years we will invest more than 50 million euros here on the site. In addition, a dedicated site manager will be hired for Wattens – also as a sign of how important Wattens is.

What does this mean for the employees in Wattens?
We currently have about 3000 employees. This number must remain constant. At Wattens, we focus on strengthening our core competencies and our employees. Building on our traditional innovation leadership, we can achieve something unique. In doing so, we pay attention to our company history and remain true to the principles of our founder Daniel Swarovski. Development and innovation of materials, processes and technologies to make our components shine in ever new shapes, colours, finishes and applications. In 2022, nearly 500 employees were recruited.

The works council is always critical. What will you do to restore trust?
There is indeed much to do. In fact, we are all concerned for the well-being of Swarovski. We are all interested in that and we should pursue this goal together. We are committed to a respectful dialogue with our colleagues and in particular with employee representatives and we are ready for it.

Will Swarovski remain a Tyrolean company?
Swarovski is and will remain a company with Tyrolean roots. With the main factory in Tyrol, which to this day produces all the crystals for the entire company – that is five billion a year – and also orchestrates the global production, a global visitor magnet with the Kristallwelten and a group of shareholders that are still largely alive Today in Tyrol.

Where is Swarovski strong, where were the weaknesses?
After the gold rush years from 2000 to 2007, the huge slump between 2008 and 2019 and the rediscovery phase in 2021/22, we ended 2022 with a growth of ten percent, achieving the best result of the past seven years. This despite a significantly worse result in China than originally planned – also due to the corona-related restrictions. Group-wide there is no profit yet, but that should change again this year or next year at the latest. In Wattens, however, there was a profit again last year and turnover was above medium-term planning. This is all the more remarkable because the higher energy costs – especially at the Wattens site – have led to enormous additional costs in 2022.

In which sectors did Swarovski grow in 2022?
In all product categories, channels and continents – with the exception of China.

Where do you see Swarovski in three years?
We want to be among the top 3 luxury brands. “Luxignite” is a growth strategy and is based on a business model that is scalable along the value chain and therefore focused on profitable growth. We will continue to sell high volumes of our products in the future and earn good profit margins – just like other luxury companies.

Where do you see yourself in three years?
I came to stay!

What about shareholder disputes?
My job as CEO is to run the company. And even if it doesn’t always seem that way from the outside, I feel a lot of support from the shareholders. The cooperation in the advisory board, the link between shareholders and the company, is good.