Companies analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Companies analysis - Essay Example The company offers Kangaroo -TV, a medium for targeted advertising, merchandising, market surveying, and branding1. The recent history of the company shows that it has continued making losses and its share prices have dipped to CAD 0.49 (January 11, 2008: close) - an all time low. The 52 week high is recorded at $3.86 as recently as on December 2, 2007 - a drop of 87% in 17 trading sessions. The plunge thereafter is not surprising, as the stock has found its rational floor from an all time high of $7.65 on May 12, 2006. The rapid fall is despite the news emanating from the company in recent times: The share price movement indicates no connection with stock market indices; with a beta of -0.17 compared with the S&P Index. None of the other indicators like PE, Ask-Bid gap throw up any relevant numbers for analysis. Any investment in this share can only be based on a gut-feel. Technology employed by the company is unique and has good market potential. The only reason for holding this stock is the likelihood of a takeover by a larger and financially stronger company - then too the new company is not likely to offer a very high price to shareholders in case of an aggressive takeover. This stock is useless for prudent portfolio management. Any stocks held should be sold at the best possible price. World Point Terminals, Inc. ... They provide storage, blending, and transportation of crude oil, refined petroleum products, and other liquids to their customers. The company's center point terminals store residual oils, such as liquid asphalt and heavy fuels; and lights oils, such as gasoline, diesel, and heating oil. It also provides crude oil storage services through its south riding point terminal facility. In addition, the company, through a joint venture, operates a fleet of tugs providing marine services5. The company was founded in 1942. The company's stock performance has been good. Some of the key performance indicators are: PE ratio of 21.2, EPS $7.80; 52-week high $26.50; 52-week low $13.68 and present price $15.00 (January 9, 2008 close). We observe that the movement of the stock take place in a narrow band and is mostly linked to the S&P Index as indicate by a beta of 0.966. Some of the key developments announced by the company in recent times are: Financial Reports for the third quarter and nine months ended June 30, 2007 reported7. World Point Terminals Inc. Announces Earnings Results for the First Quarter Ended March 31, 2007 World Point Terminals Declares Extraordinary Dividend Payable on December 15, 2006 The latest financial report is heartening for the investor and performance on all fronts has been good. Net profit margin is up to 30.51% for the quarter and 28.65% for the first nine months as compared to 24.41 for 2006. Return on equity is up from 10.07% in 2006 to 25.35% for the quarter; the year to date return of 11.98% reflects the temporary setbacks the company had in the first six months and it appears to be emerging out of its troubles. The extraordinary dividend (the

20th century poetry Essay Example for Free

20th century poetry Essay We have been giving to 20th century poems to examine. They are Evans by R. S Thomas and Death in Leamington by Sir John Betjeman. Both poems are about death, but in two very different situations. I will examine the poem Evans first of all. Evans was written by a man called R. S Thomas. He lived from 1913-2000. he was born in Cardiff. He became a clergyman and taught himself welsh so he could work with the people in the hills, because not many of them spoke English at this time. Evans is a 20th Century poem. The poem begins as if the writer is talking to somebody else. It looks like the other person has asked him something like, Do you remember a man Evans? and the writer replies, yes, many a time. The first verse of the poem describes Evans house. It talks about the bare stairs and the gaunt kitchen. We can depict from the first verse that Evans was a poor man, his house is not at all well furbished, and he doesnt have much to his name. Everything that Evans owns has a dull, dreary adjective attached to it, like stark farm and black kettle. His kitchen must be filthy because crickets can be heard. The last line of this verse tells us that he lives on a lone farm upon a hill. From this verse we have found out that this man is poor, lonely and doesnt really care much about what his house looks like. The 2nd verse tells us that something appals the speaker. He says that it isnt the darkness around him, which seems to fill his mouth and that it isnt the tree that the rain drips off. I think the tree is symbolism, because the speaker says, of rain like blood form that one tree, weather tortured. I think he is really describing Evans appearance. The speaker says that its the veins of Evans. He sees darkness in them, and that it is silting them. Silt is the thick sandy substance at the bottom of rivers. I think it means that the darkness is trapped in Evans veins and that it is slowly killing him. The writer says, I left stranded upon the vast and lonely shore of his bleak bed. The writer believes that he has failed is his job, which is to comfort the sick if they are going to die. The writer feels that he is inadequate and that he hasnt done what he wanted to. Again we see another dreary adjective attached to one of Evans possessions, his bleak bed. The word lonely is used again here. The writer wants to get the point across that Evans has no one, no family or friends to comfort him, that is why the writer feels so bad that he cant do this for him. This poem is about the bad way to die, all on your own and no one to comfort you. The next poem, Death in Leamington, is about the other way to pass on. Death in Leamington was written by Sir John Betjeman. Poets of his day liked to write poems making fun of the middle class people. The first verse tells us that someone has died, and that it is a woman. It has happened in the late evening. She has died in her bedroom. The room has a plate glass window, which means this place wherever she was staying must has been pretty well off. The second verse gives us a little more insight to the woman. She owned a crochet, which means she must have been quite old. It lay beside her bed, which means she cant have been too old because she was still able to walk. Again the writer tells us that she is dead.

The accounting treatment for research and development

The accounting treatment for research and development Under IAS 38 Intangible Assets, the accounting treatment for research and development is different. It depends on whether the expenditure is incurred from research or development. In the Ruritanian Accounting Standard, research expenditure is charged to the statement of comprehensive income and development cost is to be capitalized as a part of intangible assets. Broadly speaking, it is common treatment in most of companies. However, this accounting treatment is not perfect. We will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this standard. Firstly, in the Ruritanian Accounting Standard, the definition of research and development costs have been given and set out the conditions that need to be satisfied in order to expense or capitalize. Research expenditure is not related directly to any of the companys products or processes whilst it conforms to a search process. In the research phase, an entity cannot demonstrate that it will become an intangible asset and generate probable future benefits. Otherwise, expenditure is recognized as development costs as an intangible asset. It is a similar definition in the IAS 38. However, the activities related to research and development but are not included neither research nor development phase are not classified in the standard. There is a situation existed in the research and development process, for instance, troubleshooting in connection with breakdowns during commercial production. IAS 38 does not provide a guidance of these activities but apparently it would be useful in deci ding whether expenditure can be capitalized under the rules identified in the standard. Moreover, expenditure cannot be classified into these two categories due to the complex nature of new equipment programmes, it is not possible to distinguish reliably between research and development activities until relatively late in the programme. Secondly, in the early standards, development expenditure could be capitalized only if it will make a profit. IAS 38 states that profitable development expenditure must be capitalized whereas SSAP 13 has given the options of either capitalizing the expenditure or charging as an expense. The IASBs Framework for preparation and presentation of Financial Statements says an asset is recognized in the statement of financial position when it is probable that the future economic benefits will flow to the entity and the asset has a cost or value that can be measured reliably. However, in the Ruritanian Accounting Standard, we give an advice of capitalizing all the development costs as an intangible asset rather than the options. There are some uncertainties on whether project can be completed successful and the costs of developing the product. On most of the conditions, people are always optimistic when developing the product and consider it will have future benefit. In practice, many proble ms are encountered during the process and the cost is much greater than estimates before. So, the development costs can be not estimated reliably till the completion. Thirdly, according to measuring the profit, it will have a difficulty in estimating future sales and future costs. Once the development has accomplished, the sales need to be checked if the sales of the product will be profitable. Two factors are related to sale value that is the selling price of each product and quantity sold. It is uncertainty about those figures. For instance, for some high technology products, selling price might be high initially and then will substantially decline as competitors occurs. It is called marginal costs. There is a relationship between quantity sold and selling price that the lower selling price is, the more increase sales will be. So, it will cause the problem in estimating future costs. It is uncertain that a product will be profitable and it will have inaccuracies in estimating the costs. Also, it may be difficult to satisfy the standard of being an asset and should not be recognized in the financial position. In a word, to capitalize total develo pment costs still exist to some extent inaccuracy when the situation above occurred. Lastly but not the least, a new treatment will arise from purchased goodwill in a business combination. The research and development part of subsidiary will be purchased and account for the intangible assets in the financial statement of parent company. There are two choices that are impairment and amortization. In IAS 38, it amortized the expense and impairment of intangible asset by using the reducing balance method. In the Ruritanian Accounting Standard, it is consistent with IAS 38 standard. However, there is a trend on impairment rather than amortization in the listed companies. Apparently, companies want to maximum their reported profit and amortization will reduce profit. One of the significant reasons is that if the future economic benefit of the goodwill is greater than its original cost, and thus will avoid a charge to the income statement. Under IAS 38 an intangible asset with an indefinite life is not amortized but to incur an annual impairment check which the impairment is less than its carrying value. It seems to be similar to other treatment of purchased goodwill. In summary, there are many advantages in the Ruritanian Accounting Standard and help to solve the principal problem in the existed accounting standard. Meanwhile, it eliminated some aspect inconsistent with accounting policy. It is unavoidable to have drawbacks in identify the research and development costs and whether to treat it in the finance position or income statement. Those problems still need to be discussed in the future.

Tv Shows And Real Life :: essays research papers

TV Shows and Real Life TV shows are probably the primary source of entertainment for the average American. Most of them run from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. with reruns starting at 5 p.m. We watch them because they give us something to do, a way to relax, something to help pass the time. We all watch different shows, some people like "Married...with Children", some are repulsed with it, but like to watch "Home Improvement", what draws particular crowds to certain shows? How do these shows portray the average American, or do they portray average Americans at all? These are questions many writers have attempted to answer, at least one column in almost every newspaper is dedicated to this topic. I think the people like to see shows that portray them, or what they'd like to be. "Married...with Children" runs on Fox 29 on Mondays at 8:30 p.m., it has been on air for a long time, and has passed its 200th episode last season. The main characters of the show is women's shoe salesman Al Bundy, his wife Peg, dorky son Bud, and slutty daughter Kelly. Al loves to watch TV, bowl with his buddies, drink and go to the "nudy bar". Marcie and Jefferson, are the Bundy's neighbors and also take an active part in the show. Most shows consist of Al going somewhere or doing something and everyone else making fun of him when he fails miserably. Al is someone you can hardly call a father to his kids, he's doesn't take care of them and he does absolutely nothing father-like for them or with them. Al is constantly complaining about his marriage, he says that if he was sober that night, none of this would have happened. He calls his children accidents and the only good memory he has, is of him being a great high school football player, which he would take to the next level had all his dreams not been crushed by Peg. The only living thing Al really likes on the show is his dog, Buck, to which he can relate as they are both dirty and nasty. Every show it is the same kind of thing, over and over again. Peg is trying to convince Al to have sex, Al blames Peg for his failure in life, Kelly is screwing some guy in the back seat of a car, and Bud is looking at "nudy magazines". Last Monday, the 27, Al decided to join the Army Reserve in order to escape his family. John Ozersky writes in his article entitled "TV's Anti-Families: Married.

Each Man Kills the Thing He Loves Essay

â€Å"It seems to me that we all look at Nature too much, and live with her too little† This quote provides a philosophical insight into the main theme I will explore within my chosen poems. Nature is defined as the phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other features and products of the earth, as opposed to humans or human creations. However this simply states that nature and humans are opposites, and one opposes the other. The poems I have chosen question this definition of nature and put it to humankind to answer the question, are we one with nature, or merely manipulating it to our own advantage, giving little back to our heritage? Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’ explores our own humanity and how easily two conflicting emotions become each other; whilst Charlotte Mew’s ‘The Trees Are Down’ examines human ignorance and through use of language she unravels the ever changing connections with nature. However it is Lawrence’s ‘The Snake’ that uses strong imagery to portray humankind in all its shapes and forms, forever changing. These three poems utilize a series of techniques that bring forth a common phrase we are what we hate, kill and love, which ultimately contributes to a universal relevance, the main idea I will be focusing on, ‘each man kills the thing he loves’. Oscar Wilde is considered a gifted author, playwright and poet of the nineteenth century. He was intimately involved in the up rise of aestheticism, a philosophy of nature and expression of beauty; Wilde expanded the narrow-mindedness of the Victorian Era, ultimately bringing a new light to society. ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, a semi autobiography, is considered the most seminal and serious of all Wilde’s works. However it is after being accused of homosexual offences, by his lover’s father, and further incarcerated at Reading Gaol that Wilde’s writing took a more melancholic approach. After serving his two years of hard labour, Wilde then moved to France, and was in ‘penniless exile’ It was in his last remaining years that Wilde produced two extremely heart felt pieces of work; De Profundis, a Latin term for ‘from the depths’, was an epistle addressed to his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, and recounted his lifestyle of extravagance and love, within the first half. In the second part the text looks into his recent experiences, during his time at Reading Gaol, as he comes to terms with his spirituality. The other, ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’, a six ‘cantos’ poem, further subdivided into six lined stanzas, describes his experiences of loneliness and death, whilst incarcerated at Reading Gaol. The initial scene of the ballad, ‘He walked amongst the Trial Men, In a suit of shabby grey’, was inspired by the hanging of Charles Thomas Wooldridge, on Saturday 7th July 1896, a thirty year-old man convicted of cutting the throat of his wife. Charlotte Mew was an understated poet, whose works were less recognised, in comparison to Wilde, however she was highly praised by the likes of Siegfried Sassoon and Virginia Woolf. Mew lived a traumatic life, from beginning to end; facing close family deaths and two of her siblings being diagnosed with mental illness. These early experiences affected her future and had major influences on her; beginning with her and her sister Anne making a pact never to marry, in fear of passing on her family’s madness. Additionally Mew had similar sexual orientations as Wilde, attracted to ones own sex, however due to the condemnation of homosexuality, in the nineteenth century, Mew was left with a strong sense of suppression. Her life was extremely stifled by such experiences of death, loneliness and disillusionment and hence reflects these themes within her work. ‘The Trees are Down’ is a six stanza poem, that follows no structured form, merely ranging from one to nine lines, each stanza. The poem is based around the Revelation reference, at the beginning of poem: ‘-and he cries with a loud voice: hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees† and relates this to our society, past, present and future. David Herbert Lawrence, D. H.  Lawrence, was an extremely successful writer and artist. Publishing many plays, novels and volumes of poetry. He lived a very modest life, born in the small mining township of Eastwood, England, in 1885. Lawrence was an outcast, with few friends at school, who didn’t follow in his father’s footsteps of becoming a miner. So Lawrence went on to study, gaining a scholarship at Nottingham High School and then becoming an elementary teacher. However it was after falling in love with his old professor, Earnest Weekely’s, wife, Frieda von Richthofen, that his life was altered. Breaking off his engagement and ending his teaching career, Lawrence developed his writing into a career. ‘Sons and Lovers’ is a semi-autobiographical account of Lawrence’s experiences as a boy, under the name of Paul Morel, who loved his mother and full of hatred for his father. Lawrence wrote this novel after the death of his mother, in 1910, and explores the love of a mother â€Å"As her sons grow up she selects them as lovers–first the eldest, then the second. These sons are urged into life by their reciprocal love of their mother–urged on and on. † All three poets lived extremely different lifestyles, however the common thread between them is the literary period they lived in, the nineteenth century. Wilde’s work, pre-incarceration, was considered extremely lush and light, however post-incarceration it grew sad and he adapted Dark Romanticism into his works. Mew explored Naturalism where the environment controls people, especially in ‘The Trees are Down’, which is similar to the works of Lawrence who combines naturalism with Pre-Raphaelitism, combining literacy with the visual arts, which is seen through his strong imagery. Comparing these three literary movements helps shape each poem, providing a purpose behind the theme of each text. The intent of these poems differ slightly from one another, however all three have embedded the allegory of killing our intimates within their texts. Wilde takes his own personal experiences of loss, and additionally the example of Wooldridge’s own act, to reveal how within love echoes hate and vice versa. Mew, who’s poem seems completely ahead of her time, exposes the ignorance of the human race. This exposure of human’s prejudice towards nature is again echoed within Lawrence’s poem through the line ‘my education said†¦ he must be killed’. The common purpose within these texts is the exposure of human’s ignorance and how inevitable it is. Lord Alfred Douglas’s father took Wilde to court for alleged homosexuality and this life altering moment in Wilde’s life is easily identified within the poem ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’. However Wilde carefully entwines Wooldridge’s own attempt of ‘killing the thing he loved’ within his own story to expose the wider occurrence of this tragedy. It is questioned whether or not Wilde came up with this statement or whether it is a nod to Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice when Bassanio asks ‘Do all men kill the things they do not love? ’ Wilde is well known for his stimulating epigrams, yet this phrase seems to generate a metaphor for life and although not a question, like in Merchant of Venice, Wilde questions the similarities of love and hatred. When searching the word ‘love’ up on Thesaurus. com it provides a list of antonyms, including ‘hatred’, and vice-versa and yet here we see Wilde placing the two, opposing verbs, hand in hand. Wilde’s underlying purpose within ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’ is not to recount his experiences at Reading, but what Wilde is really looking for is the mode of interaction in which love and hatred are one and indivisible, in which the bitterness is an expression of the admiration. Written in the nineteenth century Mew’s poem, ‘The Trees are Down’, was completely ahead of its time and in today’s society is seen as an empowering demonstration of humanity’s destructive ignorance. Using the line from the revelation Mew makes deep connections with the past and by examining her present looks into the future of what is to come, what is now extremely relevant. The purpose of this is to reveal society’s destructive nature and speak out against the destruction of our heritage as ‘half my life it has beat with’. Lawrence examines prejudices of the human race towards animals, within the poem, ‘The Snake’, and how we accept the words fed to us in an alleged ‘education’. However the irony of it all is that we are one with the Snake and this is what Lawrence was trying to achieve. Describing the snake drinking from trough as if ‘he’ is a person, the same as the narrator, then ‘he’ looks up ‘just like cattle do’. Lawrence’s connections across the animal kingdom; man, snake and cattle alike, break down the barriers of humans vs. animals, generating a scene of equality. However it is once the narrator’s ‘voice of†¦ education’ convinces him otherwise, his face becomes humanity; fearful and paranoid. Each text focuses on humanity and from here branches off the love-hate, ignorance and prejudices of the human race. Wilde highlights the correlations between love and hatred we express towards one another, Mew exemplifies humanity losing touch with their heritage, whilst Lawrence’s reveals the irony within humankind’s prejudices. In all three cases the writer is attempting to exemplify how two effects, wildly different, grow closer together, reciprocating off one another, or how two objects, scientifically/emotionally tied together can push one another away.

Compulsive Shopping essays

Compulsive Shopping essays Compulsive Shopping Compulsive shopping is an affliction that affects 15 million Americans (13.5 million women and 1.5 million men). (Bertagnoli, 2003) Compulsive shopping, or the risk of becoming a compulsive shopper, affects approximately between two and eight percent of Americans. (Chaker, 2003) But, what is this condition known to the psychiatric community as Oniomania, in its simplest definition, is an obsession with purchasing items. Those suffering from compulsive shopping find themselves purchasing items they don't need. They often purchase multiples of an item. Deborah Rodriguez, a confirmed compulsive shopper, related coming "home with six packages of clothespins even though she didn't own a clothesline." (Chaker, 2003) Acknowledging this pattern of behavior as a problem is step one in finding a cure; uncovering the causes of the behavior is the next Some professionals surmise that compulsive shopping is an emotional disorder. Those suffering from this problem often use the purchasing of products to fill an emotional void in their lives. Many try to replace missing love and affection with the purchasing of items. Others hide behind their purchasing habits, from real life situations. Karen Patterson (2003) states that these purchases "create and remind one of one's identity, () create feelings of well-being to counter feelings of emotional or social emptiness, ( and) express the self for self- The cause, for this disorder, may take root in social causes as well. It may be a learned behavior from parents of children who used material rewards. Americans also have the tendency to equate material items with success and social status. Keeping up with the Jones'' has never been more true. No matter what cause spurred a healthy, responsible shopping ...