Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Catherine Of Sienna And Dante - 1486 Words

Melissa Rice Catherine of Sienna and Dante Catherine of Sienna and Dante Alighieri interacted very differently in each of their spiritual and medieval Christian societies, but they had three things in common. They were both Christian, writers, and they both lived and endured the Middle Ages, which were roughly between 5th and 15th century. This was the era between the Fall of Rome and the Renaissance. This was a dark time, and was perfectly referred to as the Dark Ages. One might wonder why it was referred to in this way. There are two main reasons why it was called this. One was the bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death. The majority of the extremity was during the 1340s. Approximately two million people in Europe dropped dead†¦show more content†¦At this time the clergy of the church became more powerful than the royals. Having a religious leader rule sounds like a positive thing to most people of faith. The problem was one did not necessarily have to be a devout Christian to be a head of the church. One di d not even have to be a theologian. Some people just became church leaders for the easy lifestyle that included a great salary and house. All of the money came from the citizens having to pay tithes, those were around ten percent of their earnings. They took advantage of their power and did not bring glory to God with it. Dante despised the church for this corruption. Most of his bitterness for the church though came from his disagreements with the church leaders. He made many enemies throughout his life from his opinions. The Divine Comedy was a way for him to send them all to Hell, figuratively. Dante knows a lot of people, and likes to talk with the politicians and clergy while he was down in Hell. One of the people in the poem that was mentioned was Pope Nicholas III who confessed to Dante that he tried to buy himself into Heaven. He hates himself for it and is full of grief but he mentioned that there are so many worse people on Earth who have a more horrible fate. Dante does n ot have any sympathy towards Nicholas. He believes that his punishment fits the crime. Then Dante breaks and tells his negative

Monday, December 23, 2019

The Mind s Eye By Leslie Bell - 1463 Words

Every human has their own limits. There comes a point where your body can’t physically or mentally overcome some obstacles; but that’s okay. Limitations that can be viewed as hindrances to some, while other’s view their adversities as challenges that will not only strengthen them as a person but allow them to mature through their obstacles. In Leslie Bell’s â€Å"Hard to Get: Twenty-something Women and the Paradox of Sexual Freedom†, Bell coins the term â€Å"splitting† in her writing as a way of thinking that can limit people when it comes to opportunities in their careers as well as relationships. In â€Å"Selections from Love 2.0: How Our Supreme Emotion Affects Everything We Feel, Think, Do, and Become†, Barbara Fredrickson focusses on the†¦show more content†¦With the constant push for conforming into what society deems as acceptable, it is no surprise how much of an impact society plays on limiting the perception of what one’s sexual relationship should be. Society manipulates women into behaving in a certain manner in order to fit into this ideal mold of how women should be. Yet only to a certain point, â€Å"Be assertive, but not aggressive. Be feminine, but not too passive. Be sexually adventurous, but don’t alienate men with your sexual prowess.† (Bell 26) Due to all of the conditions, which limit women, it is no wonder how many young women feel â€Å"weighed down by vying cultural notions about the kind of sex and relationships they should be having.† (Bell 26) Although these limitations proposed by society can cause personal battles between oneself, it is possible to change one’s perception of how one should act regarding their own sexuality. Bell points out that by using â€Å"strategies of desire of the Relational Woman†, (Bell 30) this will assist woman in navigating through their sexual and romantic lives. It is normal for women to feel a desire for relationships and it is inevitable that conflict will arise. If women are able to develop and fully accepting their desires, despite the limitations from society, this will to lead women to building lives that are filled with self-acceptance. Another way to push yourself from the limitations proposed by society, is to look at love in

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Financial Analysis of I.T Ltd. Free Essays

Company background I. T Limited (0999. HK) is an investment holding company based in Hong Kong. We will write a custom essay sample on Financial Analysis of I.T Ltd. or any similar topic only for you Order Now It was listed on the main board of The Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 4-March-2005. The company offers a wide range of apparel products. It sells its products as well as offers a variety of national and international brands through its network of retail stores. As of February 28, 2011, it operated 392 stores in Hong Kong and Mainland China. Objective To undertake a comprehensive analysis on the financial performance of I. T. Limited. Detailed financial ratio analysis will be performed. An estimation of the firm’s cost of equity capital and weighted average cost of capital will also be provided. Horizon of analysis We will focus on its performance in the latest 5 fiscal years. A) Detail financial analysis The financial analysis will be conducted in two ways. First, the major accounts on financial statements will be inspected in order to derive a general picture on the healthiness of the business. Second, PERL (Performance, Efficiency, Risk, Liquidity) framework will be used to further analyze the financial performance of the company. I. Going through the financial statements We can get a glimpse of the healthiness of the business by looking into the trend of accounting items in income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement respectively. Consolidated income statement (Referring to appendix A – table 1 and 2) 2008/09 was a special year, financial tsunami happened. Therefore there was a huge profitability impact in that year, resulting in a large decrease in operating profit. And since the market recovered in 2009/2010, the profitability suddenly increased a lot in that fiscal year. Other than these wo special years, the overall growth trend in sales turnover, costs, and profit is healthy. (Referring to appendix A – table 3) Standardizing the income statement can extract extra information. All the accounts are expressed as a percentage of turnover. The company has done a good job in cost controlling, since the cost of sales as a percentage of turnover is in a decreasing trend, hence the gross pr ofit margin is in an increasing trend. On the other hand operating expenses fluctuates at about 50-51% of turnover, but since cost of sales has a greater decrease, the net effect is operating profit is in an increasing trend. Consolidated balance sheet (Referring to appendix A – table 4) In general, total assets experience an increasing trend. This is reasonable since the business is at a growing stage. One notable point is the growth of non-current assets look greater than current assets, especially property, furniture and equipment has a very significant increase in 2010/11, this is probably due to the rapid expansion of retails stores in Hong Kong and China. And as a result, there is a significant increase in inventories in 2010/11 too. (Referring to appendix A – table 5) Similar conclusions can be drawn by viewing the same accounts in a standardized balance sheet (all items are standardized by total asset value in the fiscal year). Property, furniture and equipment, and inventories make up most of the total assets. (Referring to appendix A – table 6) Liabilities also grow a lot with total assets as the business expands. Notably there is a significant increase in both short-term and long term bank borrowings. In addition the payable accounts also increased more than 100%, meaning that the company bought stocks or services from suppliers on credit more than before. This growth of liabilities is fine as long as the company can generate consistent operating cash flows, as we will see in the next section. (Referring to appendix A – table 7) Similar conclusions can be drawn at standardized balance sheet, bank borrowings and payables increased significantly, especially for longer term bank borrowings. (Referring to appendix A – table 8) The growth of the business was mainly funded by growing liabilities, as we can see that the growth of equity is not so significant, the company has not issued new shares to get funding. The company has simply retained some of the profit in each year into reserves. Consolidated cash flow statement (Referring to appendix A – table 9) The company has improved its cash flow generation as its business grew. The profitability of the company increased, and so as the cash generated from operation. And since the company has increased in size, it has increased its ability to finance from banks, therefore it also increased its cash generated from financing activities. Although the company has increased investment in fixed assets and hence the cash outflow from investment, this is offset by the increase in cash flow from operation and financing. II. PERL (Performance, Efficiency, Risk, Liquidity) analysis (Referring to appendix B and C) 1) Performance Profit margins (Gross, operating, net) Gross profit margin keeps increasing. The latest figure is 63. 35%, which is a very high margin. This is probably due to the increased brand image of the company, hence the company can increase the selling price of the products. Also, the company shifted the focus on selling products of its own brands more than imported brands, this also increased the gross profit margin. Both operating and net profit margin are also in an increasing trend (despite year 2008/09, a special year which financial crisis happened). But it is worth noting that the current margins are 12. 08% and 10. 12% respectively, which show a great difference from gross profit margin. This indicate the operating expenses are very high, eating up more than 50% of profit margin. The company should think ways to further reduce operating costs. Return on Equity (ROE) The company has increased its ROE along the years despite the special year 2008/09. The latest ROE is actually a high return, 21. 6%. So what are the main drivers of such high return? By utilizing DuPont analysis, the reason for return growth can be found: ROE = Net Profit Margin x Asset Turnover x Financial Leverage The net profit margin is increasing throughout the years. At the same time, since the financing ability of the company has increased, the financial leverage also increased. These two factors drove the ROE up, offse tting the diminishing effect on ROE by asset turnover. The asset turnover actually decreased in last two fiscal years, indicating the efficiency of turning asset to revenue decreased. It is a bit worry to see the ratio decreased from 1. 6 to 1. 17 in these 2 years. It may indicate that the asset size of the firm is too large, further expansion may not bring further increase in revenue. This may be an indicator of the firm has passed its optimum point and management must take extra care in evaluating whether the company should invest in expanding more retail stores or not. Extended DuPont analysis breaks down net profit margin into tax burden, interest burden, and EBIT margin. Tax burden of the company is actually increasing, i. e. it has to pay more effective tax hence impacting the net profit margin. But it’s still fine as the effective tax rate is still at about 20%, which should be quite low when compared to effective tax rate outside Hong Kong and China. Interest burden also experiences an increasing trend. This is reasonable since the company has increased financing ability and financed through more bank loans. EBIT margin is increasing, offsetting the negative effect of tax burden and interest burden. 2) Efficiency Fixed asset Fixed asset turnover is in a decreasing trend (from 16. 08 to 7. 98 in last five years). This indicates the efficiency of generating sales revenue from fixed assets investment is lowering. This confirms with the decreasing asset turnover ratio mentioned above. However the ratio is still at a high level, the management should still invest in fixed asset and expand the business, but extra care should be taken to determine the amount and scale to be invested. Inventory Inventory turnover is decreasing (from 3. 72 to 2. 48 in last five years). This indicates that in general, the speed of stocks selling has slowed down as the business expands. When this ratio is converted to days of inventory on hand, the meaning can even be clearer. The days increased from about 98 days to 147 days in these 5 years. Overstocking, importing or producing products which are not popular, or insufficient marketing efforts are all possible reasons to this decreasing efficiency. Receivables Receivables turnover is decreasing. To get a clearer meaning, the ratio is converted to days of sales outstanding, and this ratio is increasing (from 1. 97 to 11. 49). This ratio means on average how many days the company’s customers who buy on credit will pay their bills. This increasing ratio means that it takes more time to collect the bill from customers, meaning that capital has to be tied up for longer period. However the number actually is not large, it’s about 12 days and therefore an acceptable value. Payables Payables turnover decreased from 11. 14 to 5. 51. The ratio can be converted to number of days of payable. This ratio increased from 32. 76 to 66. 23. This ratio is the average amount of time it takes to pay its bills. The time has increased significantly. It showed the advantage of the growth of the company, i. e. when the company went listed and expanded, the ability to pay on credit increased. This increased time to pay bills increases the flexibility to manage working capital and hence benefits the operation of the company. Working capital The effectiveness of the company in using working capital has increased since the working capital turnover increased from 2. 72 to 4. 46 in last five years. This means that more sales revenue is generated for each dollar of working capital which funded the sales. This is probably due to increased size of the company, so that the company can get more funding by short-term bank loans, and increase its payables to different creditors. These increased funding are used to purchase inventories to generate sales revenue. 3) Risk Gearing All debt-to-equity, debt-to-asset and financial leverage ratios are in an increasing trend. As the company grows, more funding is needed. Financing by debt issuance is better than equity issuance since the required return by debt is lower, and there is possible tax advantage on debt payment. These three ratios are still in a healthy range and further increase in the ratio is still possible. Debt-to-common equity ratio is 0. 32 and debt-to-asset ratio is 0. 18, these two numbers are fairly low. This indicates that the company has a considerable capacity in debt financing if needed. Coverage Interest coverage ratio maintains at a high level (159. at 2010/11), although the company has increased financing by bank loans. That means the operating profit is more than enough to cover the interest expense and indicate that the business is healthy. Cash flow coverage ratio is also at adequate level despite it has fallen a bit (50. 54 at 2010/11). This is also a healthy signal because net cash flow is positive and adequate. 4) Liquidity Cash conversion cycle Cash conversion cycle is t he days the company takes to convert its investment in inventories back into cash. The company has an increased cash conversion cycle, due to the increase in days on inventory on hand. This is still an acceptable length (92. 15 days), but the company should try to lower the days in inventory on hand as mentioned above. Current and acid test ratio Both current and acid test ratio are decreasing, but they are still at a healthy level. Current ratio is at 1. 85, meaning the current assets are 1. 85 times of current liabilities, which is sufficient for its short-term obligations. Acid test ratio is 1. 12, meaning the cash-like current assets are 1. 12 times of current liabilities, indicating that it is sufficient to cover its short-term liabilities by short-term cash. Operating cash flow to maturing obligations This is also a measure of the company’s ability to meet short term liabilities from cash flow. Although the overall cash flow has improved, the current liabilities has also increased considerably, therefore this ratio is not at a high level (0. 44). The major cash outflow is from purchasing fixed assets and repayment of bank loans. Management should control the cash outflow in these two areas in order to improve the overall liquidity. III. Summary The company has a healthy business. It has an increasing net profit and positive cash flow. The ROE and profit margin are at good levels. It utilized bank loans to further expand its business, while the leverage ratios are still in a healthy range. There is no liquidity problem associated with the company as seen in liquidity ratios. However the management should focus on improving the efficiency of the company while expanding the business. The major concern here is reducing days of inventory on hand, in order to reduce the length of cash conversion cycle. To sum up, this is a company with good financial performance, and therefore it is worth to invest in this company. B) Cost of equity capital Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) is used to determine the cost of equity capital. There are three major inputs in CAPM equation: risk-free rate, beta of the company stock to a benchmark market, and equity risk premium of the benchmark market. Since I. T. Limited is a Hong Kong based company, therefore the input parameters mentioned above should come from Hong Kong. Risk-free rate Hong Kong government do not issue bill or bond (despite the newly launched ibond, but that is a floating rate bond which its purpose is for general public to protect inflation). Therefore risk-free rate should be the yield on Exchange Fund Bills issued by Hong Kong Monetary Authority. Risk-free rate should be the yield on short-term bill, therefore the yield on one-month bill is selected, which is 0. 05%. Stock beta Hang Seng Index (HSI) is the benchmark index in Hong Kong. 5 years of monthly return stock of I. T. Limited and HSI were obtained. Stock Beta of I. T. to HSI can be calculated by using Slope function of Excel, or regressing both return series. The estimated beta is 1. 399, meaning that the stock of I. T. Limited is more volatile than the index. R2 coefficient is 0. 2261, meaning that about 22. 61% of the variability of the stock returns can be explained by variability in the index. Equity risk premium According to Zhu Zhu (2010), the equity risk premium of Hong Kong is 8. 19%. Applying CAPM: Cost of equity capital = (0. 05 + 1. 399*8. 19)% = 11. 51%. C) Weighted average cost of capital (WACC) The company has not issued any debt. The â€Å"debt† of the company is in the form of bank borrowings, so the effective interest rate of borrowing will be treated as cost of debt. In the latest annual report, the effective interest rate is 1. 4% (from notes 23 of annual report). Total bank borrowings is HKD594. 145M, total equity is HKD1846. 961M, therefore: WACC = 594. 145 / (594. 145 + 1846. 961)*1. 4% + 1846. 961 / (594. 145 + 1846. 961)*11. 51% = 9. 049% References: Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Exchange Fund Bills and Notes fixing (http://www. info. gov. hk/hkma/eng/press/index_efbn. htm) Zhu Zhu (2010) – Estimating the Equity Risk Premium: the Case of Greater China, Jie Zhu, Xiaoneng Zhu (http://citeseerx. ist. psu. edu/viewdoc/download? doi=10. . 1. 175. 7333rep=rep1type=pdf) Appendix A – Selected figures from financial statements Table 1 – Excerpt from summarized consolidated income statement 201120102009200820072006 HK$’000HK$’000HK$’000HK$’000HK$’000HK$’000 Turnover3,834,422 2,995,952 2,733,256 2,021,283 1,530,763 1,314,443 Cost of sales(1,405,482)(1,176,707)(1,121,570)(819,423)(640,442) (540,243) Gross profit2,428,940 1,819,245 1,611,686 1,201,860 890,321 774,200 Other income – incentive income0 13,200 0 0 Other (loss)/gain(7,544)3,791 (11,123)1,900 (4,395)(273) Impariment of goodwill0 (4,217)(59,569)0 Operating expenses(1,958,255)(1,524,760)(1,468,877)(1,002,046)(749,898)(642,553) Operating profit463,141 307,259 72,117 201,714 136,028 131,374 Table 2 – Growth trend of turnover, costs and profit, calculated based on consolidated income statement 20112010200920082007 Increase/Decrease (%) Turnover27. 99%9. 61%35. 22%32. 04%16. 46% Cost of sales19. 44%4. 92%36. 87%27. 95%18. 55% Gross profit33. 51%12. 88%34. 10%34. 99%15. 00% Operating expenses28. 43%3. 80%46. 59%33. 62%16. 71% Operating profit50. 73%326. 06%-64. 25%48. 29%3. 54% Table 3 – Excerpt from summarized and standardized consolidated income statement 01120102009200820072006 Turnover100. 00%100. 00%100. 00%100. 00%100. 00%100. 00% Cost of sales-36. 65%-39. 28%-41. 03%-40. 54%-41. 84%-41. 10% Gross profit63. 35%60. 72%58. 97%59. 46%58. 16%58. 90% Other income – incentive income0. 00%0. 44%0. 00%0. 00%0. 00%0. 00% Other (loss)/gain-0. 20%0. 13%-0. 41%0. 09%-0. 29%-0. 02% Impairment of goodwill0. 00%-0. 14%- 2. 18%0. 00%0. 00%0. 00% Operating expenses-51. 07%-50. 89%-53. 74%-49. 57%-48. 99%-48. 88% Operating profit12. 08%10. 26%2. 64%9. 98%8. 89%9. 99% Table 4 – Excerpt from summarized consolidated balance sheet 20112010200920082007 HK$’000HK$’000HK$’000HK$’000HK$’000 ASSETS Non-current assets Property, furniture and equipment727,022 233,395 229,124 179,850 93,191 Current assets Inventories736,717 394,520 411,145 323,724 196,299 Table 5 – Excerpt from summarized and standardized consolidated balance sheet 20112010200920082007 ASSETS Non-current assets Property, furniture and equipment22. 13%11. 83%13. 44%11. 59%9. 38% Current assets Inventories22. 42%20. 00%24. 12%20. 85%19. 77% Table 6 – Excerpt from summarized consolidated balance sheet 20112010200920082007 LIABILITIES Current liabilities Bank borrowings(214,911)(47,400)(47,400)(10,000)0 Trade and bill payables(360,545)(149,488)(155,993)(121,840)(66,805) Accruals and other payables(349,524)(178,245)(135,677)(140,200)(71,648) Non-current liabilities Bank borrowings(379,234)(35,200)(82,600)0 0 Table 7 – Excerpt from summarized and standardized consolidated balance sheet 20112010200920082007 LIABILITIES Current liabilities Bank borrowings-6. 54%-2. 40%-2. 78%-0. 64%0. 00% Trade and bill payables-10. 97%-7. 58%-9. 15%-7. 85%-6. 73% Accruals and other payables-10. 64%-9. 04%-7. 96%-9. 03%-7. 21% Non-current liabilities Bank borrowings-11. 54%-1. 78%-4. 85%0. 00%0. 00% Table 8 – Excerpt from summarized consolidated balance sheet 20112010200920082007 EQUITY Capital and reserves Share capital119,725 115,504 115,504 115,468 103,950 Reserves1,727,236 1,362,219 1,096,205 1,105,369 722,803 Non-controlling interests(3,749)0 0 0 0 Total equity1,843,212 1,477,723 1,211,709 1,220,837 826,753 Table 9 – Excerpt from summarized consolidated cash flow statements 20112010200920082007 HK$’000HK$’000HK$’000HK$’000HK$’000 Net cash generated from operating activities450,446 366,025 135,589 243,939 91,589 Net cash used in investing activities(508,347)(137,011)(156,242)(110,300)(101,843) Net cash generated from/ used in) financing activities204,453 (47,400)22,668 (76,497)(49,807) Net increase in cash and cash equivalents146,552 181,614 2,015 57,142 (60,061) Appendix B – Ratio formula Performance Profit margins Gross profit margin = Gross Profit / Turnover Operating profit margin = Operating Profit / Turnover Net p rofit margin = Net Profit for the year / turnover Return ratio Return of equity (ROE) = Net Profit for the year / Averageyear, year-1 (Share capital + Reserves) Decomposition of ROE ROA = Net Profit for the year / Averageyear, year-1 (Total Assets) ROE = ROA x Financial Leverage DuPont Decomposition of ROE Asset turnover = Turnover / Averageyear, year-1 (Total Assets) Financial leverage = Averageyear, year-1 (Total Assets) / Averageyear, year-1 (Share capital + Reserves) ROE = Net profit margin x Asset turnover x Financial leverage Extended DuPont Decomposition of ROE Tax burden = Net profit for the year / Profit before income tax Interest burden = Profit before income tax / (Operating Profit + Share of profit of jointly controlled entities) EBIT margin = (Operating Profit + Share of profit of jointly controlled entities) / Turnover ROE = Tax burden x Interest burden x EBIT margin x Asset turnover x Financial leverage Efficiency Fixed asset turnover = Turnover / Averageyear, year-1 (Property, furniture and equipment) Inventory turnover = Turnover / Averageyear, year-1 (Inventories) Days of inventory on hand = 365 / Inventory turnover Receivables turnover = Turnover / Averageyear, year-1 (Trade and other receivables) Days of sales outstanding = 365 / Receivables turnover Payables turnover = Cost of sales / Averageyear, year-1 (Trade and bill payables) Number of days of payable = 365 / Payables turnover Working capital turnover = Turnover / Averageyear, year-1 (Net current assets) Risk Debt-to-common equity ratio = (Short term + Long term bank borrowings) / (Share capital + Reserves) Debt-to-asset ratio = (Short term + Long term bank borrowings) / Total assets Financial leverage = Averageyear, year-1 (Total Assets) / Averageyear, year-1 (Share capital + Reserves) Interest coverage ratio = Operating profit / Interest expense Cash flow coverage ratio = Net increase in cash / Interest expense Liquidity Cash conversion cycle = Days of sales outstanding + Days of inventory on hand – Number of days of payable Current ratio = Current assets / Current liabilities Acid test ratio = (Current assets – Inventories) / Current liabilities Operating cash flow to maturing obligations = Operating cash flow / Current liabilities Appendix C – Calculated ratios 20112010200920082007 Performance Profit margins Gross profit margin63. 35%60. 72%58. 97%59. 46%58. 16% Operating profit margin12. 08%10. 26%2. 64%9. 98%8. 89% Net profit margin10. 12%8. 77%1. 56%8. 46%8. 0% Return ratios ROE23. 35%19. 53%3. 50%16. 70%15. 55% Decompsition of ROE ROA14. 76%14. 29%2. 61%13. 43%13. 05% ROA*Financial Leverage = ROE23. 35%19. 53%3. 50%16. 70%15. 55% DuPont decompistion of ROE Asset turnover1. 46 1. 63 1. 68 1. 59 1. 63 Financial Leverage1. 58 1. 37 1. 34 1. 24 1. 19 Net profit margin*Asset turnover*Financial Leverage = ROE23. 35%19. 53%3. 50%16. 70%15. 55% Extended DuPont decomposition of ROE Tax burden80. 65%83. 29%53. 97%81. 23%82. 63% Interest burden100. 46%100. 86%103. 66%106. 90%112. 12% EBIT Margin12. 49%10. 44%2. 8%9. 74%8. 63% Tax burden*Interest burden*EBIT Margin*Asset turnover*Financial Leverage = ROE23. 35%19. 53%3. 50%16. 70%15. 55% Efficiency Fixed asset turnover7. 98 12. 95 13. 37 14. 81 16. 08 Inventory turnover2. 48 2. 92 3. 05 3. 15 3. 72 Days of inventory on hand146. 89 124. 95 119. 58 115. 82 98. 19 Receivables turnover31. 76 31. 98 51. 12 81. 59 185. 10 Days of sales outstanding11. 49 11. 41 7. 14 4. 47 1. 97 Payables turnover5. 51 7. 70 8. 07 8. 69 11. 14 Number of days of payable66. 23 47. 38 45. 21 42. 01 32. 76 Working capital turnover4. 6 3. 91 4. 24 3. 39 2. 72 Risk Debt-to-common equity ratio0. 32 0. 06 0. 11 0. 01 0. 00 Debt-to-asset ratio0. 18 0. 04 0. 08 0. 01 0. 00 Financial Leverage1. 58 1. 37 1. 34 1. 24 1. 19 Interest coverage ratio159. 70 119. 70 29. 64 646. 52 45342. 67 Cash flow coverage ratio50. 54 70. 75 0. 83 183. 15 (20020. 33) L iquidity Cash conversion cycle92. 15 88. 99 81. 51 78. 28 67. 40 Current ratio1. 85 3. 00 2. 80 2. 93 4. 66 Acid test ratio1. 12 2. 08 1. 70 1. 91 3. 42 Operating cash flow to maturing obligations0. 44 0. 85 0. 36 0. 77 0. 58 How to cite Financial Analysis of I.T Ltd., Essay examples

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Low-interest Rates on British Economy

Question: Discuss the impact of low-interest rates on british economy by using microeconomic and macroeconomic theory. Answer: Introduction The interest rates in the British economy are determined by the Central Bank of England. The Central bank of England is a national regulatory body that holds controls on both fiscal and monetary policies in the Britain. The economic system of a country is composed of both microeconomic and macroeconomic subsystems. The microeconomic theory is related to the economic conditions of an individual industry/household/customer. While, the macroeconomic theory is concerned with the state of the economy as a whole in the country. The macroeconomic theory covers major economic issues, such as currency value, inflation rates, GDP, economic development, infrastructure development, unemployment, income level, outputs, and occupation in the nation (Dransfield, 2013). This report discusses and analyses the impact of the interest rates on the British Economy by using the microeconomic and macroeconomic theories. As a result of low-interest rates by the Central Bank of England, the local and foreign investors are making a huge investment in the science, research, education, technology, training, and employment. The low-interest rates lead to fall in the commercial rates in the form of the relatively lower value of the British Pound, low borrowing costs, and low mortgage interest rates. The low-interest rates will create benefits to both customers and investors in the form of more consumption and high investments. The low-interest rates will result in a sharp rise in the purchasing power of the customers (Beer, 2013). Impact of Low-interest rates on British Economy by Using Microeconomic and Macroeconomic Theory Interest rates are the rates of interests paid by the borrowers or debtors for using the money borrowed from the lenders or commercial banks. It is a percentage of the principal amount paid on the payment of loans or credits for a certain period of time. The interest rates have affected the British economy to the great extent. It has contributed to the national economic development and growth that has allowed the foreign investors to invest hugely by running their business operations in the country (Golin and Delhaise, 2013). The Central Bank of England has continued with its economic policy with the low-interest rates over the last seven years to promote the investment, consumption, employment, and economic development. There are several reasons for keeping the low-interest rates by the Central Bank of England. Firstly, It will lead to better infrastructure development, high economies of scale, high purchasing power, more employment, and high demands. It will create a lot of employment opportunities for both fresh and experienced employees. Secondly, as a result of low interests by the Central Bank of England, the costs of borrowings have decreased that encourages the people to make more investments and savings because of low principal payment on credits and loans. The low-interest rates create more value to the national currency (Pound) that assists in the national economic development and high GDP because of lower funds paid by the local industries for the import of the raw material, goods, and service s from other countries (Giudice, Kuenzel, and Springbett, 2012). It also attracts the foreign investors to make huge investments in the business because of the favorable economic policies. The low-interest rates have decreased the prices of the government debt interest payments that will lead to fall in the tax rates in the future which will keep all investors or industrial sectors satisfied. The low-interest rates have reduced the prices of the goods and services that exceeds the demands than supply. The low-interest rates have also encouraged the increased industrial activity and growing demand for the goods and services. It has also promoted the import and export of the goods and services with other countries. As a result of the low-interest rates, the local companies will have to pay the lower costs for purchasing the raw materials, goods, and services from other countries. Similarly, it will also assist in the export of the goods and services to the foreign customers at low costs. The low-interest rates will create more earnings to the industrial sectors by promoting the industrial activity. The low-interest rates will increase the industrial productivity by reduc ing the cost of production because the low-interest rates and inflation will keep the prices of oil lower that will lead to low transportation cost (Piana, 2002). The lower interest rates will also provide the industries a framework to recruit the highly talented and experienced workforce at lower rates. The microeconomic theory studies the economic behavior of an individual firm, household, industry or consumer. It covers several issues, such as demand, supply, cost, production, production efficiency, market structures, pricing, distribution, profit maximization and resource strength of an individual firm. According to a microeconomic theory which is known asTime Preference theory of Interest, the rate of time preference determines the rate of interests and the interest rates determine the consumer behaviors. This theory explains the concept of interest rates through the demand for accelerated satisfaction (Simon, 2015). This theory attempts to explain the interest rates with the equation of comparing the perceived value of expected future returns with the interest rates on the savings by the customers. This theory explains, if the interest rates increase, the demand pattern for the goods and services from the customers decreases because of the additional amount to compensate the consumers for foregoing current consumption. In contrary to this, if interest rates reduce, the consumerism or customers demand increase. The time preference amount of money is expressed as a proportion of consumers current income that will compensate them for the forgoing consumption. The interest rates decide the consumers buying behaviors and consumption (Cable, 2010). According to this theory, if the future income is expected to be higher than current income of the customers, then there will be high time rate of preferences that will induce the customers more savings than spending. On the other hand, the macroeconomic theory studies the economic behaviors at a whole including all industries, customers, and households. It covers unemployment, demand and supply, production, cost, profits, labors, pricing, and distribution of all industries and customers in the aggregate. The Keynesian theory explains the macroeconomic system. According to Keynesian theory, the interest rates are determined by the demand and supply pattern. According to this theory, the high-interest rates will lead to lower the profitability of investment. There is an inverse relationship between the investment and the rate of interest. The low-interest rates will encourage the firms to borrow and invest hugely. The planned investment spending increases with a fall in the rates of interest. Savings also depend on the interest rates as savings are directly related to the interest rates. The people make more savings with a rise in the interest rates (Hall and Atkinson, 2016). The interest rates als o have an inverse relationship with the income of the people. The higher interest rates, lower the income of the people. So, Keynesian Model determines the impact of interest rates on the income, saving, investment and demand and supply pattern. It is expected from the Central Bank of England to keep the interest rates static or lower in the future in order to promote the entrepreneurship and industrial activity. The low-interest rates through the cash-flow channel will encourage the higher spendings in aggregate. The reduction in the interest rates will make savings less attractive and borrowings more attractive. If the Central bank of England continues its monetary policy with the lower interest rates, the growing demand pattern for the gross domestic products will be increased. The central Bank of England is expected to keep the interest rates lower to encourage the economic growth, full employment, and price stability (Hodder Education, 2015). It will reduce the unemployment rates by creating a lot of employment opportunities for the local and outside employees. As a result of the low-interest rates, the international trade will be promoted and enhanced because of exchange of the goods and services in the great quantitie s between the countries. It will also enhance the customer spending on the goods and services. It is expected that the Central Bank of England will not increase the interest rates untill 2018 that will be a good news for both investors and customers. The low-interest rates will raise the supply of the money and demand for the goods. It is expected from the Central bank of England to keep the interest rates lower or static for the next 4-5 years to boost the international trade and push the global demands higher. The low-interest rates will boost the prices of the assets as well as high shares prices and housing. The high share prices will maximize the wealth as well as living standards of the people. Conclusion In the conclusive statement, it is identified that both microeconomic and macroeconomic theories provided a detailed analysis of the impact of the low-interest rates on the British Economy. The Central Bank of England will be expected to continue its monetary policy with the low-interest rates for the national economic development. The low-interest rates will create a lot of new business opportunities for the local and foreign investors. The low-interest rates will also create more value to the national currency of the Britain. The Low rates of interest will attract the investors to invest hugely in the research, development, technology, training, and education so that new employment opportunities could be created. The low-interest rates will also promote the consumerism by increasing the purchasing power of the customers. So, the low-interest rates will continue to be the national economy stronger in the future and will add value to the national currency in comparison to other curre ncies. References Beer, M. (2013) Early British Economics from the XIIIth to the middle of the XVIIIth century. UK: Routledge. Cable, V. (2010) The Storm: The World Economic Crisis and What It Means. Britain: Atlantic Books Ltd. Dransfield, R. (2013) Business Economics. UK: Routledge. Giudice, G., Kuenzel, R., and Springbett, T. (2012) The UK Economy: The Crisis in Perspective. Great Britain: Routledge. Golin, J., and Delhaise, P. (2013) The Bank Credit Analysis Handbook: A Guide for Analysts, Bankers and Investors. USA: John Wiley Sons. Hall, S. and Atkinson, F. (2016) Oil and the British Economy. UK: Routledge. Hodder Education (2015) Edexcel Economics A Student Guide: Theme 2 The UK economy - performance and policies. UK: Hachette Publication. Piana, V. (2002) Interest Rates: A Key Concept in Economics [Online]. 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