SAN DIEGO, June 6, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- ICON Financial Advisory Services, LLC (IFAS), a Registered Investment Adviser (CRD# 119-292), today released studies on labor productivity and financial benchmarks for New York Times Co. (NYSE:NYT).
What? Vertical Analysis and International Financial Benchmarks
How does New York Times Co.'s balance sheet structure differ from global benchmarks? Does New York Times Co. hold more cash and short-term assets, or does it concentrate its assets in physical plant and equipment? Does it have a higher percent of payables compared to the benchmarks? Does it hold a higher concentration of long-term debt? Does New York Times Co. have a relatively higher cost of goods sold, operating costs, income taxes, or profit margins compared to global benchmarks?
Labor Productivity, Utilization and Global Benchmarks
Are workers at New York Times Co. productive? There is no absolute answer to this economic question. The second study considers how labor deployment and productivity indicators for New York Times Co. differ from the global benchmarks. It looks at the amount of labor required to operate New York Times Co. and the resulting return on human investment. What is the ratio of short-term and long-term assets to employee? What are comparative capital-labor ratios? What are the average sales and net profits per employee in New York Times Co. compared to benchmarks in the same economic sector?
Reports for over 40 Newspapers Publishing and Printing companies are available now, including the following:
Adresseavisen ASA, A-Pressen ASA, Belo Corp., Caxton Publisher and Printers Ltd., Daily Mail and General Trust PLC, Dow Jones & Co. Inc., Gannett Co. Inc., Guiton Group Ltd., Hollinger International Inc., Independent News & Media PLC, Johnston Press plc, Knight-Ridder Inc., Lee Enterprises Inc., Manila Bulletin Publishing Corp., Mcclatchy Co., Media General Inc., Medya Holding A.S., Monrif SPA, News Communications & Media PLC, Poligrafici Editoriale SPA, Schibsted ASA, Scripps Co., Southnews PLC, Spir Communication, The New Straits Times Press Berhad, Tribune Co., Trinity Mirror PLC, and Washington Post Co.
Why?
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 New York Times Co.'s financial and human resource structure.
Freeman states, "We are intrigued by the wide variations in basic financial and productivity measures between New York Times Co. and other Newspapers Publishing and Printing companies. The Gross Profit Margin, for example, varied from 95.03 to (8.76). We see this type of variation in the 100 or so ratios that we estimate."
How?: IFAS Methodology
IFAS uses a proprietary methodology to generate international financial and human resource benchmarks and measure gaps that might be revealed from such an exercise. Using common-size statements, ICON Financial Advisory Services prepares these vertical analyses by 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.
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 Labor Productivity, Utilization and Global Benchmarks and Vertical Analysis and International Financial Benchmarks at US$199.90 ($99.95 each). E-mail iconsubs@san.rr.com 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.