Reference no: EM133293388 , Length: word count:1500

Assignment - Financial Statement Analysis

Assignment Task

Background:
This assignment is based on a company listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). Its purpose is to investigate the extent to which the organisation is successful in achieving its corporate objectives through its business model and strategy. This will be achieved through a financial analysis of its results.

You will need to select a company that interests you among the three proposed by the Module Team. The names of the companies that can be selected will be provided during the term.

Task:
Compile a report covering the following areas:

• Key activities and brief description of its business model (strategy).
• An evaluation of its profitability from a management perspective (profitability measures).
• An evaluation of its financial position from both a short-term (liquidity) and long-term (gearing) perspective.
• An evaluation of its cash flow, including a brief comparison between cash flow (CFPS) and profit (EPS).
• An evaluation of its performance from an equity investor perspective (investment measures).
• A concluding summary that briefly evaluates the overall performance and position of the business, against its stated strategic objectives.

Guidance notes:

• Your reference source will be the Annual report and accounts of your chosen company which will be placed on Moodle by the Module Team. Please use the pdf files you can find on Moodle as these may have been annotated by your lecturers.
• You must show all calculations and identify the source and location of the data. You are recommended to include the calculations as an appendix and compile a table of the results for each analytical section of your report. You must define all measures used and be particularly careful in the labelling of results.

• We are looking for the trend as well as the absolute result so you must produce calculations for the past two years (no longer time series is needed).

• You may not use or quote any calculations published in the report (the formula used may differ from yours and they never publish their formulas). The only exceptions are EPS and DPS, which can be drawn from the Annual Report.

• Be selective in the measures that you comment on. Make sure they tell a story about your business. Using the lecture slides as a template without thought will inevitably limit your awarded mark.

• Whilst credit will be given for the accurate computation of any appropriate measures selected, the primary focus should be on their analysis and interpretation within the wider industry and market contexts.

• There is a 10% tolerance in the word limit. Please note that the calculations in the appendix do not count towards it.

• Please submit in Arial, font size 12.

• Ensure that your name and login and the name of the Company are clearly shown. Attach these to an Assessment Coversheet.

The KBS generic/categorical marking criteria for coursework essays and narrative assignments will apply.