COPORATE ANALYSIS

COSTAIN PLC

D31CI - *Construction Financial Management

Coursework 2009

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 Introduction 2 Company Name & Reasons For The Selection 3 Description Of The Company 4 Chairmans Statement ;Review And Analysis 5 Auditors Report 6 Ratio Analysis 6.1 6.2 6.3 Performance Ratio Financial Ratio Investment Ratio

2 2 3 5 6 6 7 14 17 19 20 21

7 Future Prospects 8 Conclusion 9 References Appendix A Ratio Calculations Appendix B M/s. Costain Group Plc ,Annual Report 2007

Saravanan Jayaraman

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Matriculation No: 081386608

D31CI - *Construction Financial Management

Coursework 2009

CORPORATE ANALYSIS
1. Introduction :
Corporate analysis is a broad term that expresses the creation of comprehensive evaluation of a corporate entity. In general, the analysis will cover all aspects of the company, including current and past financial position, profit margins, organisational structure, and future growth opportunities. The objective of the corporate analysis is to understand the general corporates health and prospects for future growth and performance.

2.

Company Selection and Reasons :

M/s.Costain Group PLC is selected for corporate analysis and their past and present performance is projected by the financial ratios based on their 2007 annual report.

Reasons for the selection :

M/s. Costains recent recovery from long standing problem since 1990 and their 143 years of heritage, functioning sectors & international operations intended to select that group for the corporate analysis. M/s.Costain Groups principle field of activity is providing construction service. M/s.Costain is UK based and also operates in the various countries like the United States of America, United Arab Emirates, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Malaysia. M/s.Costain involves almost in all the construction industries sectors, like Property Development, Retail, Education, Health, Water, Waste, Nuclear, Road, Rail, Marine, Airports, Oil, Gas & Process via their subsidiary and jointly controlled entities. The company recovered from the continuous loss and declared first dividend to shareholders since 1990. Turnover of the company for 2007 dipped from 886.3million to 877.9million, but the company made a profit of 19.8millon before tax as compared to loss of 61.7million before tax in 2006.

Saravanan Jayaraman

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Matriculation No: 081386608

D31CI - *Construction Financial Management

Coursework 2009

Description Of The Company :

Costain was founded by 26 years old Richard Costain in Liverpool on 1865 and the company was floated as a public company on the London stock exchange in 1933 with a share capital of 600,000. Since 1935, Costain is operating in the Middle East and since 1947 in central and southern Africa. Costain is the first UK contractor to win the Queen's Award for Export Achievement in 1971.Costain Group now operates from the registered corporate headquater at Costain House, Vanwall Business Park, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 4UB in Uk. The Group's major activity is providing engineering and construction services through their organised four divisions, namely Civil Engineering which undertakes infrastructure works in marine, airport, public health, road, rail and energy sectors; Building division executes contracts through the regional networks, each regional bases functioning as a local contractor within its defined geographical area; Oil, Gas and Process provides engineering solutions in the worldwide energy and process sectors.;Project management division provides construction management services to a number of major commercial, retail and hotel projects. Its project portfolio includes the renowned Thames Barrier, The Channel Tunnel Rail Link, Newbury Bypass, Trans-Iranian Railway, Dolphin Square, Lambeth Bridge House and the studios for Channel 4s Big Breakfast programme. Costain underwent a turbulent in 1990s, lost almost 450million between 1990 and 1995. London Stock Exchange suspended its share on 1996. However, Costain has grown back to a major player in its fields of expertise by the efforts taken by chief executives John Armitt, and more recently Stuart Doughty due to their implementation of new rationalisation strategy and a refinancing deal. Costain has set out a strategy called Being Number One, in order to achieve double digit growth in profit and turnover over the next three years by being number one in all of the nine sectors it works in.

Saravanan Jayaraman

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Matriculation No: 081386608

D31CI - *Construction Financial Management

Coursework 2009

Company Profile Snapshot :

Company Profile Ticker Exchange 2007 Sales Major Industry Sub Industry Country Employees : : : : : : : : Costain Group PLC Cost London 747,600,000 Construction Engineering & Contracting Services UNITED KINGDOM 3622

Organisation Structure :

Chairman David P Allvey Chief Executive Andrew Wyllie Group Finance Director Tony Bickerstaff Company Secretary Clive L Franks COO Infrastructure & Community Alan Kay M D - Environment David Jenkins

M D - COGAP Charles Sweeney HR Director Alex Vaughan Business Development Director

PFI Director

M D - Operations

Alister Handford

Alan Kay

Stephen Wells

Note: Only key members shown above to avoid lengthy structure

Saravanan Jayaraman

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Matriculation No: 081386608

D31CI - *Construction Financial Management

Coursework 2009

4.

Chairmans Statement ;Review And Analysis :

Costain Group Chairman Mr. David Allvey was delighted to state that the group had returned to profit in Building operations and profit delivered in Oil, Gas & process operation for the first time since 2001. On overall company performance is very good while comparing with the previous year, in terms of revenue it is 877.9million, approximately 1% low, however, company regained from the last years loss of 61.7million and made a profit of 19.8million before tax, which is due to decisive management actions in the previous year, including taking a number of write-downs in respect of the closure of the international division, certain dispute contracts; improved efficiency and reduced cost across the group by robust management of costs in the business. Further he mentions that on the back of strong performance, a successful rights issue, which raised 60million(net of expenses), and the extended and improved banking and bonding facilities of 200million enhanced the group financial strength to support their operational resource in delivering companys strategic goals and expedite the implementation of Being Number One strategy. Its clearly evident from Groups chairman statement that Costain is in the right path of improvement since the Groups profit for the first time since 1990 and recommendation of dividend to shareholders for the first time in 17 years and significant strengthened groups cash position to 132.8 million (2006: 53.3 million), including 28.8 million (2006: 22.0 million) cash (Groups Share) held by construction joint venture arrangements without major borrowings. Costains strategy to focus on long-term planning on securing more multi-year frame work contracts & progress through more selective bidding for higher profit margin works and the last years achievements such as preferred bidder award & 700million secured revenue for the year 2008 definitely make the group to flourish in coming years.

Saravanan Jayaraman

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Matriculation No: 081386608

D31CI - *Construction Financial Management

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5.

Auditors Report :
M/s. KPMG Audit Plc audited Costains group financial statement for the year ended 31st December 2007 comprises the group income statement, the group & Parent company balance sheets, cash flow statement, recognised income and expenses and related notes. M/s KPMG conducted audit in accordance with international standards on auditing (UK and Ireland). Auditors did not adjudge remarks on any part of accounts. They certified that all financial statements gives true & fair view and all are maintained & prepared in accordance with IFRS as adapted by the EU as applied in accordance with the provisions of the companies Act 1985. Directors reports also reviewed and confirmed by auditors that the information given is consistent with the financial statement.

6.

Ratio Analysis :
Ratio analysis is the calculation of ratios from the information in a company's financial statements and comparing the same with the past years ratios or with the similar companies. These analyses can be used to make inference about a company's past and current performance and to predict its future performance. According to the objectives ratios are classified as follows; Performance Ratios Performance ratios measure the company's use of its resources and control of its expenses to generate an acceptable rate of return. Financial Standing Financial standing measure the availability of cash to pay debt. Investment Return Investment return measure investment profitability against other investments.

Saravanan Jayaraman

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Matriculation No: 081386608

D31CI - *Construction Financial Management

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6.1 Performance Ratios : Return On Capital Employed (ROCE) :

ROCE is a ratio that shows the efficiency and profitability of a company's capital investments. In other words the ROCE ratio is an indicator of how well a capital is utilised to generate revenue. ROCE should normally be higher than the rate at which company borrows, otherwise any increase in borrowings will reduce shareholders earnings. Return on Capital Employed is calculated by taking profit before interest and tax and dividing that by the capital employed which is the difference between total assets and current liabilities. Generally higher percentage will reflect sound financial position and higher return. When reviewing Costains performance over the past five years, it was found that, during the year 2004 and 2006 company performance was below the required benchmark level (18%). Year 2006 performance is comparatively worst. The returns went down to negative due to loss of 64.5 million before tax & interest. However in 2007 company performed well and made a profit of 16.5million, this boosted the ratio [19.03%] above the required benchmark level of 18%. This excellent recovery/progress is a good sign for long & short term investors.

Return On Capital Employed

Performance Ratios
50.00% 0.00% -50.00% -100.00% -150.00% -200.00% -250.00% -300.00% 2003 2004 2005 -266.53% 2006 -266.5 2007 19.03% 30.45% 15.10% 28.13% 19.03%

Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) 30.45% 15.10% 28.13%

Year

Saravanan Jayaraman

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Return On Equity (ROE) :

Return on equity measures a companys profitability by revealing how much profit a company generates using the money shareholders invested with it. It expresses the sum of net income returned as a percentage of shareholders equity. Higher percentage return will be a sign of stronger performance and stability of organisation. In last five years, except year 2006 Costain offered good returns because the company went to loss of 54 after tax in 2006 which was mainly due to the closure of international business and certain dispute contracts. But the year 2007 Costain made returns [58.39%] well above the benchmark ratio of 22% and this trend shows definite positive outlook for the coming years. In general it is used to compare investment in the company against other investment opportunities, such as stocks, real estate, savings, etc

Performance Ratios
150.00% 104.89% 36.07% 58.39% 19.78%

Return on Equity

100.00% 50.00% 0.00% -50.00% -100.00% -150.00% 2003 2004

-97.83% 2005 2006 -97.83 2007 58.39%

Return on Equity (ROE) 36.07% 19.78% 104.89

Year

Profit Margin :
A ratio of profitability calculated as profit before tax divided by turnover. It measures how much out of every pound of sales a company actually keeps in earnings. Profit margin is very useful when comparing companies operating in similar industries. A higher profit margin indicates a more profitable company and it has better control over its costs compared to its competitors. Saravanan Jayaraman
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Matriculation No: 081386608

D31CI - *Construction Financial Management

Coursework 2009

Overall performance of Costain with respect to profit margin is not satisfactory. It is lower than the bench mark level of 5%. But factors such as strong performance and significantly strengthened cash position of 132.8 million, Companys concentration on long-term multi-year network contract and current growth from the 2006 down fall, anticipate higher profit margin for the subsequent years.

Performance Ratios
6.00% 4.00% 3.69% 1.56%

Profit Margin

2.00% 0.00% -2.00% -4.00% -6.00% -8.00% -10.00%

2.58%

2.65%

-8.24% 2003 2004 1.56% 2005 3.69% 2006 -8.24% 2007 2.65%

Profit Margin 2.58%

Year

Net Asset Turnover :

The Net asset turnover ratio calculates the total sales [revenue] for every pound of assets a company owns. It measures the number of times that assets are covered by sales. The higher the value, the more sales for each pound invested and hence more profit generated. Below chart shows that company has highest turnover ratio for the year 2006 regardless of its loss of 61.7 million before tax which reflect the companys efficiency in asset management. But in year 2007, net asset turnover ratio gone down to 8.62, however it is above the benchmark level of 3.6. Hence overall performance of the company related to net asset is good for the past five years.

Saravanan Jayaraman

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Matriculation No: 081386608

D31CI - *Construction Financial Management

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Performance Ratios
35.00 30.00 25.00 20.00 15.00 10.00 5.00 0.00 Net Assets TurnOver 2003 12.25 2004 10.93 12.25 10.93 7.45 8.62 30.93

Net Asset Turnover

2005 7.45

2006 30.93

2007 8.62

Year

Fixed Asset Turnover :

The fixed-asset turnover ratio measures a company's capability to generate net sales from fixed-asset investments such as property, plant and equipment. A higher fixed-asset turnover ratio shows that the company is more efficient in using fixed assets to generate revenues. The fixed-asset turnover ratio is calculated as turnover divided by fixed asset.

Performance Ratios
14.00

Fixed Asset Turn Over

12.00 10.00 8.00 6.00 4.00 2.00 0.00 Fixed Assets Turnover

12.65 11.11 10.08 7.88 8.82

2003 12.65

2004 11.11

2005 7.88

2006 8.82

2007 10.08

Year

Saravanan Jayaraman

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Matriculation No: 081386608

D31CI - *Construction Financial Management

Coursework 2009

From the graph, year 2007 companys fixed asset turnover ratio [10.08] is well above the benchmark level of 8.2. During the past five years, In the year 2005 only ratio went below the benchmark level. It shows that generally, Costain effectively managed its fixed assets.

Woking Capital Ratio :

The working capital ratio is used to analyse the relationship between the money used for operations and the sales generated from these operations. This indicates how effectively a company used its working capital to generate sales. In general, the higher the working capital ratio, better the performance because it means that the company generated a lot of sales compared to the money it used to fund the sales.

Performance Ratios
800.00

Working Capital Ratio

700.00 600.00 500.00 400.00 300.00 200.00 100.00 0.00 (100.00) Working Capital Ratio 2003 389.69 389.69

673.20

138.39 59.81 (12.33) 2004 673.20 2005 138.39 2006 (12.33) 2007 59.81

Year

In the past five years of operations, only during year 2006 Costain went to negative working capital ratio & below the benchmark level of 12.10%.The reason being is company has to pay off bank loans and other liabilities incurred due to underwritten values & closure of international divisions. In the year 2007, companys working capital ratio [59.81] was well above the benchmark level [12.1], it indicates Costain relatively earned more revenue when compare to fund used for its operations.

Saravanan Jayaraman

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Matriculation No: 081386608

D31CI - *Construction Financial Management

Coursework 2009

Stock Turnover :
Stock turnover ratio is one of the accounting liquidity ratios. This ratio measures the velocity of conversion of stock into sales. In other words amount of consumable is being stored / stocked in company to be used for works. Its purpose is to measure the liquidity of the stock and it should be compared against industry averages. Lower ratio implies poor sales and, therefore, excess stock. A high ratio shows either strong sales or ineffective buying. High stock levels are unhealthy because that signifies an investment with a zero rate of return. In the past five years, only on year 2004 & 2005 Costains stock turnover went below the benchmark level. Last year 2007 it reduced to 15.64 from 19.64 but still above the benchmark level of 14.2, mainly due to increase in number of works in progress. This signifies company is efficient in stock management.

Performance Ratios
25.00 20.00 19.07 19.64 15.64 10.03 10.20

Stock Turnover

15.00 10.00 5.00 0.00 Stock Turnover

2003 19.07

2004 10.03

2005 10.20

2006 19.64

2007 15.64

Year

Debtors Turnover :
Debtor ratio measures the value of secured money dues from clients and others with respect to sales. Higher ratio implies positive cash flow and effective management of working capital. Below graph shows decrease in ratio from 2003 to 2005 and from 2006 it started increasing and reached to 5.14 in year 2007. Still the Costains debtor ratio [5.14] is much lesser than the bench Saravanan Jayaraman
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Matriculation No: 081386608

D31CI - *Construction Financial Management

Coursework 2009

mark level of 22. It shows company is adopting relaxed payment terms or facing difficulties in payment collection. Costain should make stringent payment terms otherwise this will lead to money borrowing to operate the ongoing projects.

Performance ratios
6.00 5.00 5.48 4.55 4.75 4.18 5.14

Debtors Turnover

4.00 3.00 2.00 1.00 0.00 Debtors Turnover 2003 5.48 2004 4.55

2005 4.18

2006 4.75

2007 5.14

Year

Creditors Turnover :
Creditors ratio shows how many times in one accounting period the company turns over (repays) its accounts payable to creditors. A higher ratio indicates either that the company has decided to hold on to its money longer or that it is having greater difficulty paying creditors.

Performance Ratios
10.00 9.00 8.00 7.00 6.00 5.00 4.00 3.00 2.00 1.00 0.00 Creditors Turnover 9.20 7.77 7.21 5.97 6.27

Creditors Turnover

2003 9.20

2004 7.77

2005 7.21

2006 5.97

2007 6.27

Year

Saravanan Jayaraman

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Matriculation No: 081386608

D31CI - *Construction Financial Management

Coursework 2009

Costains creditor turnover is consistently reduced from 2003, even though ratio increased to 6.27 in year 2007 which is below the benchmark level of 18.1.It implies Costain has more liabilities and takes longer period to pay its subcontractors and suppliers. Companys creditor turnover is higher than the debtor turnover, it shows company can pay all its credits without liquidating any assets or borrowing any loans.

6.2 Financial Standing : Current Ratio :

The current ratio measures the companys general liquidity and mainly used to assess the company's ability to pay back its short-term liabilities (payables and debt) with its short-term assets (cash, receivables & inventory). Higher ratio indicates company is more capable of paying its current obligations. On other hand if it is less than 1 implies that the company would be unable to meet its current obligations if they come due at that point.

Financial Standing
1.20 1.00 1.01 1.00 1.02 0.78 1.05

Current Ratio

0.80 0.60 0.40 0.20 0.00 Current Ratio 2003 1.01 2004 1.00 2005 1.02

2006 0.78

2007 1.05

Year

The above graph shows that Costains current ratio is continuously less than the benchmark level of 1.2 during the last five year period, this shows the company is not in good financial health. It does not necessarily mean that Costain will go bankrupt as there are several ways to access financing, but it is definitely not a good sign.

Saravanan Jayaraman

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Matriculation No: 081386608

D31CI - *Construction Financial Management

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Acid Test Ratio :

A stringent test that signifies whether a company has enough short-term assets to cover its immediate liabilities without relying on the sale of inventory. The acid-test ratio is far more strenuous than the current ratio, primarily because the current ratio allows for the inclusion of inventory assets. Guideline of the ratio is Generally 1:1. Companies with acid test ratios of less than one cannot meet their current liabilities. However significantly higher ratio indicates the funds are not utilised to its best possible level. In the Costain case as shown in the graph below, the acid-test ratio [0.87] is less than the benchmark level of 0.90, Company may face difficulties in paying its current liabilities without selling its inventory. Costains acid-test ratio [0.87] is not much lower than the current ratio [1.05], it indicates that currently company is in good financial health and their current assets are not highly dependent on inventory.

Financial Standing
1.00 0.90 0.80 0.70 0.60 0.50 0.40 0.30 0.20 0.10 0.00 Acid Test Ratio 0.87 0.69 0.74 0.65

0.84

Acid Test Ratio

2003 0.84

2004 0.69

2005 0.74

2006 0.65

2007 0.87

Year

Gearing Ratio :
Gearing ratio is a measure of financial leverage, signifying the degree to which a company's activities are financed by owner's funds versus creditor's funds. Higher ratio implies that the higher reliance on borrowing & long term debt, on other hand lower the gearing ratio, higher the reliance on equity financing.

Saravanan Jayaraman

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Matriculation No: 081386608

D31CI - *Construction Financial Management

Coursework 2009

A company with high gearing ratio is more exposed to financial risk because it must continue to service its debt despite of how bad sales are. Past five years record shows that Costains gearing ratio is consistently below the benchmark level of 0.25 which implies that company is good in fund position and currently not exposed to financial risk.

Financial Standing
0.04 0.03 0.03 0.02 0.02 0.01 0.01 0.00 -0.01 -0.01 Gearing Ratio 0.03 0.02 0.02 0.01

Gearing Ratio

0.01

2003 0.02

2004 0.01

2005 0.01

2006 0.03

2007 0.02

Year

Interest Cover :
Interest cover used to determines the company's ability to meet interest payments on outstanding debits. It also assesses the capacity to take on more debt. The higher the ratio, the greater the company's ability to meet its interest payments from profits and possibly take on more debt. Similarly, a low value suggests that the company is potentially in risk of not being able to pay its interest obligations. In year the 2005 & 2006, Costain may have faced difficult situation to pay their interest as the ratio went down to negative. But in year 2007 interest cover ratio [5] went above the benchmark level of 4.5, at this moment company is in secured position to meet its interest payments. It obviously shows the Costains potential for the future growth.

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Matriculation No: 081386608

D31CI - *Construction Financial Management

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Financial Standing
30.00 20.00 10.00 0.00 -10.00 -20.00 -30.00 -40.00 -50.00 Interest Cover 25.83 7.75 5.00

Interest Cover

-23.04 -42.67 2003 25.83 2004 7.75 2005 -42.67 2006 -23.04 2007 5.00

Year

6.3 Investment Return : Dividend Yield :

Dividend yield reveals how much a company pays out in dividends each year relative to its share price. Generally it is an indication of the income generated through a share of stock.

Investment Return
2.70% 2.20% 2.13%

Dividend Yield

1.70% 1.20% 0.70% 0.20% -0.30% Divident yield 0.00% 2003 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 2007 2.13%

2004 0.00%

2005 0.00%

2006 0.00%

Year

On year 2007, Costain declared dividend to shareholders for the first time in 17 years. But the dividend yield [2.13%] is below the benchmark level of 6%, However this may not be considered as negative trend, since increase in market price also reduces the yield percentage and provide more benefit rather than increase in dividend per share. Saravanan Jayaraman
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Matriculation No: 081386608

D31CI - *Construction Financial Management

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Dividend Cover :
The dividend cover ratio advises us how easily a company can pay its dividend from profits. It generally used to measures the ability of the company to pay dividend on share which carries a declared rate of return. In general a ratio of 2 or higher is considered to be safe in the sense that the company can well afford the dividend but anything below 1.5 is risky. If the ratio is below 1, it signifies that the company is utilising its retained earnings from a previous year to pay current year's dividend The below graph shows, Costains dividend cover for the year 2007 is much higher [7.2] than the benchmark level of 2. It implies that the company can easily afford to pay the dividend.

Investment Return
8.20 7.20 6.20 5.20 4.20 3.20 2.20 1.20 0.20 -0.80 Divident Cover 7.20

Dividend Cover

0.00 2003 0.00

0.00 2004 0.00

0.00 2005 0.00

0.00 2006 0.00 2007 7.20

Year

Price / Earnings Ratio :

Price/Earnings ratio is used to assess a company's current share price compared to its per-share earnings. The P/E ratio is a critical ratio for investors and is widely used by investors to decide whether or not to invest in a particular company. The below graph shows, Costain performed well when compare to last year negative Price/earnings ratio of [-3.39]. However P/E ratio for the year 2007 [6.53] is much lower than the benchmark ratio of 29. In the past five years,

Saravanan Jayaraman

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Matriculation No: 081386608

D31CI - *Construction Financial Management

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company never reached the benchmark level. It suggests that Costain has to take appropriate measure to gain its market value in order to attract more investors.

Investment Return
20.00

Price/Earnings Ratio

18.43

15.00 10.00 5.00 0.00 -5.00 Price / Earnings Ratio -3.39 2003 9.80 2004 18.43 2005 6.50 2006 -3.39 2007 6.53 9.80 6.50 6.53

Year

Future Prospects :
Costains significant recovery from last years under performance, current net cash balance 132.8 [2006: 53.3], relatively good financial ratios against the benchmark levels and 700million secured order for upcoming year is evident that overall future prospect of the company is very good. Advise to Clients: Without doubt client can go ahead to place an order with Costain as the company has strong hold of capital and good net cash balance, this will definitely help the company to sustain in any financial turbulence. Costain is offering relaxed payment terms as the companys debtor turnover ratio is very low compared to benchmark level. Other core areas such as performance, liquidity level, skilled manpower, multicultural approach and the diversified field of operation will be an added advantage to the clients. Advise to subcontractors and suppliers: Business with Costain generally is not favourable for subcontractors and suppliers as the creditors turnover ratio is nearly one third of the benchmark level which reflects Company is holding subcontractors and suppliers payment for longer period. Costain is good for the subcontractor, who can offer longer payment period since they have better opportunity to get continuous business through their nine different sectors of operation.

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D31CI - *Construction Financial Management

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Advise to investors: Costains current investment ratios such as dividend cover and price/earnings are well below the benchmark level, however company has made remarkable progress from the year 2006 to 2007 which is evident in the above financial ratios. In this period the company has come out of loss of 61.7million to a profit of 19.8million which is a very good growth interm of making profits and the overall performance. It will be worth to invest in it, if the above upward trend continuous. Advise to job applicant: Construction management professionals are encouraged to join this company as they have already secured an order of 700million for the upcoming year and currently company is in good financial health which is apparent by their financial standing ratios. Costains major performance ratios are well above the benchmark level except profit margin, which is also expected to gain if the same growth trend continues.

Conclusion :
This corporate analysis is prepared based on the information/data which is collected through annual reports of the Costain group for the year 2007 and interpretation of the same. Generally company performance and financial standing is good, but investment returns are well below the benchmark level. However significantly improved performance when compared to year 2006, increased finance base and diversification to other potential sectors reflect, now company is in the improvement path with an ability to produce good investment returns.

Saravanan Jayaraman

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D31CI - *Construction Financial Management

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References : 9.1) Professor Ammar Kaka. (2005) Construction Financial Management Class Notes. 9.2) Costain Group Annual Report for 2007. 9.3) Costains balance Sheet information. [Online] Available From:
http://investing.businessweek.com/businessweek/research/stocks/fin ancials/financials.asp?symbol=COSG.L&dataset=balanceSheet&period= A&currency=native [Accessed 21st February 2009].

9.4) Financial

Ratios.

[Online]

Available

From: From: 21st

http://www.investopedia.com [Accessed 21st February 2009]. Ratios. [Online] Available 9.5) Financial http://www.bized.co.uk/compfact/ratios/index.htm[Accessed February 2009].

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