SAN DIEGO, June 6, 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 labor productivity and vertical gap analysis benchmarks for Akzo Nobel N.V. (Nasdaq:AKZOY).
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 Akzo Nobel N.V.'s financial and human resource structure.
Drawing on the expertise of Professor Philip M. Parker of INSEAD (Fontainbleau, France and Singapore), IFAS has benchmarked Akzo Nobel N.V. against competing firms in the "Industrial Inorganic Chemical manufacturing" 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 Akzo Nobel N.V. Each report reveals productivity and industry ranks for Akzo Nobel N.V. in the "Industrial Inorganic Chemical manufacturing" industry. Reports for the following and many other "Industrial Inorganic Chemical manufacturing" companies are available now:
Agrium Inc., Albemarle Corp., Arab Potash Co., Arch Chemicals Inc., CEA-Industrie SA, ChemFirst Inc., Cytec Industries Inc., Delta Electrical Industries Ltd., Delta PLC, Eramet, GenTek Inc., Great Lakes Chemical Corp., Groupe Finuchem, Interphil Laboratories Inc., ITOCHU Corp., Laporte PLC, Minerals Technologies Inc., Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co. Inc, Nihon Parkerizing Co. Ltd., Nippon Chemical Industrial Co. Ltd., Nippon Synthetic Chemical Ind. Co., Nissan Chemical Industries Ltd., Octel Corp., Produits Chimiques Auxiliares Et De Synthese, Rasa Industries Ltd., Snia, Solutia Inc., Tetra Technologies Inc, Tokuyama Corp., and Uralita S.A.
The vertical analysis deals with questions like: How has Akzo Nobel N.V.'s asset structure varied compared to global benchmarks for the "Industrial Inorganic Chemical manufacturing" 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 Akzo Nobel N.V. typically have a higher percent of payables compared to the benchmarks, or does it hold a higher concentration of long-term debt? Does Akzo Nobel N.V. have a relatively higher cost of goods sold, operating costs, or income taxes compared to global benchmarks? Have Akzo Nobel N.V.'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 Akzo Nobel N.V. and other "Industrial Inorganic Chemical manufacturing" companies. The Gross Profit Margin, for example, varied from 47.60 to 5.04. 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 Akzo Nobel N.V. 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.