Swatch CEO optimistic on 2015 sales, shares jump

ZURICH (Reuters) - Swatch Group (UHR.VX) will hit the upper end of its sales-growth target range of 5-10 percent in 2015 as demand in its stable of brands such as Tissot and Omega advanced more quickly than expected, group Chief Executive Nick Hayek said on Friday.

Hayek, speaking in an interview in Swiss daily Neue Zuericher Zeitung, said turnover in Japan, Switzerland and in many European countries was growing at a double-digit percent pace.

Russia, by contrast, has proven difficult. Unit sales have risen but the group has not been able to raise its prices in the same measure that the rouble has weakened, he said.

Shares in the group, the world's largest watchmaker, rose 3.2 percent at 422.60 francs at 0807 GMT.

Hayek said the group had no plans to create a watch using Android or iOS operating systems.

(Reporting by Thomas Atkins)