Research and analysis of business problems Paper

And analysis of business problems - Research Paper Example This industry is mainly driven by technology, globalization and Integration. The logistic Industry trends show that in the coming years this sector is going to strengthen further. The expansion of the geographical boundaries and tapping more customers is the main motive of the logistics companies nowadays. The study is on one of the major companies in the Logistics Industry, known as FedEx. The company Fed Express Corporation, popularly known as FedEx, is an American company which was established in the year 1971 by Frederick W. Smith. FedEx offers several services to its customers which includes overnight couriers, freight services and other business support and logistics solutions. It is one of the biggest transportation companies providing logistics services and delivering consignments all over US and in more than 220 countries. The revenue of FedEx is about $ 34,734 million in the year 2010. There was a decrease in the revenue of 2.1 percent due to the impact of global recession. But surprisingly there was an increase in the profit percentage of the company compared to its last year’s profit (â€Å"Company Overview†). Business Problems of FedEx The major business of FedEx is overnight delivery of consignments. Though FedEx is one of the major players in the logistics sector, yet it is facing tough fight from the other logistics companies. The major issues that FedEx is facing are: The global environmental problems In the environmental issues, the first problem is with the airlines facilities. The absence of proper landing spaces, back-up plans and the airport facilities hampers the guarantee of delivering consignment on the right time. Cut Throat Competition The major issue in competition is to face the price wars of the competitors. UPS is a close competitor of FedEx and after its entry into the logistics market, the revenue of FedEx declined by 30.3 percent. Technological problems The technological factor is very important because it keeps c hanging within a short span of time. Zapmail became obsolete due to the introduction of Fax machines. FedEx lost about $ 350 million and it had to withdraw itself from such business. So it is very important to develop the technologies within the company so as to compete with the advance technology (â€Å"Introduction†). Human Resource problems The FedEx ground services faced new challenges from its contractors delivering parcels at FedEx ground. These contract drivers own the trucks which they drive for FedEx to deliver the consignments to different places. Now, these contract drivers are not the direct employees of FedEx. So these drivers are demanding direct employment of FedEx. This would entitle them with the pension schemes, medical facilities and other facilities that FedEx employees get. But FedEx is not accepting such demands of its contractual drivers. This is a major issue which has created a huge problem in the FedEx ground department (Johansson 7-10) The logistics market is highly competitive and it gets affected very easily by price and service changes. So the

Financial analysis of Burberry Company(FTSE 100 Company) Assignment

Financial analysis of Burberry Company(FTSE 100 Company) - Assignment Example fiscal year 2012/13 on market review and research that will be centered on important sites in Asia.2 Indeed, Burberry has turnout to be resilient. Since 2009, the company’s assets have grown by 43% and its equity has increased by 64%. The equity growth is mostly due its Retained Earnings that have more than doubled during the last four fiscal years of the company – from ?199.2 million in 2009 to ?507.1 in 2012. To fuel the continuing expansion of its operations in the last four years and to fund its working capital requirements, Burberry has not opted to issue additional common shares. Thus, its common stocks, at par value, have not increased in the course of the last four years. Instead, Burberry’s long-term liabilities have increased by almost 250% from ?35 million in 2009 to ?122.4 million in 2012. While Burberry has generally been operating as a profitable company, it incurred a net loss of ?6.0 million for the year ended 31 March 2009. In spite of the dire e ffects of the financial crisis that substantially crippled global giants that have considerable operations in USA and Europe, Burberry has generated operating profits that amounted to ?182.6 million for 2009. However, the non-operating expenses for 2009 ended up gobbling such profits made from the company’s operations. The total bulk of ?193.5 million was incurred mostly for booking impairment charges at ?129.6 million – the sum of ?116.2 million pertaining to the goodwill initially recognized for Burberry’s operations in Spain plus ?13.4 million for the stores established in the same country. In addition, negative goodwill has as well been credited at ?1.7 million for the formation of the Burberry Middle East joint venture. These procedures were conducted in compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) regulations that uphold International Accounting Standards (IAS) #36, which require the writing down of impaired assets and the recognition of impairment losses on goodwill and intangible assets.3 The foregoing matter aside, Burberry’s operations has delivered Earnings Before Income Tax (EBIT) that increased year-on-year from 2009 to 2013. In fact, the company’s EBIT in 2012 is 195% of the equivalent in 2009. The income statements below provide that while Burberry’s revenues increased by 54.57% from 2009 to 2012, its cost of sales increased by only 4.22%. This reflects an increased efficiency in the operations – sourcing, production and distribution. The balance sheets and income statements of Burberry for the years 2009 to 2012 reflect an overall uptrend of its income and, subsequently, its book value per share. The common-size balance sheets highlights the increasing share of Burberry’s equity vis-a-vis the decreasing share of its total liabilities in the total assets of the company. It means that the investment of creditors in the form of loans, etc. have through time become less t han the worth of the company’s equity. While the company’s assets were represented as 51.68%-liabilities and 48.32%-equity in