Unit 6a Reporting Results

1. Unit 6a Reporting Results

2. What information is used to measure the performance of a company? Where can you find this information? • Profit: 利润、收益 • Turnover: 营业额 • Share price: 股价 • Sales volume: 销售量 • Dividend: 股息、红利

3. Listening P83 • Listen to a television report about Budgens, a supermarket chain. Which of the following are mentioned? Did they rise or fall? • Profit • Turnover • share price • sales volume • dividend

4. Suggested answer • Profit went up by 9.8% • The dividend went up now half a penny per share. • The share price was volatile: rising, collapsing, recovering, declining and improving again. (up by 1.3 pence at 67.5). • Turnover and sales volumewere not mentioned.

5. Listen again and answer the questions below. • What is Budgens’ current strategy? Give examples. • How successful is TeleShop Services? • Why did Budgens’ share price rise so quickly? • What helped the share price at the start of this year?

6. Suggested answer • The company is following a strategy of expansion into other areas: petrol and computer-based home shopping (TeleShop Services). • It is not yet very successful: it is only breaking even and is not expected to do much more this year. • Because people thought there would be a takeover. • News of good trading results.

7. Listen again to the second half of the report and complete the graph on P84.

8. Vocabulary Movement: Down • Fall Decline Drop Decrease go down Movement: Up • Rise go up Increase Grow Improve Strong Words (Use Carefully!) • Sink Shoot up Rocket Surge plummet plunge leap slump

9. Adjectives • slightly a little a lot sharply suddenly steeply gradually gently steadily No Movement • remain steady are unchanged do not change remained constant remained stable stabilized level off Tops and Bottoms • reach a peak peak reach their highest level fall to a low sink to a trough reach a bottom Stand at a plateau

10. Adjective + fall Dramatic fall Gradual fall Marketed fall Rapid fall Moderate fall Significant fall Slight fall Sharp fall Sudden fall Adjective + increase Gradual increase Marked increase Remarkable increase Moderate increase Sharp increase Significant increase Slight increase Steady increase Steep increase

11. (  ) fluctuations (  ) to reach a peak (  ) a sharp recovery (  ) a gradual fall (  ) to slump (  ) trough (  ) erratic movements (  ) a gradual rise (  ) to level off (  ) a dramatic fall (  ) a plateau (  ) to take a plunge (  ) a steady increase (  ) to leap upwards (  ) a decline

12. The research and development budget has stabilized over the fast few years. The level of investment rose suddenly. At the end of the first year sales stood at 50 percent of the present level. The sudden collapse in share prices has surprised everyone. There has been a steady increase in costs over several years.

13. The share price reached a peak before falling a little and then maintaining the same level. Sales of product a fell slightly in the final quarter. The value of the shares has shown a steady decline. The research and development budget has stabilized over the fast few years. At the end of the first year sales stood at 50 percent of the present level. The sudden collapse in share prices has surprised everyone.

14. a. The share price reached a peak before falling a little and then maintaining the same level. b. Sales of product a fell slightly in the final quarter. c. The value of the shares has shown a steady decline. d. The research and development budget has stabilized over the fast few years. e. The level of investment rose suddenly. f. At the end of the first year sales stood at 50 percent of the present level. g. The sudden collapse in share prices has surprised everyone. h. There has been a steady increase in costs over several years.

16. The graph shows the numbers of tourists in hundreds of thousands visiting Dubai between 1990 and 1994. There are several features in the graph. • First of all, the total number of tourists increased rapidly between 1990 and 1994. In 1990 there was a total of 450,000 tourists in Dubai. This rose sharply to 625,000 in 1991, an increase of more than 30%, and rose slightly again to just under 700,000 in 1992. In the following two years, the number of visitors started to pick up again and reached 1 million in 1994. This was more than double the figure for 1990.

17. The second trend is that there was a huge increase in the number of tourists from Russia. In 1990, Russian tourists comprisedonly 20,000 or less than 5% of visitors. This number shot up to 50,000 in 1991 and doubled again to more than 100,000 in 1992. Between 1992 and 1994, the number trebled, from 110,000 to 330,000. This meant that Russian tourists made up one-third, or 33%, of Dubai’s 1 million visitors in 1994. In comparison, the number of tourists from other countries increased only slightly, from 550,000 in 1991 to 580,000 in 1994. • In conclusion, although the number of tourists from all countries is increasing, Russian tourists are becoming more and more important for the tourism industry in Dubai.

18. Annual reports • Look at the following extracts from the Chairman’s Statement in four annual reports. Which extract does each sentence below refer to?

19. Vocabulary • Balance 抵消，补偿 • Resource efficiency program 节能项目 • Disposal 出售，转让 • exceptional item 例外项目 • Operating margin 营业利润 • Restructuring program 重组项目 • Acquisition 收购 • Streamline使合理化，使有效率;使简化 • Logic 道理;理由

20. Which company has the best results? Which has the worst? • The company with the best results is C. Company B made steady progress only. Companies A and D both had disappointing years. A seems to have the worst results. Because D was able to spend $4.8bn on an acquisition, we assume profits were still reasonable.

21. A: Strike action … led to losses (resulted in/ caused) • C: Operating margins increased as a result of … (due to/ owing to) • D: Trading profit fell … due to … (as a result of/ owing to)

22. Speaking • Work in pairs. Your company has a large cash surplus and wants to invest in shares. Look at the information about Ramsden Breweries plc and Bute Chemicals plc. Which company would you invest in？ • Brewery: 啤酒厂，酿酒厂

23. Earnings per share = profit after tax number of ordinary shares in issue

24. Writing P86

25. Suggested answer Ramsden Breweries and Bute Chemicals: Investment Potential • Introduction This report aims to assess which company, either Ramsden Breweries or Bute Chemicals, this company should invest in. • Ramsden The company had mixed results last year; although turnover increased by approximately 25%, net profit rose by less than 4%. However, restructuring may be able to elimintate these inefficiencies and expected growth in the drinks industry suggests opportunities for increased profits.

26. Bute Results were disppointing, with turnover and profit both falling slightly. Nevertheless, the company managed to increase its dividend to shareholders. The rumoured merger seems likely to push up the share price considerably. • Conclusion Despite the merger rumors, any investment in Bute Chemicals would involve a risk. Ramsden, on the other hand, despite its present inefficiency, is still profitable and has definite potential for further growth. • Recommendation We would recommend investment in Ramsden Breweries.