You are required to prepare a report which is a financial comparison of two companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. The report must take into account the viewpoints of all corporate stakeholders. Your two companies must be chosen from the following:
GlaxoSmithKline Plc Year ended 31 December 2012
Home Retail Group Plc 52 weeks ended 2 March 2013
J Sainsbury Plc 52 weeks ended 16 March 2013
Kingfisher Plc Year ended 2 February 2013
Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc 53 weeks ended 3 February 2013
Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc Year ended 31 December 2012
No other company will be accepted. The annual reports selected should be for the year ends stated above and no other.
REQUIRED:
The report should be structured with section headings, etc, and should be addressed to your supervisor (use your seminar tutor's name). The report should contain the following:
(a) Introduction:
The introduction should summarise the aims and objectives of your report together with any limitations in this type of financial comparison. It should also give a brief profile of each company, its markets and products and a brief commentary on its key operations and recent trading background.
(b) Analysis:
Use a selection of appropriate accounting ratios (you must choose the ratios) together with any other relevant data to evaluate the relative performance and financial status of the two companies. The comparison should be made from the viewpoints of the companies' key stakeholders (management, investors and lenders). You may use ratios published within the annual reports plus ratios calculated yourself (the workings for which should be shown in an appendix). The comparison must be year on year for each company plus a comparison of both companies.
This part of the report must give evidence of your understanding of the interpretation of your chosen ratios and the data you are using. The chosen ratios should be kept to a manageable number - the emphasis should be on quality rather quantity.
(c) Performance factors:
Research and discuss any factors (financial and non-financial relevant to these two companies) that may have affected the companies' performance during the periods under review, with reasons. This must take into account the performance of the different segments of the businesses as shown in the annual reports as well as all other relevant factors. These factors must be specific to your chosen companies. This information can be obtained from various commentaries within the annual reports, corporate websites, trade journals and financial press websites. You must show the source of the information that you use in this section.
Word limit 2000 words (excluding any information supplied in appendices).