SAN DIEGO, June 4, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Released today by ICON Financial Advisory Services, LLC (IFAS), a Registered Investment Adviser (CRD # 119-292): Two of the most comprehensive studies to date on vertical gap analysis and labor productivity benchmarks for Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. (NYSE:CCE).
According to Aaron Freeman, President of IFAS, "With the globalization of markets, greater foreign competition, and the reduction of barriers to entry, it becomes all the more important to benchmark a company's financial indicators on a worldwide basis. World stock markets have recently witnessed a return to fundamental financial analysis." The goal of the reports is to assist consultants, financial managers, strategic planners, and corporate officers in gauging certain indicators of Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc.'s financial and human resource structure.
Drawing on the expertise of Professor Philip M. Parker of INSEAD (Fontainbleau, France and Singapore), IFAS has benchmarked Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. against competing firms in the "Bottled and Canned Soft Drinks and Carbonated Waters" industry worldwide -- going beyond traditional methods of company benchmarking. The results are two specialized reports: (1) global financial benchmarks using common-size statement ratios (vertical analysis), and (2) labor productivity and utilization measures collected across borders.
Coverage
Two reports, financial ratios and labor productivity ratios, are available for Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. Each report reveals productivity and industry ranks for Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. in the "Bottled and Canned Soft Drinks and Carbonated Waters" industry. Reports for the following and many other "Bottled and Canned Soft Drinks and Carbonated Waters" companies are available now:
A.G. Barr PLC, Amalgamated Beverage Ind. Ltd., Asahi Soft Drinks Co. Ltd., Chukyo Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Ltd., Coca-Cola Beverages PLC, Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated, Coca-Cola Embonor S.A., COCA-COLA HBC SA, Coca-Cola West Japan Co. Ltd., Cosmos Bottling Corporation, Embotelladora Andina SA, Embotelladora Latinoamericana SA, Embotelladoras Coca-Cola Polar SA, Fuji Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Ltd., Haad Thip Public Co. Ltd., Hokkaido Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Ltd., Ito En Ltd., Kinki Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Ltd., Kirin Beverage Corporation, Mikasa Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Ltd., Mikuni Coca-Cola Bottling Co LTD, National Beverage Corp., Nichols plc, Pepsiamericas Incorporated, Pokka Corporation. SPADEL SA, The Serm Suk Public Co. Ltd.
The vertical analysis deals with questions like: How has Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc.'s asset structure varied compared to global benchmarks for the "Bottled and Canned Soft Drinks and Carbonated Waters" industry? Does it generally hold more cash and other short-term assets, or does it tend to concentrate its assets in physical plant and equipment? On the liability side, does Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. typically have a higher percent of payables compared to the benchmarks, or does it hold a higher concentration of long-term debt? Does Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. have a relatively higher cost of goods sold, operating costs, or income taxes compared to global benchmarks? Have Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc.'s returns on equity been higher or its profit margins greater?
While the labor productivity analysis answers the following: What has been the ratio of short-term and long-term assets to employee? What are typical capital-labor ratios? What are the average sales and net profits per employee compared to global benchmarks?
Freeman notes, "We are intrigued by the wide variations in basic financial and productivity measures between Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. and other "Bottled and Canned Soft Drinks and Carbonated Waters" companies. The Gross Profit Margin, for example, varied from 53.99 to 3.95. We see this type of variation in the 100 or so ratios that we estimate."
Methodology: Uncovering Gaps
Most vertical analyses merely focus on benchmarking against domestic ratios, often published by government agencies or commercial sources. In contrast, IFAS calculates thousands of industry norms by looking at firms at the global level, pooling statistics on tens of thousands of companies across over 40 countries, and applying a seven-stage methodology: (1) identification of industry classifications, (2) firm-level data collection and aggregation, (3) standardization of raw statistics, (4) filtering outliers, (5) calculation of global norms, (6) projection of deviations and gaps, and (7) projection of ranks and percentiles. For each part of the financial statement, the larger structural differences and gaps between Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. and the global benchmarks are provided with summary tables of ranks and percentiles.
Previously available only through booksellers such as Hoovers, Amazon.com, and Barnes and Noble, two studies are now available direct from the publisher at a 50% discount off the cover price. This special offer includes Vertical Analysis and International Financial Benchmarks and Labor Productivity, Utilization and Global Benchmarks at $99.95 each. Contact Dannielle Andrews for more information.
About IFAS
IFAS assists managers with global benchmarking, gap analysis, and productivity studies. Clients can create their own benchmarks by choosing their competitors from among over 20,000 companies.