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Empresas y finanzas

Swatch Group sees strong start to 2011


    ZURICH (Reuters) - Swatch Group , the world's largest watchmaker, has seen double-digit sales growth so far in January and is upbeat on its prospects for 2011 despite the strong Swiss franc.

    Swatch Group, best known for its colorful plastic Swatch watches, said on Wednesday it notched up 2010 sales of 6.44 billion swiss francs ($6.7 billion), another record year for the group as consumers in Asia, central Europe and the Middle East bought its luxury watches.

    The group, which also owns higher-end brands such as Blancpain, Breguet and Omega expects 2010 net income to be higher than in 2009, while profitability was also expected to be better.

    (Reporting by Katie Reid; Editing by Dan Lalor)

    ($1 = 0.9637 Swiss franc)