Econmics
Order Description
Assignment 1: Semester 2:
You are presented with the Income Statements and the Statements of Financial Position for Tesco’s Group and Sainsbury’s Group for 2014 and 2015. A segment of the Income Statements for the years 2011 to 2013 are also provided for both businesses. You have been asked by a potential investor to provide information on the performance of the two companies.
In particular they have asked you to calculate a selection of accounting ratios for each company for the years 2014 and 2015, and also to comment on the profits of the two companies over the past five years. The required ratios are the Gross Profit ratio; the Mark up ratio; the Net Profit ratio; the Return on Capital Employed for total capital; the Pre-tax ROE; the Post-tax ROE; the Interest Cover; the Stock Turnover; the Current Ratio and the Acid Test ratio.
Required:
(a) Calculate the required ratios for each business for 2014 and 2015 and present them in a table which shows the formula used and the calculations.
(20 Marks)
(b) Write an essay in which you explain the performance of the two businesses given the results of your calculations in part (a). Your essay should refer to the reliability, or otherwise, of using such analysis. This will require the use of appropriate texts which should be referenced in appropriate Harvard style. You should also explain that other interested stakeholders might be interested in other aspects of the business. (800 Words excluding References)
(50 Marks)
(c) You receive a further request from the potential investor. He is concerned that your initial essay only discusses the performances of two businesses over a two year period. He asks you to comment on the patterns of various aspects of profitability of the two businesses over the past five years. Furthermore, he is keen to establish important investment information regarding dividends, earnings per share and returns on capital invested across the wider market. You might consider the use of a table and some line graphs to help illustrate the points raised here. (400 Words excluding references)
(25 Marks)
The following websites provide information on some of Morrison’s rivals in the retail market to help you make comments on the performance of Morrison in a more vigorous manner:
https://www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/investor-centre/reports/2015/ar-2015/
https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=tesco%20report%202015
https://www.morrisons-corporate.com/ar2015/pdf/Morrisons_AR_2014_Full.pdf
https://cdn.corporate.walmart.com/66/e5/9ff9a87445949173fde56316ac5f/2014-annual-report.pdf