Holcim board member Thomas Schmidheiny said he plans to increase his stake in the Swiss cement maker to 20 per cent from 18 per cent, without specifying when, SonntagsZeitung reported, citing an interview.

Schmidheiny said he’s “impressed” with the Swiss central bank’s ability to defend its franc ceiling of 1.20 versus the euro, the Zurich-based newspaper reported today. Switzerland’s tourism sector and export industries are “only fully competitive at an exchange rate of 1.40, however,” he was quoted as saying.