I am writing this letter to let you know that at the recent Board meeting of The Swiss Helvetia Fund, Inc. (the “Fund”), I was elected to succeed Sam Witt as Chairman of the Fund’s Board. Sam has been a Director of the Fund since the Fund’s initial public offering in 1987 and had served as Chairman for nearly a decade. Sam’s leadership, insight and commitment to the Fund have been a guiding force for the Board and we are delighted he will continue as a member. David Bock has been elected by the Board to succeed me as Chairman of the Fund’s Audit Committee, where he has been a valued member for many years.

2015 has been a busy year for the Fund and I am happy to report that we continue to make progress in a number of important areas. One particular area of focus has been the full integration of Schroders as the Fund’s investment adviser. We continue to be impressed with the breadth and depth of Schroders’ resources in managing the Fund’s investment portfolio and providing the day-to-day oversight of the administrative and other

aspects of the Fund. On another front, we are pleased to welcome J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. (JPM) on board as of October 1st as the Fund’s custodian, administrator and fund accountant. After a comprehensive review of potential service providers conducted by Schroders and the Board, the Board unanimously supported Schroders’ recommendation of JPM to assume these duties. We look forward to the professionalism and expertise they will bring to bear on these functions. Finally, the Board is continuing to make progress in controlling Fund expenses through a range of actions. Overall, we believe that these actions will result in important savings to shareholders while, at the same time, strengthening the investment discipline, risk controls and compliance functions that support the Fund.

As shareholders of the Fund, the entire Board would like to express our thanks for your continued confidence and support. We look forward to keeping you posted on future developments, as we continue to work to enhance shareholder value.

Sincerely,

Brian A. Berris

Chairman

For the three-month period ended September 30, 2015, the performance of the Swiss Helvetia Fund, Inc. (the “Fund”), as measured by the change in value in the Fund’s net asset value (“NAV”), decreased -5.76% in US dollars. For the same period, the Fund’s share price performance decreased -5.03%, as the discount at which the Fund traded its shares narrowed. This compares with a decrease of -6.64% in the Swiss equity market, as measured by the performance of the Swiss Performance Index (the “Index” or “SPI”) in US dollars. Since the beginning of the year, the Fund’s NAV decreased -0.01% while the share price declined -0.26% in US dollars. This compares to -0.57% of the SPI in US dollars.

Economic environment during the period under review

Global economic review

While the US economy may have been the main reason for a reduced global economic growth forecast during the first six months of 2015, it was the emerging markets, especially China, which fueled uncertainties regarding global growth during the third quarter. It appears that the time of Chinese growth rates in excess of 7% has definitely come to an end. Meanwhile, the European economy continued its slow recovery from a low base, fulfilling market expectations on growth on the back of a weak euro and low commodity prices.

In terms of monetary policy, the US Federal Reserve (the “Fed”) decided not to raise the Fed funds rates. The massive

quantitative easing program of the European Central Bank (“ECB”) has still not caused any inflationary pressures. In addition, the move of German Bund yields towards zero reversed from April onward, remaining relatively stable with around a 0.6%—0.9% yield. On January 15, 2015, the Swiss National Bank (“SNB”) abandoned its floor of the Swiss franc against the euro of 1.20. This led to Swiss franc interest rates becoming negative.

Swiss economic review

At the time of this writing, Swiss economic data was only available for the first six months of 2015: Swiss real GDP in the second quarter increased by 0.2% (not annualized)—a reversal of the first quarter’s 0.2% decline, due in part to measures taken by companies to improve results. Additionally, the euro strengthened compared to the Swiss franc, which appears to have removed some of the pressure that had been caused by the strong Swiss franc after the SNB’s action. After this somewhat unexpected recovery in the second quarter, both the State Secretariat of Economic Affairs (SECO) and the Swiss business cycle research institute (KOF) raised GDP growth expectations to +0.9% for the full year 2015, up from +0.8% (SECO) and +0.4% (KOF). The unemployment rate fell to 3.2% from 3.3%, as registered in June.

Market environment during the period under review

Over the three-month period ended September 30, 2015, in their original index

currencies, European, US, global and Swiss equities all had negative returns with Swiss equities leading (-2.7%), and European equities (-8.8%) lagging global stocks. When measured in US dollars, the S&P 500 (-6.4%) emerged as among the leading indexes, closely followed by the SPI which returned -6.6% over the period. Within Swiss equities and measured in US dollars, consumer staples was the only sector with a positive performance (+3.9%), driven by the Index heavyweight Nestlé (+3.9%). All other sectors had negative returns with, unsurprisingly, the energy sector (-20.0%) being the worst performer. Small and mid-caps outperformed the overall SPI by 1.3% when measured in US dollars.

Performance

The Fund’s performance benefited in absolute US dollar terms from its larger positions in Nestlé and Lindt & Spruengli. A few smaller holdings were also helpful for absolute performance: Tecan, VZ Holding, Gategroup, Leonteq and Airopack. With the exception of Nestlé, these stocks also contributed positively to performance compared to the return of the SPI. Additionally, the Fund’s zero weights in Zurich Insurance, LafargeHolcim, ABB and its underweight in UBS contributed positively to relative performance. With respect to the Fund’s larger positions, Nestlé contributed slightly positive on an absolute basis but negatively on a relative one due to the Fund’s underweight position. Sunrise, Basilea, Evolva, Syngenta and Burckhardt Compression were positions that contributed negatively towards relative performance.

Stock selection was positive for the third quarter. Overall there was a positive effect from stock and sector allocation on the Fund’s NAV, resulting in a relative return of 1.2% in US dollars compared to the SPI, before taking into account the impact of Fund expenses, and private equity revaluations.

Private Equity Investments

The value of the Fund’s private equity investments decreased during the reporting period. Approximately half of this decrease stems from the US dollar appreciation against the Swiss franc, as these investments are valued in Swiss francs due to their base of operations. There was a negative revaluation at Kuros, reflecting the terms of capital increases. In addition, there was a slightly negative adjustment to the valuation of the limited partnership Aravis.

Portfolio changes

During the quarter ended September 30, 2015, there were 13 purchases and 10 sales of listed equities on a net basis. As of September 30, 2015, there are 37 listed companies held by the Fund, 6 direct investments in private equity firms and 2 participations held in private equity limited partnerships.

Portfolio changes for the quarter ended September 30, 2015

In the third quarter of 2015, we added two new positions to the Fund: Aryzta and SFS.

We increased the Fund’s positions in several stocks, taking advantage of the high volatility during the quarter to add to Compagnie Financiere Richemont, GAM, Bucher Industries, Feintool, Implenia, DKSH and Logitech. We increased our position in Syngenta after Monsanto announced its withdrawal of the take-over offer for Syngenta, which was primarily thwarted by Syngenta’s board and management, which believed that the valuation offered by Monsanto didn’t reflect Syngenta’s value.

We reduced several positions, notably Credit Suisse, UBS and Actelion. We reduced

both banks after a strong share price performance that in our view doesn’t reflect the risk of higher regulatory capital requirements. With regards to Actelion, BCV, VZ Holding and Lonza, after a good share price performance, we saw limited upside and so we decided to reduce our exposure to these stocks.

During the third quarter, we completely disposed of our positions in EFG International and Leonteq. We decided to sell the remainder of our position in Leonteq after a strong share price reaction following the announcement of new partnerships. We also sold the remainder of our position in EFG International before they released their half year figures as we didn’t see a lot of upside and were cautious that the numbers could disappoint market expectations on growth. Both stocks have declined since.

Outlook

Global economic outlook

As of the end of the third quarter of 2015, we continue to believe that overall global growth in 2015 will be in the 2% to 2.5% range. We are aware, however, that only three months ago we lowered our estimate from slightly above 3%. For the time being, we continue to believe that the increasingly deteriorating growth prospects of developing economies will be partly offset by better performance in the developed world, which should be fueled by favorable interest rates and energy prices. Growth in the emerging economies has disappointed for

some time already and the recent signs of a slowdown in China have further reduced the prospects for growth. It was generally expected that Chinese growth would hover around 7%, but recent actions of the People’s Bank of China indicate to us that growth will be substantially lower. For 2016, global growth could even be slightly lower than in 2015 as the full impact of the slowdown in emerging economies is realized and prospects for growth in the developed world appear limited.

Given the feeble global growth environment, which is highlighted by a sliding momentum in emerging countries and subdued inflationary pressures, we expect the first rate increase in the US to occur some time in the first half of 2016. In the Eurozone, quantitative easing is in full swing and an end is not in sight for the time being. Inflationary pressures in consumer prices appear to be minimal and there is a significant downward pressure on prices due to lower energy prices. On the other hand, inflation is clearly showing up in financial and real estate markets.

Swiss economic outlook

While the Swiss economy’s impressive growth since 2011 appears to have been put on hold during the reporting period, we do not believe that the overall environment has changed. After having fallen at the beginning of the year as a response to the SNB’s decision, earnings estimates for the SPI have recovered and now point towards moderate growth compared to earnings recorded in the

past financial year. That said, aggressive expansionary monetary policy around the globe is a main driver of equity markets, and we believe that earnings, which would normally be a major driver of equity markets, do not play as significant a role in such a liquidity-driven environment.

Investment view

In brief, we continue to view prospects for equity markets with cautious optimism. While the liquidity injected by Central Banks is still significant, other sources of liquidity have decreased in the recent past. Besides the deterioration of economic prospects in the emerging markets, this has also led to increased volatility in the equity market. Given what we believe to be elevated levels of stock prices, we expect volatility to remain

high and further temporary setbacks over the coming quarters cannot be excluded. On the bright side, this offers us—as active, price conscious investors—opportunities to add or increase positions in stocks that have unduly corrected and are still attractive from a long-term perspective. Therefore, as with the last three quarters, our intent is to continue to take advantage of opportunities we see in the current market environment.

Ultimately, we continue to believe that Swiss equities are a good investment, especially in the long term. Many Swiss companies are global leaders in their industry and we believe that Swiss companies will be able to cope successfully with a strong Swiss franc, as they have done over the last several decades.