Annual report for Intercontinental Hotels Group plc for the year ended Essay

Annual report for Intercontinental Hotels Group plc for the year ended 31 December 2011 - Essay Example $ in mn Revenue and Profits 2011 2010 % Inc. Sales 1768 1628 8.60 Operating profit 559 444 25.90 Exceptional items 35 15 133.33 Total operating profit 594 459 29.41 Profit before exceptional items 497 382 30.10 Tax -120 -98 22.45 Profit from continuing operations 377 284 32.75 Exceptional items 83 7 1085.71 Net profit including exceptional items 460 291 58.08 Financial position Good will and other intangible assets 400 358 11.73 Other non-current assets 1990 1952 1.95 Total non-current assets 2390 2310 3.46 Current assets 578 466 24.03 Total assets 2968 2776 6.92 Total current liabilities 860 921 -6.62 Total non-current liabilities 1553 1564 -0.70 Total liabilities 2413 2485 -2.90 Shareholders’ funds 555 291 90.72 Total capital employed 2968 2776 6.92 No. of shares 289472651 Shares issued during the year 1075438 Total number of shares 290548089 289472651 Financial Ratios Earnings per share (EPS) Profit from continuing operations/ 1.30 0.98 Number of shares outstanding ROCE Net income/Capital employed 12.70% 10.23% Operating profit margin (Excl. exceptional items) Operating profit /Capital employed 31.62% 27.27% Operating profit margin (Incl. exceptional items) Total Operating profit /Capital employed 33.60% 28.19% Net profit margin after tax (Excl. exceptional items) Net profit after tax excl. excep. items/Capital employed 21.32% 17.44% Net profit margin after tax (Incl. excep. items) Net profit after tax incl. excep. items/Capital employed 26.02% 17.87% Asset turnover Total sales/Total assets 0.60 0.59 Current ratio Current assets/Current liabilities 0.67 0.51 Acid test ratio Quick assets/Current liabilities 0.64 0.49 Receivables collection period Debtors (Trade and other receivables) 369.00 371.00 Total debtors/Sales x 365 76.18 83.18 Payables payment period Creditors (Trade and other payables) 707.00 722.00 Total purchases or cost of sales 771.00 753.00 Creditors/Cost of sales x 365 334.70 349.97 Gearing Total debt/Total equity 4.35 8.54 Interest cove r Interest charges (Interest) 64.00 64.00 Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT)/Interest 5.89 4.44 Price earnings ratio Share price as on 31 December ?11.57 ?12.43 Share price / EPS 8.92 12.67 Dividend cover Dividend paid to shareholders 148 121 Dividend paid/Net income 2.55 2.35 Revenue per available room Revenue per available room is up by 6.2% Revenue per room has been calculated by the company by dividing the total room revenue by the number of room nights available. Analysis of the financial performance and position InterContinental Hotels Group is a global hotel company, operating seven highly-respected brands internationally. Total number of rooms operating under IHG brands is 658,348 (4,480 hotels). IHG’s portfolio of brands includes Inter Continental Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo, The Holiday Inn, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites. The performance of the management should be viewed in relation to the industry for the purpose of meaningful evaluation. The revenue per availab

Advertisements on YouTube

Advertisements on YouTube How YouTube TV Could Help Google Finally Crack the TV Ad Marketby Mike Shields (2017, March 1) Advertising is an imaginative and fast-moving industry that utilisations different media outlets to inspire individuals to purchase products and services and change their mentalities, reaches and motivate massive audiences. This industrys growth increases rapidly because of the changing social patterns and economic liberalisation that are happening today. The most recent couple of years have seen a noteworthy move in the advertising business, with billions of dollars that once streamed into TV ads being moved to the world of online video. YouTube has been among the greatest winners of this change, which is being driven to a limited extent by viewers who progressively pick far from broadcast television companies and costly cable packages. Furthermore, a streaming TV service will be soon offered by YouTube for individuals who would prefer not to pay for a traditional cable. In this essay, I am going to analyse an article How YouTube TV Could Help Google Finally Crack the TV Ad Market w hich was written by Mike Shields (2017) andÂÂ   how a new launched YouTube TV will open even bigger possibilities for advertisers of both persuasive and informative mechanisms by using economic approach of advertising. Advertising can address particular sections by highlighting an association between their identity to the item and the brand. The most recent couple of years have seen a noteworthy move in the advertising business, with billions of dollars that once streamed into TV ads being moved to the universe of online video. YouTube has been among the biggest winners of this transformation, which is being driven in part by viewers who increasingly opt away from broadcast television networks and expensive cable packages. About 40 percent of millennial households rely on just an internet connection for entertainment.(V. Piana, 2005) The major advantages of YouTube launching a TV will be that advertisers will easily reach the younger audience, one of the most valuable and important consumers, as the price of the TV package will be affordable $35 per month for 40-plus channels and youth will be able to access it on their smartphones, and computers live and on demand which is a huge advantage as the y do not to watch anything in the traditional setting. The Google-owned video company will offer channels as CBS, ABC, NBC, ESPN etc. By appealing bigger audience, the YouTube TV would increase the number of people watching the commercials; therefore the companies which advertise their products would receive higher revenues, build loyalty and increase referrals. It would lead the businesses to get a decent chance of catching a market share. They would let the buying client realise that they are keeping up a powerful effort to stay indispensable in the marketplace. It also would build a reputation with the customer. The principle effects of advertising is in sale volumes and a product differentiation, by decreasing the relative level of substitution, so to sustain an excellent price over the competitors, which will ensure genuinely high margin on costs, leading to high benefits. Within an industry, firms will differ in the volume of sales and the geographic territory in which they sell. (D. G. Tuerck, 1978) It is really important for commercial firms to find a right advertising strategy in order to be noticed. Even consumer preferences changes over time and they are not usually aware of that as they have vague feelings and intuitions, aspirations. Marketing procedures can fluctuate in the broadness of the product line offered, the number of various brand names attached to things in the line, the rate of new brand presentation, the cost and quality levels of the items, and various different measurements; therefore, segmentation and targeting play significant roles in advertising industry. Withou t a right choice of target market firms would not be able to sell their goods and services. In order to achieve the best outcome businesses instead of trying to serve everyone, need to identify the most attractive parts of the market that they could effectively serve. Markets differ in age, income, preferences, academic ability, geographic location and other characteristics. Furthermore, to analyse current sales, growth rates and expected profitability for various segments. Consider effects of: competitors, availability of substitute products and, the power of buyersÂÂ   and suppliers. As mentioned in the article, different households and viewers could receive different ads based on their shopping history or whats going on in the world at a given moment (M. Shields, 2017); it means that if the firms will be able to target the right audience, they will attract more customers by advertising as better targeted advertising will be developed which is a huge benefit for both customer s not to be annoyed by not interesting ads; and advertisers avoid unsatisfied customer reviews. Advertising interfaces a good to a need, proposing that by consuming the good the need will be satisfied. A typical technique is to interface the product or service to the most fundamental and all-inclusive needs, while without promoting the good would be considered to be a much smaller application and utility. In fact numerous advertisements guarantee happiness to the purchaser, much exaggerating the sensible impact of the product. Moreover, it has been contended that promoting revives latent need or even makes new needs, which prior were not felt. In this manner, promoting tend to raise a whole class of items to higher positioning as far as of perceived needs. In any case, buyers limited rationality, for the most part, confines the number of brands that are remembered in relationship to a class. At the point when asked to name brands from a specific classification (e.g. soft drinks), the customer will immediately reply with the most publicised known brands he knows about, for ins tance: Coca-Cola, Pepsi. YouTube TV will create a huge possibility for less-known brands to increase their popularity as Google may have access to about two minutes of commercial time each hour to sell to advertisers on the cable networks featured in the service.(M. Shields, 2017) During that period of time even smaller brands will be able to reach their potential customers, show products and service for the people who will be interested in that particular area. Consumer preferences are not given but change over time and the bundle of goods that consumers buy does not remain constant but changes radically in composition.(Lees, 1967) One of the basic factors in tis position is the increasing real income of buyers as individuals get better off if they do not just spend more on products that they are already purchasing but consistently redistribute their growing salary over another pattern of expenditure. New items are presented, so customers require information and are ready to pay for it. However, the new launched YouTube TV will create some major difficulties for the cable television. We are entering another period of TV where the conveyance is being downgraded and new models for programming are starting to implement. We are moving toward a tipping point where what we used to call television is transforming into something else at the moment. Cable suppliers, on the off chance that they will try to survive, should improve their plans of action e.g. make their business model look more innovative to attract more people. So that, the advertising firms will be rather advertising where the major population invest their money in. As Google tries to break into the in-home and television advertising market and if the advertising will be profitable on YouTube TV then it will definitely steal a huge market share from the competitors. YouTube, which earns the majority of its revenue from advertising, is forecast to generate over $7bn in sales worldwide in 2017, according to rese arch group eMarketer. (H. Kutchler, 2017) Within the article M. Shields (2017) commented that Mr. Ferber believes that if Google would lower the products subscription rate, it might steal the market share from its competitors, e.g. MVPD (Multichannel Video Programming Distributor). As a consequence of that, YouTube might become the biggest advertising market by overwhelming the traditional TV. According to B. Chaplin and B. Sturgess heavy expenditure of promotion is resulting in bigger concentration in markets. (1981) It means that a shift in the TV from linear feeds to streams would lead to a better development in technology and innovation. And this shift would lead to a higher level of advertising which has a positive cost to society. Bibliography Alba, D. (2017). Google Takes on Cable With YouTube TV-40 Channels for $35. [online] WIRED. Available at: https://www.wired.com/2017/02/youtube-tv-skinny-bundle/ [Last accessed 20 March, 2017]. Chiplin, B. and Sturgess, B. (1981). Economics of advertising. London: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. pp. 104. Economicswebinstitute.org. (2017). Advertising a key concept in Economics and Management. [online] Available at: http://www.economicswebinstitute.org/glossary/advertising.htm#con [Last accessed 1 March, 2017]. Ft.com. (2017). YouTube to launch cable TV package aimed at younger audience. [online] Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/cf3a9d16-fe06-11e6-8d8e-a5e3738f9ae4 [Last accessed 10 March, 2017]. Lees, D. (1967). The economics of advertising. 1st ed. London: The Advertising Association, pp.71. Shields, M. (2017). How YouTube TV Could Help Google Finally Crack the TV Ad Market. [online] WSJ. Available at: https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-youtube-tv-could-help-google-finally-crack-the-tv-ad-market-1488409018 [Last accessed 20 March, 2017]. Tuerck, D. (1978). Issues in Advertising. 1st ed. Washington: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, pp. 99.

Tibet Essay -- Country Government Essays

Tibet Abstract The purpose of this paper is to give a descriptive account of the current atrocities being implemented by the Communist Chinese in the unlawfully occupied state of Tibet and the events, political and militant, that gave rise to these events since Communist Invasion and occupation in 1959. I plan to give a brief description of the political, legal, and military issues as well as the human rights violations that have occurred since 1959. This paper will convey my deep resentment towards human suffering, especially genocide and the apathetic response to it, the highest atrocity of man in my opinion. Facts about Tibet. 14,000 feet above sea level, high in the Himalayan Mountains lies Tibet, an occupied colony of the Peoples Republic of China. This small state consists of 6,000,000 Tibetans, 99% of whom illegally practice Tibetan Buddhism, called Mahatlayan, and an undetermined number of Chinese "colonists". The national language is Tibetan, though the new official language is Chinese. The economy is maintained by agricultural and animal husbandry, practiced by the Tibetans, and governmental commerce and service, practiced by the Chinese, who are now estimated to outnumber the native Tibetans. There are, in a sense, two governments of Tibet. The first is the Communist regime, headed by Party officials. The second is the government-in-exile being held in Dharamsala, in northern India, a stateless republic led by the Dalai Lama. Overview of Chinese Invasion and Destruction of Tibet: 1949-1959. During the establishment of a new Communist government in 1959, China sent an expeditionary force to Tibet in 1959. Tibet was forced to sign a treaty that acknowledged Chinese sovereignty over Tibet, though Ti... ...cMillian. 1960. Goldstein, Melvyn. History of Modern Tibet, 1913-1951. London, University of California Press: 1989. United States House Committee on International Relations: Current status on negotiations between the Tibetan government in exile and the Peoples Republic of China: Hearing before the C.I.R., House of Representatives, 105th Congress, November 6th, 1997, Released by Washington: U.S.G.P.O., 1998. China's Public Relations Strategy on Tibet www.afn.org/~afn20372/pol/bp.html (5-4-09) Tibetan Studies WWW Virtual Library www.ciolek.com/WWWVL-TibetanStudies.html (5-4-09) Home Page of Tibet www.omni.cc.purdue.edu/~wtu/tibet/Welcome.html (5-4-09) Tibet www.asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/countries/tibet/ (5-4-09) In the Court of His Holiness The Dalai Lama www.tibet.com/ (5-4-09)

College Students Cheating on Exams Essay

In today’s age when you look at the word â€Å"Cheating†, you may find many different definitions or meanings. Whether you cheat at work; known as fraud, cheat at home; known as dishonesty, or at school, this act of conduct can lead to many consequences made by ones choice. Cheating as a word to me means to not follow rules or standards brought up as a person. As we focus today on students cheating, the first thing that comes to my mind is cheating on an exam. As much as we hate to believe it, students in these days have followed the path of trying to do anything to get that grade. I believe many students today are driven to cheat when there is too much emphasis to ace an exam from both parents and school staff. It’s difficult to dismiss why students cheat, but I think if you eliminate pressure, students are less likely to engage in such conduct. Cheating leads to breaking the rules in many cases. Sometimes cheating can also lead to students finding someone else to help take one another’. No matter how careful teachers or programs are designed to prevent it, students will always find ways to get around obstacles and cheat at one point. Students may think cheating on an exam might seem like an easy way for a student to get a good grade and get ahead in his or her career, but the end result is when students cheat on exams, everyone is affected in many ways. When a student cheats or decides to cheat on an exam, they forget to think about the consequences that occur as a result of the decision made. Have you ever stopped and thought of the different consequences that occur? Consequences can vary depending on the student getting caught cheating. Some professors may issue a grade of a zero as a standard consequence; other professors may report the cheating to school board depending on the kind of test taken. In most cases, the student will be put on academic probation for repeat offenses which can affect the student’s career development. The student may be able to get a job with more responsibilities and more pay, but they may not be able to keep it, or might even harm people. Whether the student’s career is medical assistant, a teacher, or a lawyer, the exams are supposed to show the level of knowledge required for them to perform well and how can one show that when they are cheating on studies or exams. Another consequence of students cheating is that students, who cheat and get caught, cause other current and future students who do not cheat to become penalized for honesty. When students cheat they change the rules of education in favor of themselves. At the same time changing rules for themselves also cause changing rules for those that choose not to cheat, end result at one point or another someone will be affected. When you think of cheating, the question you should ask yourself should be; â€Å"Are you willing to take a huge risk and possibly affect your future? † The end result to cheating is obviously not a good turnout that leads to many different wrong roads. Many people say once a cheater, always a cheater meanings if you cheat once, are you bound to cheat again or will you learn from your mistakes. On the basis of predictability of human conduct, when you think of exams your first perception would be who is going to cheat on the exam. There are many different reasons why people cheat, just as there are differences in individuals who may cheat. For some, cheating is a way of life, one may cheat for some relief and in other cases others may cheat and be caught off guard causing a momentary slipup, which in end result may never happen again. Now what causes a person to act in that behavior, and determine what caused that behavior. What factors lead a person to cheat is what many ask. Eventually one can make a change and not cheat again. I believe schools should organize speakers, programs and workshops in the framework of â€Å"helping a student to cope with stress†. As part of these programs, parents should be made aware of how they often teach their children to cheat by increasing the pressure or demonstrating that success is the ultimate value in life. Students need to learn that you can cheat your way through school, graduate without learning anything, then get a profession and cause another person to get hurt due to not knowing anything in school due to cheating. Next time if you should cheat to make that extra grade, think again because it may result in hurting yourself and your future or the future of others.

Effects of Having a Broken Family on the Academic Performance of the Fourth Year Students

Hispanic IssuesOne hot political, societal and cultural topic is immigration and naturalization. The Hispanic population in the United States has continued to grow and change. One popular research topic is examining this growth and the increased role and influence of Hispanics in American society and politics.SpaceAlthough the race for space of the Cold War has ended, man continues to look to the sky as technology develops and changes. As advancement continues, possibilities for space travel increase. This topic examines the history of space exploration and considers opportunities for the future.Energy SourcesWith a world dependent on nonrenewable resources of energy, this energy dependence impacts the world in many ways. Although some alternative energy options have been developed, they have not yet been able to sufficiently provide for the energy needs of the world's population. This topic considers the history of various energy sources and looks at new developments in this area.Wa ste DisposalWith a world population of around 6 billion, waste disposal is a paramount concern. This population creates a great amount of waste and if it is not handled correctly it can cause great damage to the planet. This topic examines the methods used for waste disposal and recycling and determines what possible changes are available with the development of technology.Imposed DemocracyAfter World War II, the United States had greater influence in countries around the world. Involved publicly in several conflicts, it also influenced policy in other nations â€Å"behind the scenes.† This popular topic considers the role of the United States in other nations and whether or not the U.S. has â€Å"imposed† democracy on other countries.Political Environment in the Middle East The Middle East, continuously an area in turmoil with changes in political leadership, relationships between various countries also change. This topic  examines the history and development of nat ions in the region and how they interact. It also considers possible solutions for peace in the Middle East.The Impact of Globalization on ReligionWith the influence of technology, the world is interconnected in a totally new way. Decisions made in one nation can have an impact on a country half-way around the world. This topic considers how this â€Å"smaller world† has impacted religion and its practices.The Impact of U.N.  Policies on the EnvironmentMan continues to learn more about his impact on the environment of the planet. Some policies have been put in place to try to address global environmental issues. This topic examines whether the U.N. policies that have been put into place have made an impact on human behavior.Marketing and Media Influence on TeensMedia is a very powerful tool that has continued to develop and influence thoughts and beliefs. Marketing is focused on how to influence the choices people make and the products they buy through media channels. This topic considers how marketing negatively impacts teens.Bar Code Implants Replacing Social Security NumbersA controversial topic for many is the use of bar code implants for identification. Although social security numbers can be stolen and identity theft is a big issue, some are very opposed to having any type of body implants for the purpose of identification. This topic can discuss the issues with both methods of identification and describe the technology involved.