Roche's Strong Pipeline Leaves Shareholders Optimistic
Bruno Keller, a Roche shareholder for the past 10 years, is so confident about the Swiss drugmaker's prospects after a turbulent year that he is giving his wife Roche stock for her birthday.
"I am going to instruct my banker to buy some stock this afternoon," Keller told Reuters after the group's annual general meeting on Tuesday. "This is a birthday present for my wife."
Roche shareholders had a bumpy ride last year when the group hit a number of product setbacks, rattling investor confidence and shaving around a fifth off the company's value.
But many long-term investors said in Basel they believed in the group's future prospects thanks to its pipeline, which Roche Chairman Franz Humer described as the best in the industry at the annual shareholder meeting.
"We are doing the right thing. We have to have patience and wait for these things to mature. I have full confidence that this will be reflected in the stock price," Humer said when a shareholder questioned the stock's performance.
The trust that the vast majority of Roche's shareholders are putting in Humer and Chief Executive Severin Schwan underscores the stable shareholder base the group has.
The Hoffmann-Oeri family owns 50.01% of voting shares, a controlling stake that was originally built up by Paul Sacher, who married the widow of the sole heir to the Hoffmann-La Roche fortune in 1934.
"It is good that the family is behind Roche, as this gives a certain stability and continuity. Schwan also does good work," Keller said.
Roche shareholders backed a 10% dividend hike to 6.60 Swiss francs per share and non-voting equity at the AGM, increasing the appeal to investors.
"We believe the shares offer significant upside for patient investors, particularly those with a regard for income as well as capital growth," analysts at Jefferies said in a note on Tuesday.
Roche stock has risen over 2% so far this year, outperforming a 5% drop in Novartis shares and a near-flat performance for the European healthcare index.
"I am a shareholder who bought stock when it was higher, and now I am waiting for it to rise. I believe in this company," Erwin Gasser, another Roche shareholder for the last 10 years, said after the AGM.
