Boots Plc and Sainsbury Plc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Boots Plc and Sainsbury Plc - Essay Example At the end of the report, the financial and non-financial factors that are critical to the future performance of both the companies are presented. Both the companies, Boots and Sainsbury are well-known names in retail industry. United Kingdom is the centre of the companies’ major business operations and although both the companies run their business outside the country also, but most of the companies’ sales are from the UK segment. The Boots Plc Group’s major activities include retailing of chemists’ merchandise, the provision of opticians’ and other healthcare services, the development, manufacture and marketing of healthcare and consumer products. The group’s major business segments include Boots The Chemists, Boots Opticians, Boots Healthcare International and Boots Retail International (Boots Plc Annual Reports, accessed 23/11/2005) Boots the Chemist operates over 1,400 stores, where in nearly every store there is a pharmacist to offer guidance and help on healthcare matters. J Sainsbury Plc is a leading UK food retailer with interests in financial services. It consists of Sainsbury's Supermarkets, Sainsbury's Local, Bells Stores, Jacksons Stores and JB Beaumont, Sainsbury's to You and Sainsbury's Bank. It employs 153,000 people A large Sainsbury's Supermarket offers around 30,000 products, 50% of these are Sainsbury's own brand including fresh produce. In addition to a wide rang e of quality food and grocery products, many stores offer delicatessen, meat and fish counters, pharmacies, coffee shops, restaurants and petrol stations (Company Overview, accessed 24/11/2005) The comparison and analysis of these two companies' financial performance and position has been broken down into sections so as to be useful for various users of the company's financial statements. It will be of assistance to the companies' management in assessing their performance over the recent year and making plans to overcome any future risks and failures. The companies' investors would find this comparison beneficial in order to decide on which company to choose for investment and which company offers better investment potential. The lenders would benefit from this report in terms of being aware of the companies' solvency and liquidity position. PART B: FINANCIAL ANALYSIS Analysis From Management's Viewpoint A company's management is concerned with the financial results of its performance over the year that shows the management's capability and efficiency to generate sales and profit for the business effectively. The following ratios would be helpful in analysing both the companies from the management's viewpoint: Return on Capital Employed Boots Plc Sainsbury Plc 18.83% 1.64% The Return on Capital Employed ratio shows how much a company earns on the investment made in the assets. Boots Plc's return on capital employed ratio reveals a much profitable snapshot of the company's performance whereas Sainsbury Plc's financial results exhibit a much weaker position of the company in utilising its assets towards profit generation as compared to Boots Plc. Gross Profit Ratio Boots Plc Sainsbury Plc 46.13% 4.12% The Gross Profit ratio analyses the company's profit margin before accounting for various operating costs. Therefore, it represents the profit margin after accounting for cost of sales. Here, Boots Plc's financial results show that company is getting more profit on its sales after accounting