Haefren Baum Essays

Haefren Baum is a furniture retailer, established in 1965 and was incorporated in 1970. Haefren Baum receives its merchandise from Wiegandt GmbH Cologne, a nearby manufacturer, whose business relationship equals over twenty-seven years. The company has one retail location in Cologne, Germany and three recently constructed outlet stores in nearby suburban areas. Demand and product sales are influenced by consumer discretionary income. In 1993, an economic bust in the German economy resulted in a major dip in GDP. Demand for the industry is cyclical and is influenced by the overall

Their increase in cash conversion days shows their inefficiency that was caused by their increase in accounts receivable days from 53 to 77 and inventory days from 103 to 130. They are also suffering from a decrease in operating profits due to the decline in sales. I expect operations to remain steady at this level, as Wiegandt will continue to offer flexible credit to maintain their own sales volume. This is dangerous and can eventually lead to financial collapse if Haefren does not increase their sales.

This is evidence the company is having problems making profit. Haefren needs to address is the delinquency of their customers’ accounts, from 93 to 95, days sales outstanding have increased to 77 days, which is a lot higher than the 30-day monthly installment terms. The company is not stringent in collection efforts but this can be because of the economic condition in Germany. The company does not manage its assets very well. Its decrease in fix asset turnover from 6.98 in 1993 to 5.39 in 1995 can be because of their decrease in sales, but the low total asset turnover which is also decreasing from 2.1 to 1.5 prove that their assets are not being used very efficiently. Since sales are decreasing and competition increases their inventory days has also increased from 103 to 129 which again could cause low price. The company is already experiencing a loss of revenue due to the fact they lowered price because of economic condition.

Given the net sales in 2011 is still higher than 2010, we can assume the problem is most likely with its operating cost management. On the other hand, HH’s assets turnover rate dropping 0.30 from 2010 suggests an inefficiency of generating more sales with its increased assets in 2011.

Bashana Haba’ah was composed by Nurit Hurish, composer of over 1,000 songs and one of Israel’s most prolific and diverse composers, in 1967. This piece in particular comes from Israel and is a Hebrew song. Jewish music first originated in the Middle East area about 2,000 years ago, specifically in the land of Israel, and has continued to spread from there, soon reaching America, where we now sing and perform it today. Something interesting about this piece is that it was written shortly after the Six-Day War and a lot of the poetry throughout the piece creates a very strong image of a world in peace, without war.

Although the company seems to be profitable, it has faced shortage of cash. It happened due to increase in Accounts Receivable as well as Inventories. On the other hand, Accounts Payable does not increase that rapidly and difficulties regarding cash collection become evident. Furthermore, the cash collection cycle becomes larger (59 days in year 2003, while more than 70 in year 2006).

Home Depot, Lowe's and Wolseley are all major building equipment retailers, Wolseley having a more global presence as a UK-based firm that started in Australia. Home Depot is a North American operator and Lowe's is generally in the US only. This paper is going to analyze the balance sheets of these different firms to determine how each has performed over the course of recent years.

Also, according to its leverage ratios, the company’s debts are not only very high, but are also increasing. Its decreasing TIE ratio indicates that its capability to pay interests is decreasing. The company’s efficiency ratios indicate that despite the fact that its fixed assets are increasingly being utilized to generate sales during the years 1990-1991 as indicated by its increasing fixed asset turnover ratio, the decreasing total assets turnover indicate that overall the company’s total assets are not efficiently being put to use. Thus, as a whole its asset management is becoming less efficient. Last but not the least, based on its profitability ratios, the company’s ability to make profit is decreasing.

Grant Nauta AHP Case Study Because American Home Products (AHP) currently operates with virtually no debt, their financial risk is very small. This shifts the burden heavily towards business risk. A porter’s five forces analysis is appropriate to determine the exact levels of business risk for American Home Products. First, the threat of substitutes is a risk that AHP cannot afford to ignore. Because they spend very little on Research and Development, and have to rely on their marketing to catch up to competitors, they always seem to be a step behind their competitors. In the industries that AHP operates, switching costs are very low and consumers based on anything from price to overall sentiment. Also, if a competitor markets a product

The depressing tragedy known as Babbitt, by Lewis Sinclair, accurately portrays the convention of life in the 1920’s. Sinclair precisely evokes the conformity and orthodox life styles that shaped a growing culture. Man, in the 1920’s, is caught in a lifestyle where he is continually fed on what to think. Lewis cunningly explains the constraints of convention that plagued George Babbitt, and mocks society as a whole for its lack of liberal views. Babbitt throughout the novel seems to be trapped in a maze, and is told by “the machine” when to turn. Only when Babbitt revolts against conservative America does his life change, but the question is was it for the better?

The firm’s accounts receivable ratio increased from 68.71 in 2006 to 74.56 in 2010. This means that it is taking Abbott almost six days longer to collect from its customers today than it did five years ago. Furthermore, the firm’s accounts payable days has decreased from 43.72 in 2006 to 38.22 in 2010. This means that Abbott is paying its suppliers 5½ days earlier today than it did in 2006. A change in the inventory ratio from 8.01 in 2006 to 11.03 in 2010 indicates that it is taking the firm longer to sell finished goods than it used to. The increase in the accounts receivable and inventory ratios, combined with a decrease in the accounts payable ratio, indicates poor working capital management and helps to explain why the firm has increased its holdings of cash and short-term investments. To correct this, Abbott’s managers should focus on collecting cash from its customers faster and delaying payments to its suppliers. To maximize its cash position, the firm would be best served by paying its suppliers in the same amount of time as it collects payment from its customers.

Bodie Industrial Supply has funded itself mostly through loans. These loans include a bank loan, transport loan, mortage payable and CCB mortage payable. They took out a loan in 2005 in order to pay for the purchase of land, building and equipment. Liz Bodie expects sales growth to increase in 2007 and thus needs funding to build an extension to the warehouse to hold more inventory. Looking at BIS’s cashflow statements, you notice a significant increase in net cash flow from financing from 2005-2006. There is also an increase from the cash flow of operations from 2005-2006. In 2005 net cash flow was -$13,500 and increased rapidly in 2006 to a healthy net cash flow of $49,720. Based on current ratio, the company is losing liquidity, decreasing from 2.63 in 2004 to 1.52 in 2006. The quick ratio is another indication

Utilizing the monthly forecast financial statement provided by Guna Fibres, Exhibit 1, it is necessary to create a statement of cash flows to begin to assess how the company’s capital is being managed through the working capital accounts of the firm. Exhibit 2 shows the breakdown of cash flows on a monthly basis based on the forecasted information provided by Guna Fibres. There are several important insights to point to instability within Guna Fibres. The first trend that is concerning is that according to Guna Fibres forecast, they will require a positive cash flow from financing activities through the month of June 2012 just maintain operations. Certainly, if this was to be presented to the bank there would be no chance that they would be willing to extend credit as Guna Fibres will not be able to zero out the debt balance in the coming months. Examination of Exhibit 3 shows the statement of cash flows for Guna Fibres for year ending in December 2012. Note the highlighted the cell that indicates the change in short term notes payable for the year in the amount of

As given in the working capital for the year 2007 is $183,129 which compared to previous years has fallen drastically. This means that the financial health of the company is deteriorating and this will keep on happening until the company improves it working capital. In terms of Accounts Receivable, Inventory and/or Accounts Payable the age period is 157 days, 12 days and 57 days respectively. The best way to calculate this is to use ratios and for this purpose we will first look into the Days Sales in Inventory which is 365 / Inventory Turnover which is given as 12 days. This means that the company will receive their inventory 30.4 times in 365 days which is very good for the company’s cash flow and will thus benefit the bank as well.

Furthermore, if an organisation does not have enough cash resources in order to settle its current liabilities, this will highlight great inefficiency with stock turnover not being sold. A good company such as Sainsbury’s we see is healthy because revenue is recognised from inventories sold – this revenue allows cash to flow in order to pay for short term and long-term liabilities. It is evident that there are insufficient cash flowing into the company from investing activities and financing activities, which are shown by the brackets.