Monday, September 30, 2019

The Green Revolution in Iran

On June 12, 2009, a series of protests broke out after the results of the presidential election in Iran. The riots started in the capital city of Tehran, and quickly spread throughout the Islamic Republic. Protestors gathered in other major cities around the world, including New York City (Mackey). Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Iranians were protesting against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s reelection, which was allegedly the result of electoral fraud. These allegations have been investigated by parties in and outside of Iran, including London’s Chatham House and the Institute of Iranian Studies, University of St. Andrews in Scotland, which co-published a report after the election. The report was written by Chatham House's Daniel Berman and Thomas Rintoul, and edited by St. Andrews' Professor Ali Ansari. The following is an excerpt from that report’s summary: In two conservative provinces, Mazandaran and Yazd, a turnout of more than 100% was recorded. In a third of all provinces, the official results would require that Ahmadinejad took not only all former conservative voters, all former centrist voters, and all new voters, but also up to 44% of former reformist voters, despite a decade of conflict between these two groups. 2) The people of Iran are demanding change and a freer government. Now is the time for the United States to recognize a potential new ally. America should support the Green Revolution—named after opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi's campaign color—because a regime change in Iran would strongly promote world peace by removing the Abadgaran[1] regime and its nuclear ambitions; it would remove a regime with a history o f violating the basic human rights of its citizens and foreigners; and it would open up the potential for a new ally and trading partner in the Middle East. Iran’s nuclear policy has changed dramatically since the Ahmadinejad presidency took control of it in August 2005. It has shifted from being open to compromise with the global community to increasing its power and imposing Iran on the region (Chubin 32-33). Paralleling Iran’s nuclear program is a troubling missile program. The Shahab-4, a variant of Iran’s favorite missile, the Shahab-3, has a range of 1,200 miles (FAS). This coupling highly suggests a nuclear weapons program. The Abadgaran regime’s history of violating the human rights of its citizens ranges from harassment to wrongful imprisonment or execution to murder. Women have been harassed by police since the Islamic Revolution for allegedly wearing their hijab[2] improperly. Several hundred women were arrested in Tehran in April of 2007 for their â€Å"bad hijab† (Harrison). The persecution of Baha’is in Iran erupted after the Islamic Republic was established in 1979. Despite being Iran’s largest religious minority group at that time, the rights of the Baha’i community are not mentioned in the Republic’s constitution. It is legal for Iranians to assault, even murder Baha’is because they are left legally unprotected, and labeled â€Å"infidels† (BIC). Another example of Iran’s discrimination is its so-called â€Å"solution† to homosexuality. The government pushes homosexuals to undergo gender reassignment surgeries to conform to its theocratic views on sexuality. These procedures are paid for by the government, and for many poor gays and lesbians in Iran, especially those living in the Republic’s rural areas, it is the only option to â€Å"be like others† (Hays). To conclude assessing the human rights violations of Iran’s theocratic government is the case of 27-year-old Neda Agha-Soltan. Neda was an average young woman in Iran, except that she was taking singing lessons, which is illegal for women in Iran. On June 20th, Neda and her singing instructor got out of her car to get a breath of fresh air near the protests, and she was shot by a Basiji[3] in Tehran (Fathi). She was defenseless, and public attempts to mourn her were broken up by the government. â€Å"Her name means voice in Persian, and many are now calling her the voice of Iran,† said Nazila Fathi in her report of Neda’s death for The New York Times. President George W. Bush’s â€Å"axis of evil† speech undermined support of Iranians who argued for better relations with the United States. When Bush made that speech in 2002, Mohammad Khatami, a reformer, was the president of Iran (Freedman 473). The United States sanctions against Iran have helped to further the Abadgaran regime’s agenda by giving justification to a group that is desperate for it; the sanctions have allowed them to consolidate their power and further oppress Iranians who go against the government’s policies. Iran’s current state is best described in Lawrence Freeman’s A Choice of Enemies: The [Bush] administration found it consistently difficult to get the measure of Tehran. Bush depicted it as a â€Å"nation held hostage by a small clerical elite that is repressing and isolating its people,† but the reality was far more complex . (482) A regime change in Iran could see the lifting of American trade sanctions against Iran; U. S. sanctions have had an impact on Iran’s oil economy. Mohammed Akacem, a petroleum expert at Metropolitan State College of Denver said, â€Å"U. S. oil companies would love to go to Iran, so sanctions have retarded a little bit of Iran’s ability to improve its oil sector (qtd. in Beehner). † Securing another efficient source of oil would help to ease the American economy as alternative energy sources are developed, and workers are trained to perform the tasks necessary to operate these new facilities. The Iranian government's response to this movement is violent and choking. In late July, a mass trial was conducted against over 100 reformist figures, accused of—as reported by Robert F. Worth and Nazila Fathi—â€Å"conspiring with foreign powers to stage a revolution through terrorism . . . (1)†. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei went so far as to say questioning the election was â€Å"the biggest crime (qtd. in Dareini). † The people of Iran are now rising up and demanding their emancipation, and they need support from the global community. The United States needs to support the Green Revolution if it seeks to make a friend of Iran. The proper support could see a regime change and the establishment of an Iran open to cooperation with America, enriching both Iranian and American societies. The average American can help as well if there are organizations set up to aid the opposition movement in Iran by donating and volunteering, and corporate America can set up the aforementioned organizations, and increase the media’s focus on the movement in Iran. All this can be done without any military involvement by the United States. The American Revolution freed us from oppression; let us help the Iranian people free themselves as well.

Industry Analysis: Soft Drinks Essay

Barbara Murray (2006c) explained the soft drink industry by stating, â€Å"For years the story in the nonalcoholic sector centered on the power struggle between†¦Coke and Pepsi. But as the pop fight has topped out, the industry’s giants have begun relying on new product flavors†¦and looking to noncarbonated beverages for growth. † In order to fully understand the soft drink industry, the following should be considered: the dominant economic factors, five competitive sources, industry trends, and the industry’s key factors. Based on the analyses of the industry, specific recommendations for competitors can then be created. Dominant Economic Factors Market size, growth rate and overall profitability are three economic indicators that can be used to evaluate the soft drink industry. The market size of this industry has been changing. Soft drink consumption has a market share of 46. 8% within the non-alcoholic drink industry, illustrated in Table 1. Datamonitor (2005) also found that the total market value of soft drinks reached $307. 2 billion in 2004 with a market value forecast of $367. 1 billion in 2009. Further, the 2004 soft drink volume was 325,367. 2 million liters (see Table 2). Clearly, the soft drink industry is lucrative with a potential for high profits, but there are several obstacles to overcome in order to capture the market share. The growth rate has been recently criticized due to the U. S. market saturation of soft drinks. Datamonitor (2005) stated, â€Å"Looking ahead, despite solid growth in consumption, the global soft drinks market is expected to slightly decelerate, reflecting stagnation of market prices. † The change is attributed to the other growing sectors of the non-alcoholic industry including tea and coffee (11. 8%) and bottled water (9. 3%). Sports drinks and energy drinks are also expected to increase in growth as competitors start adopting new product lines. 2 Profitability in the soft drink industry will remain rather solid, but market saturation especially in the U. S. has caused analysts to suspect a slight deceleration of growth in the industry (2005). Because of this, soft drink leaders are establishing themselves in alternative markets such as the snack, confections, bottled water, and sports drinks industries (Barbara Murray, 2006c). In order for soft drink companies to continue to grow and increase profits they will need to diversify their product offerings. The geographic scope of the competitive rivalry explains some of the economic features found in the soft drink industry. According to Barbara Murray (2006c), â€Å"The sector is dominated by three major players†¦Coca-Cola is king of the soft drink-empire and boasts a global market share of around 50%, followed by PepsiCo at about 21%, and Cadbury Schweppes at 7%. † Aside from these major players, smaller companies such as Cott Corporation and National Beverage Company make up the remaining market share. All five of these companies make a portion of their profits outside of the United States. Table 3 shows that the US does not hold the highest percentage of the global market share, therefore companies need to be able to compete globally in order to be successful. Table 4 indicates that Coca-Cola has a similar distribution of sales in Europe, North America, and Asia. On the other hand, the majority of PepsiCo’s profits come from the United States (see Table 5). Compared to PepsiCo, Cadbury Schweppes has a stronger global presence with their global mix (see Table 7). Smaller companies are also trying to establish a global presence. Cott Corporation is a good example as indicated in Table 8. The saturation of the US markets has increased the global expansion by soft drink leaders to increase their profits. The ease of entry and exit does not cause competitive pressure on the major soft drink companies. It would be very difficult for a new company to enter this industry because they 3 would not be able to compete with the established brand names, distribution channels, and high capital investment. Likewise, leaving this industry would be difficult with the significant loss of money from the fixed costs, binding contracts with distribution channels, and advertisements used to create the strong brand images. This industry is well established already, and it would be difficult for any company to enter or exit successfully. Three leading companies have prominent presence in the soft drink industry. The leaders include the Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, and Cadbury Schweppes. According to the Coca- Cola annual report (2004), it has the most soft drink sales with $22 billion. The Coca-Cola product line has several popular soft drinks including Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Fanta, Barq’s, and Sprite, selling over 400 drink brands in about 200 nations (Murray 2006a). PepsiCo is the next top competitor with soft drink sales grossing $18 billion for the two beverage subsidiaries, PepsiCo Beverages North America and PepsiCo International (PepsiCo Inc. , 2004). PepsiCo’s soft drink product line includes Pepsi, Mountain Dew, and Slice which make up more than one- quarter of its sales. Cadbury Schweppes had soft drink sales of $6 billion with a product line consisting of soft drinks such as A&W Root Beer, Canada Dry, and Dr. Pepper (Cadbury Schweppes, 2004). Financial Analysis The carbonated beverage industry is a highly competitive global industry as illustrated in the financial statements. According to John Sicher of Beverage Digest (2005), Coca-Cola was the number one brand with around 4. 5 billion cases sold in 2004. Pepsi followed with 3. 2 billion cases, and Cadbury had 1. 5 billion cases sold. However, the market share shows a different picture. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo control the market share with Coca-Cola holding 43. 1% and Pepsi with 31. 7% (see Graph 1); however these market shares for both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo 4 have slightly decreased from 2003 to 2004. Coca-Cola’s volume has also decreased 1. 0% since 2003, whereas PepsiCo’s volume has increased 0. 4% (see Graph 1). Diet Coke posted a 5% growth, but Coca-Cola’s other top 10 brands declined (Sicher, 2005). Overall, Coca-Cola’s market position has declined in 2004. The strategic group map (see Graph 1) also shows the growth of Cott Corp. of 18% which is significantly higher than that of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. The American Beverage Association (2006) states that in 2004, the retail sales for the entire soft-drink industry were $65. 9 billion. Barbara Murray (2006e) analyzed the industry averages for 2004 and average net profit margin was 11. 29%. The current ratio average was 1. 11 and the quick ratio average was 0. 8. These figures help analyze the financial statements of the major corporations in the industry. As shown in Table 13, Coca-Cola has seen their net profit margin increase from 20. 7% to 22. 1% from 2003 to 2004. According to Coca-Cola’s annual report (2004), 80% of their sales are from soft drinks; therefore the total sales amount was used for their financial analysis. These figures show that their profits are increasing, but at a slow rate. This is in line with what is happening in the soft drink industry. The market is highly competitive and growth has remained at a stable level. The slight increase in Coca-Cola’s profit margin is most likely from their new energy drink product line. This industry is currently expanding rapidly, and is allowing the major beverage companies to increase their profits. Table 13 also shows Coca-Cola’s working capital was around $1. 1 billion in 2004. This is a large increase from 2003 at only $500 million. This shows that they have sufficient funds to pursue new opportunities. However, their current ratio and quick ratio are a cause for concern. A current ratio of 2 or better is considered good and Coca-Cola’s was 1. 102. This number shows that they may not have enough funds to cover short term claims. The quick ratio for 2004 was at 5 0. 906 and is considered good when it is greater than 1. This illustrates that Coca-Cola may not have the ability to pay short term debt without selling inventory. These two numbers are a concern because they are not able to satisfy their short term obligations. The current and quick ratios are in line with the industry averages, however (Murray, 2006e), Coca-Cola needs to improve these ratios in order focus on long-term plans (Coca-Cola Company, 2004). PepsiCo’s financial statements cannot be analyzed for only the soft drinks industry because they do not distinguish between businesses. Over half their profits are from snacks or other beverage items; however there are sales and profit figures for their two beverage subsidiaries. These sales figures grew from almost $16. 5 billion in 2003 to $18 billion in 2004 (Pepsi Co. Inc. , 2004). Their operating profit margin also increased 1% from 2003 to 2004 as illustrated in Table 13. This shows that beverage profits are increasing for them, but also at a slow rate. The increase could be due to the increase in market share that the Pepsi products gained in 2004 (Sicher 2004). The PepsiCo. Annual Report (2004) stated that beverage volume increased 3% in 2004, but was driven by the high growth of the non-carbonated beverage industry. Cadbury’s current and quick ratios are very similar to those of Coca-Cola. The current ratio and quick ratio for Cadbury Schweppes for 2004 were both 0. 917 (see Table 13). Again, the current ratio should be 2 or more, and the quick ratio should be over 1. This illustrates that Cadbury also has difficulty paying short term debt and claims. Cadbury’s net profit margin has increased by 0. 7% from 2003 to 2004. This can be attributed to their market share growth in 2004 of 0. 2% (Sicher, 2005). One ratio that is concerning is their debt to equity ratio for 2004 in Table 13. They have almost two times as much debt as they do to equity, which means that their funds are mainly provided by creditors as opposed to owners. This is concerning because they 6 owe a lot of money, and must make a decent profit to be able to pay it off. The industry average for debt to equity is 81%, and Cadbury is far from that number (2006e). Also, Cadbury has a negative working capital for both 2003 and 2004, meaning they have more liabilities than assets. This shows that they do not have any funds to pursue new opportunities, as their current assets are being used to pay off liabilities (Cadbury, 2004). Overall, the financial statements of the three top competitors in the soft drink industry show that the industry is highly competitive and has little growth. Net profit margins increased for all three corporations, however only at a small rate. It also seems that all three companies lack sufficient current and quick ratios, but are all within a reasonable range of the industry average (2006e). This may be due to expanding their product lines to include energy drinks and non-carbonated beverages in order to increase profits and diversify their business. The soft drinks market is now in the matured stage of the life cycle. Growth in the industry has remained stagnant, and the financial statements of the major corporations in the industry illustrate that their sales and income are following this trend. The companies are in good financial positions; gross profits and net profit margins are continuing to increase each year. The leverage and activity ratios are all within reasonable range. However, one area all three corporations need to improve on is the liquidity ratios. Their quick and current ratios are low and need to be increased so they are able to meet short-term obligations. Five Competitive Forces for Coca-Cola Company The soft drink industry is very competitive for all corporations involved, with the greatest competition being that from rival sellers within the industry. All soft drink companies have to 7 think about the pressures; that from rival sellers within the industry, new entrants to the industry, substitute products, suppliers, and buyers. The competitive pressure from rival sellers is the greatest competition that Coca-Cola faces in the soft drink industry. Coca-Cola, Pepsi Co. , and Cadbury Schweppes are the largest competitors in this industry, and they are all globally established which creates a great amount of competition. Though Coca-Cola owns four of the top five soft drink brands (Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Fanta, and Sprite), it had lower sales in 2005 than did PepsiCo (Murray, 2006c). However, Coca-Cola has higher sales in the global market than PepsiCo. In 2004, PepsiCo dominated North America with sales of $22 billion, whereas Coca-Cola only had about $6. 6 billion, with more of their sales coming from overseas, as shown in Table 4 and Table 5. PepsiCo is the main competitor for Coca-Cola and these two brands have been in a power struggle for years (Murray, 2006c). Brand name loyalty is another competitive pressure. The Brand Keys’ Customer Loyalty Leaders Survey (2004) shows the brands with the greatest customer loyalty in all industries. Diet Pepsi ranked 17th and Diet Coke ranked 36th as having the most loyal customers to their brands. Refer to List 15 for the brand loyalty rankings of the various competitors. The new competition between rival sellers is to create new varieties of soft drinks, such as vanilla and cherry, in order to keep increasing sales and enticing new customers (Murray, 2006c). New entrants are not a strong competitive pressure for the soft drink industry. Coca-Cola and Pepsi Co dominate the industry with their strong brand name and great distribution channels. In addition, the soft-drink industry is fully saturated and growth is small. This makes it very difficult for new, unknown entrants to start competing against the existing firms. Another barrier to entry is the high fixed costs for warehouses, trucks, and labor, and economies of scale. New 8 entrants cannot compete in price without economies of scale. These high capital requirements and market saturation make it extremely difficult for companies to enter the soft drink industry; therefore new entrants are not a strong competitive force (Murray, 2006c). Substitute products are those competitors that are not in the soft drink industry. Such substitutes for Coca-Cola products are bottled water, sports drinks, coffee, and tea. Bottled water and sports drinks are increasingly popular with the trend to be a more health conscious consumer. There are progressively more varieties in the water and sports drinks that appeal to different consumers’ tastes, but also appear healthier than soft drinks. In addition, coffee and tea are competitive substitutes because they provide caffeine. The consumers who purchase a lot of soft drinks may substitute coffee if they want to keep the caffeine and lose the sugar and carbonation. Specialty blend coffees are also becoming more popular with the increasing number of Starbucks stores that offer many different flavors to appeal to all consumer markets. It is also very cheap for consumers to switch to these substitutes making the threat of substitute products very strong (Datamonitor, 2005). Suppliers for the soft drink industry do not hold much competitive pressure. Suppliers to Coca-Cola are bottling equipment manufacturers and secondary packaging suppliers. Although Coca-Cola does not do any bottling, the company owns about 36% of Coca-Cola Enterprises which is the largest Coke bottler in the world (Murray, 2006a). Since Coca-Cola owns the majority of the bottler, that particular supplier does not hold much bargaining power. In terms of equipment manufacturers, the suppliers are generally providing the same products. The number of equipment suppliers is not in short supply, so it is fairly easy for a company to switch suppliers. This takes away much of suppliers’ bargaining power. 9. The buyers of the Coca-Cola and other soft drinks are mainly large grocers, discount stores, and restaurants. The soft drink companies distribute the beverages to these stores, for resale to the consumer. The bargaining power of the buyers is very evident and strong. Large grocers and discount stores buy large volumes of the soft drinks, allowing them to buy at lower prices. Restaurants have less bargaining power because they do not order a large volume. However, with the number of people are drinking less soft drinks, the bargaining power of buyers could start increasing due to decreasing buyer demand (Murray, 2006a). Porter’s Five Forces Model identifies the five forces of competition for any company. The recognition of the strength of these forces helps to see where Coca-Cola stands in the industry. Of the five forces, rivalry within the soft drink industry, especially from PepsiCo, is the greatest source of competition for Coca-Cola. Industry Changes The soft drink industry is affected by macroenvironmental factors of the industry that will lead to change. First, the entry/exit of major firms is a trend in the industry that will likely lead to change. More specifically, merger and consolidation has been prevalent in the soft drinks market, causing some firms to exit the industry and then re-enter themselves. Several leading companies have been looking to drive revenue growth and improve market share through the increased economies of scale found through mergers and acquisitions. One specific example is how PepsiCo acquired Quaker Oats, who bought Gatorade which will help expand PepsiCo’s energy drink sector (Datamonitor, 2005). This trend has increased competition as firms’ diversification of products is increasing. A second trend in the macroenvironment is globalization. With the growing use of the internet and other electronic technologies, global communication is rapidly increasing. This is 10 allowing firms to collaborate within the country market and expand into world markets. It has driven competition greatly as companies strive to be first-movers. Specifically, the global soft drink market’s compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is expected to expand to 3. 6% from 2004 to 2009 (Datamonitor, 2005). Third, changing societal concerns, attitudes, and lifestyles are important trends. In the United States and Europe, people are becoming more concerned with a healthy lifestyle. â€Å"Consumer awareness of health problems arising from obesity and inactive lifestyles represent a serious risk to the carbonated drinks sector† (Datamonitor, 2005, p. 15). The trend is causing the industry’s business environment to change, as firms are differentiating their products in order to increase sales in a stagnant market. Thus, the long-term industry growth rate, the fourth trend, shows low growth in recent years. Since 2000, the CAGR is 1. 5 per cent (Datamonitor, 2005). The low growth rates are of concern for soft drink companies, and several are creating new strategies to combat the low rates. This leads to the fifth trend of growing buyer preferences for differentiated products. Because soft drinks have been around since as early as 1798 (American Beverage Association, 2006), buyers want innovation with the products they buy. In today’s globalizing society, being plain is not good enough. According to Barbara Murray (2006c), â€Å"The key for all of these beverage companies is differentiation. The giants have new formulations and appearances. Whatever the strategy, be it a new color, flavor, or formula, companies will strive to create the greatest brand awareness in the minds of the consumer in the hopes of crowding out its competitors. † Thus, the last trend, product innovation, is necessary to combat buyers need for a variety of tastes. Firms are already differentiating by taste, with the Coca-Cola company as an example. The firm’s product line includes regular Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Diet cherry Coke, 11 cherry Coke, Vanilla Coke, Coca-Cola with Lime, Coca-Cola with lemon and many more (Murray, 2006a). Key Success Factors. Key factors for competitive success within the soft drink industry branch from the trends of the macroenvironment. Primarily, constant product innovation is imperative. A company must be able to recognize consumer wants and needs, while maintaining the ability to adjust with the changing market. They must keep up with the changing trends (Murray, 2006c). Another key factor is the size of the organization, especially in terms of market share. Large distributors have the ability to negotiate with stadiums, universities and school systems, making them the exclusive supplier for a specified period of time. Additionally, they have the ability to commit to mass purchases that significantly lower their costs. They must implement effective distribution channels to remain competitive. Taste of the product is also a key factor for success. Furthermore, established brand loyalty is a large aspect of the soft drink industry. Many consumers of carbonated beverages are extremely dedicated to a particular product, and rarely purchase other varieties. This stresses the importance of developing and maintaining a superior brand image. Price, however, is also a key factor because consumers without a strong brand preference will select the product with the most competitive price. Finally, global expansion is a vital factor in the success of a company within the soft drink industry. The United States has reached relative market saturation, requiring movement into the global industry to maintain growth (Datamonitor, 2005). Recommendations 12 Looking towards the future, the most important recommendation to Coca-Cola is continuing product innovation and expansion of their product line. The soft-drinks industry is fully saturated with competitors. Also, the industry is no longer expanding, and market share is actually decreasing as more consumers are looking to healthier options. By continually introducing new products, Coca-Cola will be able to increase their profits and allow the company to continue to grow. Also, having a diverse product line will make the corporation very stable, which is appealing to investors and creditors. A second recommendation would be to sustain or increase the global market share. Coca-Cola is very well-established globally, and is the global soft-drinks leader. This is very important to sustain because it is the source of the majority of their profits. If they lose global market share, their profits will decline dramatically. A final recommendation for Coca-Cola is to maintain and try to increase their brand loyalty. Diet Coke has the second highest brand loyalty of all the soft-drink competitors’ brands, and solid advertising campaigns will help maintain the brand loyalty. They can also strive to obtain higher brand loyalty in all other brands, not solely Diet Coke. The brand loyalty is important because it will allow Coca-Cola to sustain profits and maintain their market share. 13 Appendix Table 1: Datamonitor (2005, May). Global Soft Drinks: Industry Profile.New York. Reference Code: 0199-0802. Table 2: Datamonitor (2005, May). Global Soft Drinks: Industry Profile. New York. Reference Code: 0199-0802. 14 Table 3: Datamonitor (2005, May). Global Soft Drinks: Industry Profile. New York. Reference Code: 0199-0802. Table: 4 Murray, Barbara. (2006a). The Coca-Cola Company. Hoovers. Retrieved February 13, 2006, from http://premium. hoovers. com/subscribe/co/factsheet. x html? ID=10359 Coca-Cola 2004 Sales $ mil. % of total Europe/Eurasia/Middle East 7,195 33 North America 6,643 30 Asia 4,691 21 Latin America 2,123 10 Africa 1,067 5 Corporate 243 1 Total 21,962 100 Table 5: Murray, Barbara. (2006b). Pepsi Co. Hoovers. Retrieved February 13, 2006, From http://premium. hoovers. com/subscribe/co/profile. xhtml? ID=11166 Pepsi Co. 2004 Sales $ mil. % of total US 18,329 63 Mexico 2,724 9 UK 1,692 6 Canada 1,309 4 Other countries 5,207 18 Total 29,261 100 15 Table 6: Murray, Barbara. (2006b). Pepsi Co. Hoovers. Retrieved February 13, 2006, From http://premium. hoovers. com/subscribe/co/profile. xhtml? ID=11166 Pepsi Co. 2004 Sales $ mil. % of total PepsiCo International 9,862 34 Frito-Lay North America 9,560 33 PepsiCo Beverages North America 8,313 28 Quaker Foods North America 1,526 5. Total 29,261 100 Table 7: Murray, Barbara. (2006d). Cadbury Schweepes Inc. Hoovers. Retrieved February 13, 2006, from http://premium. hoovers. com/subscribe/co/profile. x html? ID=41767 Cadbury Schweppes 2004 Sales % of total Americas Beverages 33 Europe, Middle East, Africa 25 Americas Confectionery 16 Asia/Pacific 16 Europe Beverages 10 Total 100 Table 8: Walker, Tim (2006). Cott Corporation. Hoovers. Retrieved February 13, 2006, from http://premium. hoovers. com/subscribe/co/profile. xhtml? ID=42846 Cott Corporation 2004 Sales $ mil. % of total US 1,221. 8 74 Canada 189. 5 12 UK & Europe 186. 9 11. International 48. 1 3 Total 1,646. 3 100 Table 9: Select Financial Data from 2004 Income Statements. 2004 Annual Reports. (in millions) *only 50% of total sales included, the part attributed to beverage sales 16 Table 10: Select Financial Data from 2003 Income Statements. 2004 Annual Reports. (in millions) *only 50% of total sales included, the part attributed to beverage sales Table 11: Select Financial Data from 2004 Balance Sheets. 2004 Annual Reports. (in millions) *only 50% of total sales included, the part attributed to beverage sales 17 Table 12: Select Financial Data from 2003 Balance Sheets. 2004 Annual Reports. (in millions) *only 50% of total sales included, the part attributed to beverage sales 18 Table 13: Financial Analysis. Annual Reports. 19 Strategic Group Map goes here! 20 List 1: Brand Keys’ Customer Loyalty Leaders survey (2004) Brandweek. com Brand Loyalty Rankings This year/Brand/Last Year 1. Google. com (2) 2. Avis (1) 3. Verizon Long Distance (4) 4. KeySpan Energy (9) 5. Samsung Mobile Phone (7) 6. Hyatt Hotels (19) 7. Sprint Long Distance (3) 8. Canon Office Copier (8) 9. Yahoo. com (14) 10. Miller Genuine Draft (5) 11. Ritz-Carlton Hotels (17) 12. PSE&G (15) 13. Amazon. com (12) 14. Marriott Hotels (13) 15. Swissotel (NR) 16. Discover Card (27) 17. Diet Pepsi (31) 18. Budweiser (16) 19. Motorola Mobile Phone (10) 20. Coors (NR) 21. Netscape. com (59) 22. Sony Ericsson Mobile Phone (93) 23. Capital One Credit Card (29) 24. L. L. Bean Catalogue (20) 25. Wal-Mart (33) 26. Skechers (NR) 27. New Balance Athletic Shoe (22) 28. Miller Lite (87) 29. Starbucks (6) 30. Radisson (48) 31. BP Gasoline (79) 32. Inter-Continental Hotels (NR) 33. Sears Catalogue (30) 34. Verizon Wireless (37) 35. Schwab. com (26) 36. Diet Coke (47) 37. Mobil Gasoline (25) 38. T-Mobile Wireless (76) 39. Bell South Long Distance (28) 40. Adidas Athletic Shoe (23) 41. ETrade. com (42) 42. J. Crew Catalogue (54) 43. FedEx (50) 44. Westin Hotels (73) 45. Excite. com (35) 46. Hilton Hotels (36) 47. HotBot. com (34) 48. Sanyo Mobile Phone (NR) 49. MSN. com (38) 50. AltaVista. com (51) 21 51. AT&T Long Distance (24) 52. Spring PCS Wireless (60) 53. Pepsi (61) 54. Target (62) 55. Jet Blue Airways (67) 56. Bud Light (32) 57. Sears Store (40) 58. Sheraton Hotels (46) 59. Land’s End Catalogue (55) 60. Hampton Inn Hotels (NR) 61. Nokia Mobile Phone (11) 62. MCI Long Distance (83) 63. Holiday Inn Hotels (NR) 64. Ameritrade. com (104) 65. Best Western Hotels (NR) 66. Lycos. com (39) 67. Wyndham Hotels (68) 68. Xerox Office Copier (82) 69. Today (NBC) (56) 70. NFL (70) 71. MLB (58) 72. AOL. com (88) 73. Fox & Friends (Fox News Channel) (NR) 74. Southwest Airlines (64) 75. Exxon Gasoline (43) 76. DHL/Airborne Express (45) 77. BarnesandNoble. com (152) 78. AskJeeves. com (113) 79. Embassy Suites (86) 80. Nextel Mobile Phone (148) 81. SBC Long Distance (21) 82. TDWaterhouse. com (49) 83. Apple Computers (66) 84. Budget Rent A Car (71) 85. Subway (91) 86. Coors Light (81) 87. Texaco Gasoline (18) 88. Poland Spring (NR) 89. Chevron Gasoline (44) 90. J. C. Penney (75) 91. Expedia. com (85) 92. Fidelity. com (65) 93. Qwest Long Distance (41) 94. Visa Card (100) 95. UPS (127) 96. Aquafina (NR) 97. Gateway Computers (53) 98. Hertz (84) 99. Amstel Light (97) 100. Amoco Gasoline (101) 101. Nike (94) 102. Ramada Hotels (NR) 103. T. Rowe Price Mutual Fund (74) 104. Cingular Wireless (107) 105. Con Edison (57) 106. Enterprise Rent-A-Car (90) 22 107. Nextel Wireless (134) 108. Delta Air Lines (72) 109. American Morning (CNN) (63) 110. Arrowhead (NR) 111. Dell Computers (69) 112. Fleet Bank (157) 113. NBA (98) 114. New York Life Insurance (139). 115. Pizza Hut (105) 116. National Discount Brokers (102) 117. MerrillLynch. com (95) 118. NEC (NR) 119. Panasonic Mobile Phone (124) 120. Fidelity (96) 121. Dasani (NR) 122. Papa John’s (118) 123. CDNow. com (153) 124. Datek. com (77) 125. Siemens Mobile Phone (52) 126. IBM Computers (110) 127. Best Buy (154) 128. Reebok Fitness Shoes (103) 129. Sunoco Gasoline (121) 130. Wendy’s (115) 131. Wachovia Bank (89) 132. Good Morning America (ABC) (120) 133. Buy. com (142) 134. Corona (132) 135. CheapTickets. com (NR) 136. HP Computers (92) 137. PNC Bank (NR) 138. Shell Gasoline (119) 139. Dunkin’ Donuts (109). 140. Coca-Cola (129) 141. Citibank (112) 142. Early Show (CBS) (151) 143. AT&T Wireless (99) 144. Travelocity. com (138) 145. Bank of New York (158) 146. Bank of America (NR) 147. Continental Airlines (114) 148. CSFB. com (125) 149. Toshiba Computers (NR) 150. JP Morgan Chase Bank (106) 151. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (117) 152. American Express Credit Card (135) 153. Deer Park (NR) 154. Sony Vaio (111) 155. Fodors. com (128) 156. Domino’s Pizza (122) 157. Compaq Computers (80) 158. KFC (116) 159. Little Caesars (140) 160. Putnam (126) 161. Burger King (136) 162. Vanguard Mutual Fund (78) 23 163. United Air Lines (137) 164. Evian (NR) 165. Heineken (155) 166. Minolta Office Copier (159) 167. Travelers Insurance (144) 168. McDonald’s (141) 169. National Car Rental (145) 170. Sharp Office Copier (169) 171. Hotels. com (147) 172. Janus Mutual Fund (123) 173. Ricoh Office Copier (164) 174. Godfather’s (130) 175. Roundtable Pizza (131) 176. MetLife Insurance (162) 177. First USA (NR) 178. Fila (172) 179. Arby’s (161) 180. American Airlines (143) 181. USPS Parcel Delivery (156) 182. Prudential Insurance (163) 183. Dollar Rent A Car (167) 184. Bank One (NR) 185. Hardee’s (165) 186. Mountain Dew (168) 187. PriceLine. com (160) 188. Chuck E. Cheese Pizza (146) 189. MasterCard (150) 190. US Airways (166) 191. Aetna Insurance (174) 192. 7 Up (170) 193. Dr Pepper (176) 194. Alamo Rent-a-Car (178) 195. Jack in the Box Restaurant (171) 196. Taco Bell (173) 197. The Hartford Insurance (175) 198. Beck’s (179) 199. White Castle (177) 200. NHL (180) 201. Diet 7 Up (108) 202. Kmart (182) 203. Diet Dr Pepper (133) 24 Works Cited American Beverage Association (2005). Soft Drink Facts. Retrieved February 21, 2006 from http://www. ameribev. org/variety/facts. asp Cadbury Schweppes. (2004). 2004 Annual Report. Retrieved February 17, 2006 from http://www. cadburyschweppes. com Datamonitor. (2005, May). Global Soft Drinks: Industry Profile. New York. Reference Code: 0199-0802. Hein, Kenneth. (2004). Brand Loyalty 2004. Retrieved February 12, 2006 from http://www. brandkeys. com/news/press/102504Brandweek. Loyalty. pdf Murray, Barbara. (2006a). The Coca-Cola Company. Hoovers. Retrieved February 13, 2006, from http://premium. hoovers. com/subscribe/co/factsheet. xhtml? ID=10359 Murray, Barbara. (2006b). Pepsi Co. Hoovers. Retrieved February 13, 2006, from http://premium. hoovers. com/subscribe/co/profile. xhtml? ID=11166 Murray, Barbara. (2006c). Carbonated Beverages. Hoovers. Retrieved February 13, 2006, from http://premium. hoovers. com/subscribe/ind/overview. xhtml? HICID=1049 Murray, Barbara. (2006d). Cadbury Schweppes Inc. Hoovers. Retrieved February 13, 2006, from http://premium. hoovers. com/subscribe/co/profile. x html? ID=41767 Murray, Barbara. (2006e). Comparison Data. Hoovers. Retrieved February 13, 2006, from http://premium. hoovers. com/subscribe/co/fin/comparison. xhtml? ID=10359 PepsiCo Inc. (2004). 2004 Annual Report. Retrieved February 17, 2006 from http://www. pepsico. com Sicher, J. D. (2005). Beverage.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Datastream User Guide

INFOSTREAM MAY/JUNE 2008 IN THIS ISSUE GROWTH IN US CONTENT Negotiate the world’s â€Å"info-noise† with Datastream’s expansive and reliable US-focused content. NEW VALUATION RATIOS RELEASED 14 new Datastream valuation ratios have been released, giving you a detailed overview of markets and sectors as well as enabling you to compare company to industry ratios.CONTENTS FEATURES Introducing Intelligent Information from Thomson Reuters Regional Focus – Growth in US Content PRODUCT ENHANCEMENT Functions, Units and Country Datatype Enhancements New Interface for Datastream Custom User-Created Indices in Development Coming Soon – Interactive Charting 1. Datastream Extranet Samples CONTENT ENHANCEMENT Equities and Equity Indices Update †¢ Global Update †¢ USA Update †¢ Middle East Update †¢ Asia Update I/B/E/S Global Aggregates Content Enhancement – Release of Additional Monthly History for Five Asian Indices Datastream Delivers Sought-after Commodity Information from Platts Metals Expansion Coverage Economics Round-up †¢ New Series †¢ Revisions and Methodology Changes †¢ Key Indicator Changes †¢ Interest Rates New Valuation Ratios Released in March Company Additions to Worldscope CONTRIBUTORS 3 4 12 14 16 20 20 23 25 25 27 28 29 31 31 34 35 35 36 39 41 FEATURES INTRODUCING INTELLIGENT INFORMATION FROM THOMSON REUTERS THOMSON DATASTREAM IS NOW PART OF THOMSON REUTERS. With operations in 93 countries, a market capitalisation in excess of $30 billion and 50,000 employees, Thomson Reuters has the resources and experience to serve our customers in the financial, media, legal, tax and accounting, scientific and healthcare markets.We hope you will see many positive changes from Thomson Reuters, starting with our new brand. One thing we do not intend to change, however, is our commitment to speed, accuracy, independence and freedom from bias, and our commitment to our customers, employees, shar eholders and other stakeholders. We aim to deliver on our promise to bring you intelligent information that provides knowledge to act. REGIONAL FOCUS – GROWTH IN US CONTENT AMERICA’S DATA OBESITY PROBLEM: SOLUTION – GO ON A DATASTREAM DIETNegotiate the world’s â€Å"info-noise† with Thomson Datastream’s expansive and reliable US-focused content. The US investment management industry is estimated to be worth over $30 trillion*. To support this financial leviathan, there is data in abundance available through a host of sources, including the Internet and any number of financial solutions, reports and delivery vehicles, so much so that the result for the end-user is a cacophony of â€Å"infonoise†.The author Neal Stephenson wrote that, â€Å"All information looks like noise until you break the code. † With Thomson Datastream, the US asset management industry has the ultimate code breaker. A modern-day Enigma machine. Thomson Datas tream, although international in its scope, allows unparalleled access to a landscape of historically deep, cross-asset and US-focused data, which is being continually expanded to address client needs and market developments.Sourced from such trusted third-party suppliers as Frank Russell, The Conference Board, MSCI and The University of Michigan Consumer Surveys, to name but a few, this US-orientated data can be placed alongside Thomson Datastream’s robust time series content (100 million series, including exclusive proprietary content) to better understand the performance of the US markets and construct investment strategies accordingly.INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008  Current market conditions are forcing the US investment community to work harder to â€Å"crack the code† and generate alpha. Thomson Datastream is the â€Å"codec† that allows them to achieve this, with the continual addition of North American-focused content. Recent addition s in Q1 2008 include Platts commodity pricing (see page 29) and increased coverage of US Corporate and Sovereign bonds.The Platts database is now available as a pass-through content set, and this market-leading data provides a vital insight for commodity-oriented investors in the USA, giving granular detail on the energy markets, allowing analysts of the energy sector, risk managers, commodity traders, asset managers and anyone wishing to diversify into commodities, the ability to view this valuable data, overlay the information against other factors and manipulate it within Thomson Datastream’s powerful charting and analytical capabilities. Furthermore, the recent addition of 14,000 US bonds significantly increasesUS fixed-income coverage to 43,000 securities for Government, Agency and Corporate bond issues. Within the economic sphere, Thomson Datastream allows access to crucial US-oriented sources to enable the investment management industry to analyse macro factors. For ex ample, US House prices, always a â€Å"hot topic†, are under even more scrutiny when placed within the current subprime context and wider economic conditions. Sources including the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the Mortgage Bankers Association and the S&P Case-Shiller indicators all give greater visibility into US economic health and direction.The chart below uses Shiller state-level data and compares house sales by major US cities. We can see that only in Charlotte, North Carolina, have house sales remained positive year on year, in 2007 albeit at a low 1. 75% level. The continuing crisis, and in particular the example of Bear Stearns, has highlighted the importance of having comprehensive cross-asset coverage available to the asset manager, with credit default swaps often cited. The CDS market is worth approximately $47 trillion and is demanding constant attention. Thomson Datastream carries a range of US-oriented CDS content, including aluable benchmarks for the USA such as the CDX. This index comprises the most liquid CDS contracts of US-based companies and acts as an indicator of the credit markets. The chart below shows clear negative correlation between the CDX index (North American swaps for investment-grade bonds) and the S&P Composite. INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008  These, and other CDX indices, measure debt-related derivatives, such as high-yield swaps, and enable US-focused asset managers to hedge their entire portfolios rather than trade each individual CDS per bond issue.Sir Arthur Conan Doyle once had Sherlock Holmes remark that, â€Å"It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. † Recently launched proprietary global CDS sector indices and the US-orientated suite, exclusive to Thomson Datastream, allow for greater tactical asset allocations across a portfolio, since the CDS market often captures market information faster than the equity markets. On the inclusion of this content, one Direc tor of Research at a US asset management firm commented, â€Å"The CDS indices are a great innovation. Can you provide us with the full global range? No-one else has this data. † Elementary my dear financial markets!The following example compares the US CDS banking sector against two US interest rate futures indicators. This analysis illustrates that the movement in the US Banking CDS sector anticipated the credit crisis by a little under two weeks, and shows the strong correlations (nine and ten-day lag against the sector respectively) that the futures have, compared to the sector. INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008  Other recently added proprietary Thomson Datastream content that lends itself to greater investigation and analysis of the US markets is the M&A series constructed from Thomson data.This content, overlaid against the CDS indices, can help give a clearer indication of the overall health of the M&A activity in the USA. With the credit crisis in Aug ust 2007, the number of completed deals that followed in September dropped and the spread in the CDX index correspondingly fell, as traders felt the deal market drying up. That relationship has broken down during the first quarter of 2008, which may be due to other economic factors. INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008  Thomson Datastream’s US-focused content is continually expanding.Across all asset classes, data is being added to ensure that the solution fits the high demands of the North American market, be it through the addition of macroeconomic indicators from such sources as S&P Case-Shiller, or through the display and access of quarterly fundamentals. And this investment is ongoing with soon-to-beadded US option coverage for the USA (S&P 500 and the Nasdaq) and Canada. Access to timely, comprehensive and accurate data is ever more important in a world where decisions have to be made fast.Thomson Datastream’s deep US coverage, across multiple asset classes, allows the US financial industry to cut through the â€Å"infonoise†, access vital must-have information and manipulate it with flexible analytical tools. In these current uncertain times, Thomson Datastream’s blend of reliable, multiple-asset, US content enables investors to make better, more-informed decisions and help avoid the pitfalls best summed up by an old Chinese proverb, which states, â€Å"To guess is cheap. To guess wrongly is expensive. † *Thomson Sharewatch. Based on the AUM from more than 4,000 US companies. INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008 THOMSON REUTERS 2008  PRODUCT ENHANCEMENT FUNCTIONS, UNITS AND COUNTRY DATATYPE ENHANCEMENTS The padding (PAD) function has been enhanced to enable values for missing intermediate data points to be derived via linear interpolation, so any missing (N/A) values within the time series will be calculated by linearly interpolating between the actual data values on either side. The format to use linear interpolatio n is PAD#(Expression, I). Example: To display the FTSE100 price high (PH) from December 2007 to January 2008 – there are N/A values for Christmas and New Year when the market is closed.Using the existing PAD function (without the I parameter) the N/A values are replaced by carrying forward the last actual value for the previous period. Whereas using the PAD function with the I parameter (last column below), the N/A values are replaced by values calculated by interpolating between the data either side, thereby producing a more uniform series. Code 20/12/2007 21/12/2007 24/12/2007 25/12/2007 26/12/2007 27/12/2007 28/12/2007 31/12/2007 01/01/2008 02/01/2008 03/01/2008 04/01/2008 07/01/2008 FTSE100(PH) 6367. 7 6451. 8 6485. 6 #N/A #N/A 6504. 1 6494 6480. #N/A 6512. 3 6487. 8 6534. 7 6376. 5 PAD#(FTSE100(PH)) 6367. 7 6451. 8 6485. 6 6485. 6 6485. 6 6504. 1 6494 6480. 2 6480. 2 6512. 3 6487. 8 6534. 7 6376. 5 PAD#(FTSE100(PH),I) 6367. 7 6451. 8 6485. 6 6491. 77 6497. 93 6504. 1 649 4 6480. 2 6496. 25 6512. 3 6487. 8 6534. 7 6376. 5 The continuous series (CSR) function has been enhanced, specifically for economic series, to allow quarterly series to be displayed at a monthly frequency using linear interpolated values, with a similar enhancement for annual series to be displayed at a quarterly or monthly frequency.The format to display interpolated values is CSR#(Series,M) or CSR#(Series,Q). Example: To display two quarterly series at a monthly frequency – United States GDP in real terms and the Eurozone 15 countries’ GDP in real terms. The actual quarterly data is: Code 15/05/2006 15/08/2006 15/11/2006 15/02/2007 15/05/2007 15/08/2007 15/11/2007 USGDP†¦D 11306. 7 11336. 7 11395. 5 11412. 6 11520. 1 11658. 9 11677. 1 EKGDP†¦D 1859. 84 1870. 18 1884. 62 1899. 5 1904. 74 1919. 03 1926. 38 Here, the US series is in billions of dollars at an annual rate, the Eurozone series is in billions of euros but not annualised.As the table below illustr ates, the CSR function without the M parameter simply repeats the quarterly value for each month of the quarter, but with the M parameter the data is presented in a more uniform way by interpolating between the quarterly numbers. For the United States series, the mid-quarter value of the monthly series is the same as the original quarterly series, whereas for the Eurozone series the mid-quarter value of the monthly series is one third of the original series. This is due to Eurozone GDP not being annualised, so the monthly numbers in the final column below represent the â€Å"best† estimate of actual GDP in that month.Code 15/07/2006 15/08/2006 15/09/2006 15/10/2006 15/11/2006 15/12/2006 15/01/2007 15/02/2007 15/03/2007 15/04/2007 15/05/2007 15/06/2007 15/07/2007 15/08/2007 15/09/2007 15/10/2007 15/11/2007 CSR#(USGDP†¦D) 11336. 7 11336. 7 11336. 7 11395. 5 11395. 5 11395. 5 11412. 6 11412. 6 11412. 6 11520. 1 11520. 1 11520. 1 11658. 9 11658. 9 11658. 9 11677. 1 11677. 1 CSR#(USGDP†¦D,M) CSR#(EKGDP†¦D) 11326. 7 11336. 7 11356. 3 11375. 9 11395. 5 11401. 2 11406. 9 11412. 6 11448. 4 11484. 3 11520. 1 11566. 4 11612. 6 11658. 9 11665 11671 11677. 1 1870. 18 1870. 18 1870. 18 1884. 62 1884. 2 1884. 62 1899. 5 1899. 5 1899. 5 1904. 74 1904. 74 1904. 74 1919. 03 1919. 03 1919. 03 1926. 38 1926. 38 CSR#(EKGDP†¦D,M) 622. 24 623. 39 625 626. 6 628. 21 629. 86 631. 52 633. 17 633. 75 634. 33 634. 91 636. 5 638. 09 639. 68 640. 49 641. 31 642. 13 The rules for calculating these values are as follows (these are dictated by the frequency conversion datatype (ECONV)): †¢ If ECONV = AVERAGE (example USGDP†¦D) – the actual quarterly number is placed in the mid-month of the quarter, and the intervening two months are linearly interpolated between the adjacent midquarter numbers. If ECONV = END POINT (example US64MGTLA – mortgage debt of the US financial sector), the actual quarterly number is placed in the last month of the qu arter, and then the intervening two months are linearly interpolated. †¢ If ECONV = SUM (example EKGDP†¦D), one third of the quarterly number is placed in the mid-month of each quarter, and the intervening two months are linearly interpolated between the mid-quarter numbers. INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 0 Annual series can be similarly represented at either a monthly or quarterly frequency using CSR#(series,M) or CSR#(series,Q). This new function allows a closer analysis of quarterly series on a monthly basis. For example if we correlate European Union total GDP (EXGDP†¦D) against United States GDP (USGDP†¦D), over the last ten years using a range of monthly lags, we find that the highest correlation, of 0. 99707, is with an 11-month lag of the US series.Note: These new parameters will be fully supported in a later version of the Advance interface – but can be used now either directly in AFO, or in the expression builder (where the mes sage that the parameter is unknown can be ignored). The economics magnitude (ESMAG) datatype, which displays the magnitude of the data as a number, eg 1000 for thousand, 1000000 for million, etc, has been enhanced so that it is now supported in Datastream expressions.This is useful for displaying a set of economic series data in the same units. In the example below, the total exports of visible goods for a selection of countries are displayed in millions of dollars for the year 2007 total. This is achieved by using the calendar year sum function CYS, converting all series to dollars using the tilde, multiplying by ESMAG and dividing by 1,000,000. In the analysis below the top three countries are (in order) Germany, China and United States.EXPORTS IN CURRENT PRICES TYPE AGEXPGDSA AUEXPGDSA CNEXPGDSB CHEXPGDSA FREXPGDSB BDEXPGDSB HKEXPGDSA INEXPGDSA IDEXPGDSA IREXPGDSA ITEXPGDSB JPEXPGDSB KOEXPGDSA MYEXPGDSA MXEXPGDSA NLEXPGDSA NZEXPGDSA NWEXPGDSA RSEXPGDSA SPEXPGDSA SAEXPGDSA ESEXPGD SA SDEXPGDSB SWEXPGDSA TWEXPGDSA THEXPGDSA UKEXPGDSA USEXPGDSB ESUNT US $ MILLION AUST $ MILLION CAN $ MILLION 100 MLN US$ EURO MILLIONS EURO BILLIONS HONG KONG MN$ IND RUPEE BLN US $ MILLION EURO THOUSANDS EURO MILLIONS YEN BILLION US $ MILLION RINGGIT MLN US $ MILLION EURO MILLIONS NZ$ MLN NRWGN KR MLN US $ MILLION SINGAPORE $’000 RAND MILLION EURO THOUSANDS SWEDISH KR MLN SWISS FRANC MLN TAIWAN $ MLN US $ MILLION ?MILLION US $ MILLION GEOGN ARGENTINA AUSTRALIA CANADA CHINA FRANCE GERMANY HONG KONG INDIA INDONESIA IRELAND ITALY JAPAN KOREA MALAYSIA MEXICO NETHERLANDS NEW ZEALAND NORWAY RUSSIAN FEDERATION SINGAPORE SOUTH AFRICA SPAIN SWEDEN SWITZERLAND TAIWAN THAILAND UNITED KINGDOM UNITED STATES X(ESMAG) 1000000 1000000 1000000 100000000 1000000 1000000000 1000000 1000000000 1000000 1000 1000000 1000000000 1000000 1000000 1000000 1000000 1000000 1000000 1000000 1000 1000000 1000 1000000 1000000 1000000 1000000 1000000 1000000 ESMAG EXPORTS-MILLIONS OF DOLLARS YEAR 200 CYS# (X~U$*XESMAG/1000)/1000 55933. 98 140975. 1 417035. 5 1217869 551328. 3 1330984 344676. 1 145260. 2 113953. 7 121504 491841 713111. 3 371489 176038. 3 272044 476323. 3 26946. 69 139232. 8 355176. 7 298876. 9 69661. 69 248555. 9 169700. 5 171465. 5 246181. 4 152480 436985. 3 1163314 INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 11Two new Country datatypes (GGISO and GGISN) have been introduced on Datastream: GGISO ISO Country Code GGISN ISIN Issuer Country The following table illustrates some examples: NAME ASM PACIFIC TECH C C LAND HOLDINGS CARNIVAL EADS (PAR) FRONTLINE GARMIN INVESCO MILLICOM INTL CELU SDB NWS HOLDINGS PARTNERRE PARTYGAMING QIAGEN (XET) RENAISSANCERE HDG ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISES ROYAL DUTCH SHELL A(LON) MNEM K:ASMP K:QPAK U:CCL F:EADS N:FRON @GRMN U:IVZ W:MICB K:PAPO U:PRE PRTY D:QIAX U:RNR U:RCL RDSA GEOGN HONG KONG HONG KONG UNITED STATES FRANCE NORWAY UNITED STATES UNITED STATES LUXEMBOURG HONG KONG UNITED STATES UNITED KINGDOM GERMANY UNITED STATES UNITED ST ATES NETHERLANDS GGISO HK HK US FR NO US US LU HK US GB DE US US NL GGISN KY BM PA NL BM KY BM SE BM BM GI NL BM LR GBNEW INTERFACE FOR DATASTREAM CUSTOM USER-CREATED INDICES IN DEVELOPMENT Datastream has provided facilities for creating your own custom indices for a number of years, through an integrated interface in Advance and Advance for Office (AFO) and a more comprehensive terminal interface. These indices are used extensively for evaluating different investment strategies and for use as portfolio benchmarks. We currently have in development a new Advance/AFO interface, offering a range of exciting features. These include support for an extended set of weighting methods (in addition to the current market value weighting method) – such as equal weighting, local currency, free float and using your own weights (as either a factor or a number of shares). INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 12 Index creation interface currently in developmentThe new interface w ill also facilitate the building and configuration of indices with more complex changes to their history, so in addition to supporting the importing of a set of constituents for a single point in time (either to use for the full index history, or to use going forward), these facilities will allow changes to constituents and weights at different dates to be imported directly from Excel – enabling an Excel range containing the complete history of constituent changes, reflecting either an investment strategy or specific stock selection, to be easily set up on Datastream. Equally, for indices already set up, the constituent history can be exported to Excel, and any changes made before being imported back to Datastream.We are also working on extending the set of datatypes that can be calculated for indices beyond the current list (price index, return index, market value, dividend yield and price earnings) – this will include the 15 new valuation measures that have recently been introduced for equities and Datastream equity indices. These include key measures such as sales, profits, debt, and a set of ratios such as return on equity and profit margin. Finally, in addition to supporting equities, the new interface will also support using other indices, and unit trusts as constituents. So, for example, you will be able to create a market value weighted index using thirdparty indices, Datastream indices or other custom user-created indices as their constituents. Further information will be made available via the Datastream Extranet when this new interface becomes available. INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 13 COMING SOON – INTERACTIVE CHARTING 1. 6The next release of Interactive Charting will be available soon to all users of Datastream Advance . 0 and will allow users to save their own user-created â€Å"styles† for charts. Preferences for fonts, colours, chart background and line styles can be defined, stored as a style a nd then applied to any chart in the user’s library. In addition, it will now be possible to set up custom colours and store these as part of your style. Set text style for your chart title, subtitle and legend: Set colour, thickness and style of the chart lines: Custom colours can also be defined: INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 1 Save the settings with a name of your choice: INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 1 DATASTREAM EXTRANET SAMPLESThe Datastream Samples page on the Extranet is a valuable source of content and functionality-related AFO tearsheets, that highlight the breadth and depth of content within the Datastream mainframe. Over the last few months, more models have been added, making access to existing and new content sets even easier. Some of the new sheets are detailed below, visit the Extranet site at: http://extranet. datastream. com/Free_Reports/AFO_SAMPLES. htm and look for the icon for more. Indices – Worldscope Inde x Valuations This new model displays a unique set of valuation datatypes for Datastream Global Equity Indices. Sourced from Worldscope and based on a trailing 12-month period if applicable, the datatypes include such popular items as EBITDA, Enterprise Value and CAPEX. INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 1Economics – Recession Bands Using the academic, two quarters of successive negative QOQ GDP growth, calculation of recession, this model allows users to select a country and overlay one of several pre-defined series such as Consumer Spending, Industrial Production and Unemployment rate figures. The chart period can be customised and a user-defined overlay series can also be utilised. INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 1 Options – Implied Volatility Surface Using Datastream’s extensive Options database, this model plots the implied volatility as a function of both the strike price and time to maturity. The resulting graph shows the implied volatility for all the options on a particular underlying series. INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 1Equities – Key Performance Indicators from Worldscope Effective 15 November 2007, Thomson Financial added Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the Hotel, Airline and Retail sectors. Initially for the Russell 3000 Index constituents, this model displays the current indicators for all qualifying constituents. INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 19 CONTENT ENHANCEMENT EQUITIES AND EQUITY INDICES UPDATE This month sees the release of additional valuation datatypes for the Russell indices. Changes to the way S&P constituent data is provided are effective from 1 June 2008 and customers are advised to read this carefully and take action if required. New Shariah indices are also available from S&P and FTSE.Read on for all the details. Global Update S&P Constituent Data – End-User Agreement Now Required for Access to Constituent-Level Dat a With effect from 1 June 2008, there is a change to the way constituent data for a number of S&P constituent families is provided on a number of Thomson products, such as Datastream, DDL, Datastream Advance in T1IM. From 1 June 2008, customers wishing to continue to access constituent datatypes such as constituent weights, number of shares and free-float data are required to have a direct end-user agreement with S&P. For each index family impacted by this change, a new module is available that provides access to the restricted datatypes.The names and identifiers of each security within each constituent list are not impacted by these changes and will remain unrestricted. This change is a result of S&P no longer licensing constituent-level index data for wholesale distribution through vendors to their clients. New modules created for each of the following index families impacted by this change: S&P US indices This includes the S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400, S&P SmallCap 600, S&P Composite 1500, S&P 1000, S&P 900, S&P 100, S&P REIT Composite, S&P Citigroup Style and all underlying sector, industry and style indices. S&P Australia This includes the S&P/ASX 50, S&P/ASX 100, S&P/ASX 200, S&P/ASX 300 and All Ordinaries Indices and all underlying sector, industry and style indices.S&P Global 1200 This includes the S&P Global 1200, S&P Europe 350, S&P/Topix 150, S&P/TSX60, S&P Asia 50 and S&P Latin America 40 and all underlying sector and industry indices. S&P/MIB This includes the S&P/MIB index. S&P/HKEx This includes the S&P/HKEx Hong Kong indices including the S&P/HKEx Composite index. S&P/Japan This includes the S&P Topix 150 index. Restricted Constituent List Datatypes From 1 June 200, the following datatypes are available only in the new modules. The restrictions also apply to these constituent datatypes provided for S&P historical constituent lists. Please note that not all datatypes are available or valid for all the S&P index families detailed above.A more detaile d list, along with all the constituent list mnemonics, is provided on the Datastream Extranet. The names and identifiers of each security within each constituent list are not impacted by these changes and remain unrestricted. DATATYPE WTIDX PIDX NSIDX FFIDX MVIDX CFIDX AFIDX CLS1 CLS1N CLS2 CLS2N CLS3 CLS3N CLS4 CLS4N DESCRIPTION CONSTITUENT WEIGHT PRICE OF EACH CONSTITUENT IN THE INDEX NUMBER OF SHARES INCLUDED IN THE INDEX FREE-FLOAT FACTOR OF EACH CONSTITUENT IN THE INDEX MARKET VALUE OF EACH CONSTITUENT IN THE INDEX CAPPING FACTOR ADJUSTMENT FACTOR GICS SECTOR CODE GICS SECTOR NAME GICS INDUSTRY GROUP CODE GICS INDUSTRY GROUP NAME GICS INDUSTRY CODE GICS INDUSTRY NAME GICS SUB-INDUSTRY CODE GICS SUB-INDUSTRY NAMEACTION REQUIRED In order to minimise the impact of these changes, it is advisable that you review as soon as possible if you wish to continue to access the above constituent list datatypes. If you do, you should contact S&P to discuss this or complete the form in the att ached notification and send it to S&P: http://extranet. datastream. com/data/Equity%20indices/ If you wish to discuss this directly with S&P, please contact one of the following: Americas: Maureen O’Shea EMEA: John Davies Asia: Angeline Choo ANZ: Guy Maguire Japan: Uchi Seiichiro Shariah Indices maureen_o’[email  protected] com +212 438 6174 [email  protected] com +44 (0)20 7176 8456 [email  protected] com +65 6239 6318 [email  protected] com +61 292 559 822 [email  protected] com +813 4550 8568 INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 21 A number of new Shariah indices are now available on Datastream. S&P Pan-Asia Shariah index The stocks for this index are drawn from the Asian country indices in the S&P/Citigroup Global Equity Index series, excluding Australia, Japan and New Zealand. Stocks for the universe must have at least US$ 1 billion in float-adjusted market capitalisation. The number of stocks, for Shariah screening purposes, is limited to t he top 15 from each country that exceeds the US$1 billion market capitalisation threshold.Each month a universe of stocks conforming to these criteria, selected once a year on 31 March, is screened for Shariah compliance to form this index. The countries eligible for inclusion in this index are China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. S&P Global and World Property Shariah index The S&P/Citigroup Global Property index represents and measures the investable universe of publicly traded property companies from developed and emerging markets. The constituents are companies engaged in a wide range of real estate related activities, such as property management, development, rental and investment.The component REIT stocks, in particular, include property trusts that invest in physical real estate assets and other pass-through vehicles. The S&P/Citigroup World Property Index is a subset of the Global Property Index and includes companies fr om the developed markets only. Each month a universe of stocks conforming to these criteria, selected once a year on 31 March, is screened for Shariah compliance to form these indices. INDEX NAME S&P PAN-ASIA SHARIAH $ S&P PAN-ASIA SHARIAH E S&P WORLD PROPERTY SHARIAH $ S&P WORLD PROPERTY SHARIAH E S&P GLOBAL PROPERTY SHARIAH $ S&P GLOBAL PROPERTY SHARIAH E MNEMONIC SPSHPA$ SPSHPAE SPWPRS$ SPWPRSE SPGPRS$ SPGPRSEDATATYPE PI, RI, NR, MV PI, RI, NR, MV PI, RI, NR, MV PI, RI, NR, MV PI, RI, NR, MV PI, RI, NR, MV START DATE 29/12/06 29/12/06 29/12/06 29/12/06 29/12/06 29/12/06 INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 22 FTSE Shariah Japan 100 $ index FTSE extended its FTSE Shariah Global Equity index family on 3 March 2008 with the release of the FTSE Shariah Japan 100 $ index. This index represents the performance of the 100 biggest Shariah-compliant companies by full market capitalisation, that are included in FTSE Japan index. The index is calculated in USD and history is av ailable from 3 March 2008. The index mnemonic is FSJP10$. Further information can be found on: http://www. ftse. om/Indices/FTSE_Shariah_Global_Equity_Index_Series/ Downloads/FTSE_Shariah_Japan_100_USD_Valuation. pdf USA Update Russell – Additional Datatypes for Benchmark Indices Thomson Reuters has released new datatypes for the Russell Benchmark indices. The new datatypes include price to book value (BP), price to cash flow (PC), price to sales (PS), return on equity (RE) and return on assets (AR), and complement the existing coverage of price earnings ratio (PE), dividend yield (DY) and market value (MY) for the same indices. Customers who have access to the existing Russell Standard or Russell Premier pass-through modules will be able to access the new datatypes. Click on this link for more details: http://extranet. datastream. om/data/Equity%20indices/documents/Russellreleasemessagev2. doc The valuation ratios are updated at approximately 09:00 GMT on every sixth busines s day of the following month. INDEX DESCRIPTION RUSSELL TOP 50 RUSSELL TOP 200 RUSSELL TOP 200 GROWTH RUSSELL TOP 200 VALUE RUSSELL 1000 RUSSELL 1000 GROWTH RUSSELL 1000 VALUE RUSSELL 2000 RUSSELL 2000 GROWTH RUSSELL 2000 VALUE RUSSELL 2500 INDEX MNEMONIC RRUST50 RRUS200 RRUS20G RRUS20V RRUSS1L RRUS1GR RRUS1VA RRUSS2L RRUS2GR RRUS2VA RRUS250 DATATYPES PS, RE, BP, AR PC PS, RE, BP, AR PC PS, RE, BP, AR PC PS, RE, BP, AR PC PS, RE, BP, AR PC PS, RE, BP, AR PC PS, RE, BP, AR PC PS, RE, BP, AR PC PS, RE, BP, AR PC PS, RE, BP, AR PC PS, RE, BP, AR PCBASE DATE 30/01/1998 31/01/2002 29/12/1978 31/01/2002 31/03/1986 31/01/2002 31/03/1986 31/01/2002 29/12/1978 31/01/2002 29/12/1978 31/01/2002 29/12/1978 31/01/2002 29/12/1978 31/01/2002 29/12/1978 31/01/2002 29/12/1978 31/01/2002 29/12/1978 31/01/2002 INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 23 RUSSELL 2500 GROWTH RUSSELL 2500 VALUE RUSSELL 3000 RUSSELL 3000 GROWTH RUSSELL 3000 VALUE RUSSELL 3000E RUSSELL 3000E GROWTH RUSSELL 3000E V ALUE RUSSELL SMALL CAP COMPLETENESS RUSSELL SMALL CAP COMPLETENESS GROWTH RUSSELL SMALL CAP COMPLETENESS VALUE RUSSELL MIDCAP RUSSELL MIDCAP GROWTH RUSSELL MIDCAP VALUE RUSSELL MICROCAP RUSSELL MICROCAP GROWTH RUSSELL MICROCAP VALUE RRUS25G RRUS25V RRUSS3L RRUS3GR RRUS3VA RR3000E RR30GRE RR30VAE RRS3XSD RRS3GXD RRS3VXD RRUSMID RRUSMIG RRUSMIV RRUSMIC RRUSMGR RRUSMVAPS, RE, BP, AR PC PS, RE, BP, AR PC PS, RE, BP, AR PC PS, RE, BP, AR PC PS, RE, BP, AR PC PS, RE, BP, AR PC PS, RE, BP, AR PC PS, RE, BP, AR PC PS, RE, BP, AR PC PS, RE, BP, AR PC PS, RE, BP, AR PC PS, RE, BP, AR PC PS, RE, BP, AR PC PS, RE, BP, AR PC PS, RE, BP, AR PC PS, RE, BP, AR PC PS, RE, BP, AR PC 31/03/1986 31/01/2002 31/03/1986 31/01/2002 29/12/1978 31/01/2002 30/03/1979 31/01/2002 30/03/1979 31/01/2002 30/06/2005 30/06/2005 30/06/2006 30/06/2006 30/06/2006 30/06/2006 31/12/1979 31/01/2002 31/12/1979 31/01/2002 31/12/1979 31/01/2002 29/12/1978 31/01/2002 31/03/1986 31/01/2002 31/03/1986 31/01/2002 30/06/2005 30/0 6/2005 30/06/2006 30/06/2006 30/06/2006 30/06/2006Global Property Research Two new indices from Global Property Research are now available on Datastream. History is available from 28 March 2008. INDEX NAME GPR 250 PSI CHINA GPR 250 PSI CHINA E GPR 250 PSI CHINA $ GPR 250 REIT CHINA GPR 250 REIT CHINA E GPR 250 REIT CHINA $ MNEMONIC GPR2CHL GPR2CHE GPR2CH$ GPRRCHL GPRRCHE GPRRCH$ DATATYPE PI, RI, MV, DY, NE PI, RI, MV, DY, NE PI, RI, MV, DY, NE PI, RI, MV, DY, NE PI, RI, MV, DY, NE PI, RI, MV, DY, NE INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 2 Middle East Update Jordan – Additional Equity Datatypes Thomson Reuters has released additional Jordan unadjusted price datatypes on Datastream from 18 March 2008.The additional equity datatypes are: †¢ Unadjusted price ask (UPA) †¢ Unadjusted price bid (UPB) †¢ Unadjusted price high (UPH) †¢ Unadjusted price low (UPL) †¢ Unadjusted price open (UPO) †¢ Unadjusted trade volume (UVO) The Jordan stocks currently covered on Datastream can be found in the list FJORD. The prices are updated at approximately 12:30 GMT. Asia Update Thailand – Additional Datatypes Market value (MV) is now available for all Thailand Stock Exchange indices. History is available from 25 December 2007. In addition to the MV data, other datatypes are also now available for the Thai Industry Group Indices – these are: PE, BP, DY, MV, VO and VA. History is available from 25 December 2007.Thailand Benchmark and Sector Indices INDEX NAME BANGKOK SET BANGKOK SET 50 BANGKOK SET 100 THAILAND MAI THAILAND SE AGRIBUSINESS THAILAND SE FOOD AND BEVERAGE THAILAND SE FASHION THAILAND SE HOME & OFFICE PRODUCTS THAILAND SE PERSONAL PRODUCTS & PHARMACEUTICALS THAILAND SE BANKING THAILAND SE FINANCE AND SECURITIES THAILAND SE INSURANCE THAILAND SE AUTOMOTIVE THAILAND SE INDUSTRIAL MATERIALS & MACHINERY THAILAND SE PACKAGING THAILAND SE PAPER & PRINTING MATERIALS THAILAND SE PETROCHEMICALS & CHEMICALS THAILAND SE CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS THAILAND SE PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT THAILAND SE ENERGY & UTILITIES THAILAND SE MINING THAILAND SE COMMERCE THAILAND SE HEALTH CARE SERVICES THAILAND SE MEDIA & PUBLISHING THAILAND SE PROFESSIONAL SERVICES THAILAND SE TOURISM & LEISURE THAILAND SE TRANSPORTATION & LOGISTICS THAILAND SE ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS THAILAND SE INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY MNEMONIC BNGKSET BNGKS50 BNGK100 BNGKMAI BNGKAGR BNGKFDI BNGKFHN BNGKHHG BNGKPPH BNGKBNK BNGKFIN BNGKINS BNGKAUT BNGKIMM BNGKPAK BNGKPPM BNGKPET BNGKCTR BNGKPDV BNGKENG BNGKMIN BNGKCOM BNGKHCS BNGKENR BNGKPFS BNGKHOT BNGKTLO BNGKELC BNGKCMM DATATYPE MV MV MV MV MV MV MV MV MV MV MV MV MV MV MV MV MV MV MV MV MV MV MV MV MV MV MV MV MV INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 2 Thailand Industry Group IndicesINDEX NAME THAILAND SE AGRO & FOOD INDUSTRY THAILAND SE CONSUMER PRODUCTS THAILAND SE FINANCIALS THAILAND SE INDUSTRIALS THAILAND SE PROPERTY & CONSTRUCTION THAILAND SE RESOURCES THAILAND SE SER VICES THAILAND SE TECHNOLOGY MNEMONIC BNGKAGF BNGKCON BNGKFNI BNGKIND BNGKPRO BNGKRES BNGKSER BNGKTEK DATATYPE PE, BP, DY, MV, VO, VA PE, BP, DY, MV, VO, VA PE, BP, DY, MV, VO, VA PE, BP, DY, MV, VO, VA PE, BP, DY, MV, VO, VA PE, BP, DY, MV, VO, VA PE, BP, DY, MV, VO, VA PE, BP, DY, MV, VO, VA INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 2 I/B/E/S GLOBAL AGGREGATES CONTENT ENHANCEMENT – RELEASE OF ADDITIONAL MONTHLY HISTORY FOR FIVE ASIAN INDICES Thomson Reuters has released additional monthly history for five major indices in Asia to I/B/E/S Global Aggregates.Previously going back only one year, monthly history for these indices now goes as far back as January 2005, with weekly history back to January 2006 – providing even more value-added content. The five series are: COUNTRY TAIWAN TAIWAN TAIWAN MALAYSIA MALAYSIA IGA INDEX NAME TAIWAN SE WEIGHTED TAIEX TSEC TAIWAN 50 TSEC TAIWAN MIDCAP 100 KUALA LUMPUR COMPOSITE INDEX (KLCI) KUALA LUMPUR SE EMAS IGA IDENTIFIER TAIEX TSEC50 TSECMID KLCI KLEMAS DATASTREAM MNEMONIC @:TAIEX @:TASEC5 @:TAMID1 @:MYKLCI @:MYEMAS This additional history was made available with the March 2008 monthly run. For further information or assistance, please contact content. [email  protected] com or your local Thomson Datastream customer service or account team. INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 2DATASTREAM DELIVERS SOUGHT-AFTER COMMODITY INFORMATION FROM PLATTS Market watchers know that commodities are now in their fifth year of a bull run, with many hitting their all-time high price over the last year or so and drawing the attention of hedge funds, investment houses and others looking to increase their portfolio weightings in this asset class. Now Thomson Datastream clients can access end-of-day commodity price assessments by way of the industry-leading Platts Dispatch product, to help them reduce risk as they make key trading decisions, value positions and analyse data. †¢ Platts, a division o f McGraw-Hill, provides industry-standard commodity price assessments that are critical elements used to settle short- and long-term OTC contracts worldwide. Renowned for their energy commodity coverage, Platts pricings help industry specialists understand commodity price trends and developments. Available on a pass-through basis, Platts Dispatch over Thomson Datastream delivers end-of-day price assessments, third-party data, and an historical database of more than 25,000 commodity time series, many with several decades of data. †¢ Platts commodities data spans: oil and shipping; petrochemicals; metals; electricity and gas; coal and emissions; data via American Petroleum Institute Statistics; and Petroleum Administration for Defense Districts’ prices. †¢ Overall, the content is available through 129 data categories, which can be chosen individually or grouped into packages, and may contain one or more of the following data attributes: high, low, bid, ask, mid-price, close and volume.Frequency of series ranges from daily, weekly, monthly or infrequently – priced when an event occurs. †¢ Clients subscribing to Platts content through Thomson Datastream will be able to use its existing functionality and integrate this content with other available leading Thomson Datastream content sets. All clients must maintain a direct agreement, which must be in place with Platts prior to the client being entitled to its data. More information on the data and how clients can obtain an agreement for it can be found on: http://extranet. datastream. com/data/Commodities/Index. htm INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 2 METALS EXPANSION COVERAGEThomson Reuters has expanded Datastream’s metal coverage with an additional 00 new time series, covering Asian metal spot prices with a distinct focus on the Chinese market and the inclusion of steel price indices and other steel-related products. Customers can now access CRU Steel price ind ices for semi-finished and finished carbon steel products, known to be the most widely used benchmarks in the world steel industry. Complementing these indices are SteelHome’s China Steel price indices. In additional to steel indices, Chinese metal prices from local steelmakers with the following characteristics are now available: †¢ Stainless steel †¢ Coke/coal †¢ Iron ore †¢ Pig iron/scrap †¢ Wire rod/rebar †¢ Medium plates †¢ CR/HR †¢ Section †¢ Ferro-alloy/non-ferrous INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 29Further expansion with a focus on Asian metal prices is now available for the following categories: †¢ Base metals †¢ Minor metals †¢ Rare earths †¢ Ferro-alloys †¢ Refractories †¢ Iron and steel Chinese Base Metals Comparison INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 30 ECONOMICS ROUND-UP New Series More than 3,000 series have recently been added to the Economics database, w ith particular emphasis on more detail in key coverage areas such as international trade. Some of the highlights are summarised below, with links given to the relevant Content Updates on the Datastream Extranet, where more information and series listings are available. Trade Detail for Turkey More than 300 commodity trade series are now available for Turkey, as sourced from the Turkish Statistical Institute.Import and export coverage is given by three different classification schemes: Broad Economic Categories, International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) and Standard International Trade Classification (SITC). Also added were trade by country series. All data is monthly, most with start dates from January 1996. (See Content Updates #2780, 2791, 2794 and 2819. ) Trade detail has also been recently added for France and Brazil. See the table below. Confidence Surveys for Indonesia Series from the Bank of Indonesia’s surveys on business and consumer expectations have b een released on Thomson Datastream. The new data includes information about business conditions during the current quarter, as well as expectations for the following quarter, by industry. Concepts covered are business activities, selling prices and usage of labour. 2772) The consumer survey is headlined with three indices – Consumer Confidence Index (CCI), Current Economic Condition Index (CECI) and the Consumer Expectation Index (CEI). Also available are price expectations of major commodities in three and six months’ time, consumption plans and appraisal of economic conditions. (2769) In the News †¢ US Housing House purchase price indices, produced by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), are now available. Data is reported for the US total and nine Census divisions on a quarterly basis. (2824) †¢ Energy in China Series detailing consumption of energy fuels and electricity by industry have been added.The statistics are annual, as repor ted by National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS). (2775) The table overleaf itemises the new data releases that have been made over the last two months. The table provides access links to the original Content Update announcements on the Research Extranet, where more information is given, including series lists – just click on the description in the first column, which is a hyperlink. Also provided are Navigator citations and links – referring to locations in Thomson Datastream Navigator, Explorer for Economics, where the relevant series are shown. INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 31 New Series by Region # Series Content Navigator Location Added Update #See Explorer for Economics> National Sources 129 6 7 18 7 16 5 15 54 40 2867 2880 2847 2837 2833 2835 2853 2879 2796 2824 Brazil > External Sector > Imports and Exports > Trade by Commodity Brazil > External Sector > International Reserves Brazil > Money and Finance > Money Supply Chile > Key Indicato rs Chile > External Sector > External Investment & Debt Chile > Government Sector > Government Surplus/Deficit Chile > External Sector > International Reserves Colombia > Industry Sector > Housing and Construction Detail United States > Money & Finance > Banking (MFIs) > FDIC Quarterly Banking Profile United States > Industry Sector > Housing & Construction Detail > OFHEO House Price Index AmericasBrazilian External Trade by Commodity Brazilian International Reserve Assets Brazilian Money Supply Components Chilean Consumer Credit and Bank Lending Chilean External Debt Chilean Government Accounts Chilean Official Reserves Colombian Housing Construction by Cities US FDIC Quarterly Banking Profile US OFHEO Purchase-Only House Price Indices Asia Chinese Energy Series Indonesian Business Survey series Indonesian Consumer Confidence Survey Indonesian Retail Sales Survey series Japanese Lease Series 73 104 83 16 15 2775 2772 2769 2774 2844 See Explorer for Economics > National Sources Chin a > Industry Sector > Other Industry detail > Energy Indonesia > Surveys & Cyclical Indexes > Business Surveys Indonesia > Surveys & Cyclical Indexes > Consumer Surveys Indonesia > Surveys & Cyclical Indexes > Retail Sales Survey Japan – Premium Service > Industry Sector > Other Industry Detail > Machinery & Equipment > Equipment Leasing & PurchasesJapanese Motor Vehicle Imports Japanese Treasury Funds Receipts & Payments Balances with the Private Sector Malaysian Bank Lending Malaysian Foreign Reserves Malaysian Manufacturing Sales Value New Zealand Manufacturing Survey series Thailand Non-Performing Loans 11 29 2763 2770 Japan – Premium Service > Industry Sector > Automobiles & Transport Detail > Vehicle Imports Japan – Premium Service > Government Sector > Treasury Funds Balance of Receipts & Payments with the Private Sector 25 6 1 48 16 2825 2797 2839 2785 2832 Malaysia > Money & Finance > Banking (MFIs) Malaysia > Money & Finance > International Reserves > Monthly series Malaysia > Industry Sector> Industrial Production > Manufacturing Production and Sales New Zealand > Industry Sector > Sales, Orders, Inventories Thailand > Money & Finance > Banking (MFIs) > Non-Performing Loans EuropeAustria Producer Price Index Austrian Labour Market Austrian Wholesale, Retail Trade and Services Bulgarian National Accounts Danish Gross Fixed Capital Formation Finnish Gross Fixed Capital Formation – Construction French External Trade Statistics by Commodity & Area Netherlands Government Sector series Netherlands Seasonally Adjusted Quarterly Industrial Production Series Portuguese Employment and Industrial Sales Turnover Portuguese Government Revenue and Expenditure Romanian Consumer Price Index Romanian Wages and Earnings Slovak National Accounts Spanish International Reserves United Kingdom Detailed Index of Production 63 23 14 315 49 6 165 2873 2802 2852 2779 2789 2877 2857 35 39 90 8 12 20 298 35 12 2812 2868 2850 2859 2818 2826 2861 2810 2790See Explorer for Economics > National Sources Austria > Prices > Producer Prices Austria > Labour Market > Employment & Hours Austria > Industry Sector > Sales, Orders, Inventories > Retail Sales and other lists Bulgaria > National Accounts > GDP by industry Denmark > National Accounts > Investment/Capital Formation various lists Finland > National Accounts > Investment/Capital Formation France > External Sector > Imports & Exports > Trade by Commodity various lists Netherlands > Government Sector Netherlands > Industry Sector > Industrial Production & Utilisation > Production Indices SA Portugal > Labour Market > Employment & Hours and Wages & Earnings Portugal > Industry Sector > Sales, Orders, Inventories Portugal > Government Sector > Government Surplus/Deficit Romania > Prices > Consumer Prices Romania > Labour Market > Wages & Earnings Slovakia > National Accounts > GDP by Expenditure Spain > External Sector > International Reserves United Kingdom > Industry Sector > Indu strial Production & Utilisation > Main Indicators > Seasonally Adjusted and Not Seasonally Adjusted INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 32 New Series by Region # Series Content Navigator Location Added Update #See Explorer for Economics > International Sources – History 230 2754 European Commission > Business and Consumer Surveys various lists Eurozone European Commission Aggregate Series for Eurozone 15 #5 – Business & Consumer Surveys ECB Aggregate Series for Eurozone 15 #6 – Prices and Labour Market ECB Aggregate Series for Eurozone 15 #7 – Retail Sales 10 2855 15 2845 European Central Bank > ECB Monthly Bulletin > Prices, Output, Demand and Labour Markets > Labour Market and HICP, Other Prices and Costs European Central Bank > ECB Monthly Bulletin > Prices, Output, Demand and Labour Markets > Output and Demand Middle East & AfricaEgyptian Foreign Direct Investment by Area Egyptian Remittances Israel Wages and Employee Posts Israeli Natio nal Accounts South Africa Energy Statistics Turkish Foreign Trade by Commodity (Broad Economic Categories) Turkish Foreign Trade by Commodity (ISIC Classification) Turkish Foreign Trade by Commodity (SITC) Turkish Foreign Trade by Country 77 152 45 2791 2794 2819 31 21 99 198 10 42 2860 2838 2764 2752 2854 2780 See Explorer for Economics > National Sources Egypt > External Sector > External Investment & Debt Egypt > Labour Market > Wages and Earnings Israel > Labour Market > Employment & Hours and Wages & Warnings Israel > National Accounts > GDP by Expenditure South Africa > Industry Sector > Other Industry Detail Turkey > External Sector > Imports & Exports > Trade by Commodity > Imports and ExportsTurkey > External Sector > Imports & Exports > Trade by Commodity > Imports and Exports Turkey > External Sector > Imports & Exports > Trade by Commodity > Imports and Exports Turkey > External Sector > Imports & Exports > Trade by Country International OECD Main Economic Indicators â⠂¬â€œ February 2008 24 2768 See Explorer for Economics > International Sources – History OECD Main Economic Indicators > Indicators for OECD Zones and Indicators for OECD NonMember Countries various lists OECD Main Economic Indicators – March 2008 8 2834 OECD Main Economic Indicators > Indicators for OECD Member Countries and Indicators for OECD Non-Member Countries various lists INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 33Revisions and Methodology Changes It has been a busy period, with revisions to US seasonally adjusted data and index rebasings in a number of markets. Other more substantive changes have been made to balance of payments and the trade-weighted exchange rate for Euroland, household interest rates for the UK, Flow of Funds and Household Economy Survey for Japan, and unemployment statistics for Denmark. The following table summarises the revisions that have taken place in the last two months. Please refer to the Content Update itself (hyperlinked from the table) for further information and mnemonics of affected series. Country Revised Data Content Update # Changes to Economic SeriesAustralia Austria Denmark Euroland Israel Italy Japan Australian Construction Work Done Revised Australian Labour Force Survey Revised Austrian Wages Rebased Danish Unemployment Methodology Changed ECB Effective Exchange Rates Redefined Eurozone Monthly Balance of Payments Changed Israeli Wages and Employment Data Revised Italian External Trade Index Rebased Japan Electronic Equipment Market Size and Demand Forecasts Changed Japan Flow of Funds Accounts Series Methodology Changed Rebased Japanese Household Economy Survey Partly Discontinued Japan Real & Nominal Effective Exchange Rates Redefined Philippines South Korea Philippine Industrial Production Indices Rebased Philippine Producer Price Indices Rebased South Korean Business Indicator Composite Indices Rebased South Korean Housing Purchase Price Index Rebased South Korean Industrial Producti on Rebased South Korean Manufacturing Production Rebased & Changed South Korean Retail Sales Rebased South Korean Service Industry Index Rebased Sweden Taiwan Thailand Turkey UK USA Swedish Retail Sales Index Rebased Taiwanese Price Indices Rebased Thai External Trade & Terms of Trade Index Rebased Turkish National Accounts Rebased UK Bank of England Household Interest Rates Changed US Industrial Production & Capacity Utilization Revised US Seasonally Adjusted Consumer Price Indices Revised US Seasonally Adjusted Existing Home Sales Revised US Seasonally Adjusted Pending Home Sales Revised US Seasonally Adjusted Producer Price Indices Revised US Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment Insurance Claims Revised US Wholesale Trade: Sales and Inventories Revised 2792 2848 2827 2842 2760 2820 2759 2858 2849 2869 2878 2846 2757 2876 2821 2805 2799 2811 2813 2809 2806 2800 2767 2828 2836 2864 2882 2762 2784 2804 2781 2871 2872 INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 3 Key Indicator Cha nges The Economics team continues to review Key Indicator selections for each market, in order to add more, ensure the best selection and bring more consistency across countries. See below for recent additions and hyperlinks to relevant Content Updates, where more information is given. Key Indicator ChangeAustria Consumer Credit Added Austria International Reserves Selection Changed Austria Producer Prices Selection Changed Chilean Consumer Credit and Bank Lending Added Israeli Employment and Wages Selection Changed Polish Producer Price Index Resourced Romanian Producer Price Index Now on Fixed Base Swedish Business Confidence Indicators Selection Changed Thai Bank Loans Series Added Mnemonics OECRDCONA OERESERVA OEPROPRCF CLCRDCONA & CLBANKLPA POPROPRCF RMPROPRCF SDCNFBUSR & SDCNFBUSQ THBNKLONA Content Update # 2822 2807 2843 2837 2766 2793 2798 2773 ISWAGES. E, ISWAGMANF & ISEMPALLG 2758 Interest Rates Repo Rates for Thailand Four bilateral repurchase rates, as released by the Ba nk of Thailand, are now available. The series are weighted average rates with 1, 7, 14 and 30-day terms.The Bilateral Repurchase Operation is conducted through appointed Bilateral Primary Dealers and helps in stimulating the private repurchase market. Repurchase transactions are used by the bank to temporarily add or drain reserves available in the banking system. Mnemonics are as follows: Description THAILAND BILATERAL REPO RATE 1 DAY THAILAND BILATERAL REPO RATE 7 DAY THAILAND BILATERAL REPO RATE 14 DAY THAILAND BILATERAL REPO RATE 30 DAY DS Mnemonic THBRP1D THBRP7D THBRP2W THBRP1M Datatype IR IR IR IR INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 3 NEW VALUATION RATIOS RELEASED IN MARCH March saw the release of 1 new valuation ratios on Thomson Datastream.These ratios are calculated on the equity level as well as the industry, sector, country and regional levels of the Datastream Indices, and allow a great number of data comparisons to highlight trends which previously woul d have needed compilation of data before use. In brief, these ratios are based on the Worldscope database items and using wherever possible the latest interim data on a 12-month trailing basis. The full methodology is described in the following link on the Extranet: http://extranet. datastream. com/data/Equities/documents/DatastreamGlobalEquityIndicesvaluationdatatypes-rulesvs4final. pdf INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 3 So what can we do with these ratios?You can compare a company to its industry, locally and regionally, as is illustrated here using Return on Equity. About Martek Biosciences Corporation Founded in 1985, the group’s principal activity is to develop, manufacture and sell naturally produced products derived from micro-algae, fungi and other microbes. The group’s products and services include speciality, nutritional oils for infant formula, nutritional supplements and food ingredients to promote mental and cardiovascular health, fluores cent markers for diagnostics, rapid miniaturised screening and gene and protein detection. Its ROE is compared here with the US Food & the World Food industries.You can also †¦make sector comparisons across different regions of the world using the regional-level aggregates Here we have compared the Capital Expenditure of the Pharmaceutical industry in various regions: Europe, USA, Far East and World. Capital expenditure for USA and Europe represents almost 90% of the capex spent in that industry worldwide, and it’s interesting to see how the drop in US relative capex has been totally mirrored by an increase in Europe’s importance in this domain. INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 3 †¦or look at a particular sector in a different light, using here the Interest coverage ratio to illustrate the Turkish Telecom Sector and its ability to repay debt Interest charge coverage, also called interest coverage ratio, is defined by EBIT divided by the inte rest expense for each period.It indicates the ability of the company (or in this case the sector) to repay its debt using the income generated by the business. Levels above 3 are considered having a strong ability to repay debt, while businesses whose ratio drops below 1. 5 (red line on the chart) are considered risky. It’s interesting to show how the sector market index started picking up once the interest coverage ratio moved above 3 towards the end of 2004. This is also when the sector was open to competition. New licences were granted to 16 suppliers of data transmission services in fixed telephony. Further steps towards liberalisation and breaking up of the monopoly were taken in 2005/06 by the sale of Turk Telekom.Vodafone repurchased Telsim, the second largest mobile phone operator. The Turkish telecommunications network continued to grow, currently ranked the 13th largest market in the world and fifth in Europe. INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 3 COM PANY ADDITIONS TO WORLDSCOPE During February and March over 00 companies were added to the Worldscope Database. These additions included 112 US Companies and a continuing expansion of coverage of Middle Eastern markets. Also, Nigeria was added to our country coverage. Worldscope’s total coverage at 8th April 2008 consisted of 56,448 companies, 36,508 of which were active companies. 10,172 of these companies are Limited data set companies (8,064 active).COUNTRY ARGENTINA AUSTRALIA AUSTRIA BAHRAIN BELGIUM BERMUDA BRAZIL CANADA CAYMAN ISLANDS CHILE CHINA COLOMBIA CZECH REPUBLIC DENMARK EGYPT ESTONIA FINLAND FRANCE GERMANY GREECE HONG KONG HUNGARY ICELAND INDIA INDONESIA IRELAND ISRAEL ITALY JAPAN JORDAN KOREA (SOUTH) KUWAIT LITHUANIA LUXEMBOURG MALAYSIA MEXICO MOROCCO NETHERLANDS TOTAL 0 FEB 200 113 2490 203 35 286 82 602 2524 28 261 1903 54 82 330 59 7 238 1657 1550 401 1168 46 19 2102 401 158 225 525 4816 30 1154 87 3 68 1208 227 26 408 COMPANIES ADDED FEB-MAR 200 5 25 1 5 5 1 2 15 2 3 50 0 1 0 3 0 0 13 4 0 4 5 0 26 8 0 2 6 37 5 17 9 0 0 4 2 0 1 ACTIVE  APR 200 86 1912 105 40 148 76 386 1598 22 218 1895 35 20 170 55 7 138 866 1052 288 1022 29 17 2023 359 79 186 295 3971 35 974 96 3 46 1002 132 24 212 INACTIVE  APR 200 32 603 99 0 143 7 218 941 8 46 58 19 63 160 7 0 100 804 502 113 150 22 2 105 50 79 41 236 882 0 197 0 0 22 210 97 2 197 TOTAL  APR 200 118 2515 204 40 291 83 604 2539 30 264 1953 54 83 330 62 7 238 1670 1554 401 1172 51 19 2128 409 158 227 531 4853 35 1171 96 3 68 1212 229 26 409 INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 39NEW ZEALAND NIGERIA NORWAY PAKISTAN PERU PHILIPPINES POLAND PORTUGAL QATAR RUSSIAN FEDERATION SAUDI ARABIA SINGAPORE SLOVAKIA SLOVENIA SOUTH AFRICA SPAIN SRI LANKA SWEDEN SWITZERLAND TAIWAN THAILAND TURKEY UNITED ARAB EMIRATES UNITED KINGDOM UNITED STATES VENEZUELA VIRGIN ISLANDS (BRITISH ZIMBABWE OVERALL TOTALS 202 0 409 152 103 263 263 144 35 123 55 772 25 11 843 316 34 607 437 1685 639 263 36 4563 181 92 50 13 30 1 3 5 5 2 13 2 21 1 1 33 24 9 0 1 20 5 2 6 1 35 5 0 13 23 112 0 0 4 0 114 5 193 130 86 241 246 60 36 141 79 647 10 12 370 150 32 330 275 1500 535 230 48 2298 9039 35 12 32 30 91 0 221 24 30 24 38 85 0 15 0 134 15 0 493 171 4 283 163 220 109 33 1 2288 9265 15 1 2 1990 205 5 414 154 116 265 284 145 36 156 79 781 25 12 863 321 36 613 438 1720 644 263 49 4586 18304 50 13 34  INFOSTREAM MAY/JUN 2008  © THOMSON REUTERS 2008 0 CONTRIBUTORS PRODUCT MANAGEMENT PAUL BACON DATAFEEDS paul. [email  protected] com +44 (0)20 7324 6873 JULIAN RICKARDS DATASTREAM ADVANCE, DSWINDOWS, DSDDE julian. [email  protected] com +44 (0)20 7336 1944 CASEY PEARCE DATASTREAM INTERACTIVE CHARTING casey. [email  protected] com +44 (0)20 7324 9359 IAN BROCKLEHURST THOMSON ONE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS ian. [email  protected] com +44 (0)20 7324 8890 DAVID BERNARD THOMSON ONE INVESTMENT BANKING SOLUTIONS david. [email  protected] com +44 (0)20 7336 1930 STEVE KELLY THOMSON EXTEL SURVEYS steve. [email  protected] com +44 (0)20 7324 9200 CONTENT MANAGEMENTNICOLAS DE LAURENS CASTELET GLOBAL CONTENT SOLUTIONS nicolas. [email  protected] com +44 (0)20 7336 1950 STEPHEN CARTER COMPANY ACCOUNTS stephen. [email  protected] com +44 (0)29 2063 1943 ANNE SIEBER EQUITIES, EQUITY INDICES, FUNDS & 3RD-PARTY DATA anne. [email  protected] com +44 (0)20 7324 9741 JAMES BRIGHT I/B/E/S GLOBAL AGGREGATES ESTIMATES DATA james. [email  protected] com +44 (0)20 7324 9600 NELSON SALSINHA DERIVATIVES & COMMODITIES nelson. [email  protected] com +44 (0)20 7324 9455 MADELEINE DISARIO ECONOMICS madeleine. [email  protected] com +1 301 545 4255 TONY MCCORMACK FIXED INCOME tony. [email  protected] com +44 (0)20 7014 1232