The coursework will be undertaken as a piece of individual work. You are required toanalyse the recent financial performance of a major UK company from the assigned listprovided including a financial comparison with one of its direct competitors. The reportshould conclude with an investment recommendation for a potential equity investor (i.e.,whether to buy, sell or hold the company’s shares).Using financial ratio analysis as well as other techniques, you are required to usethe company’s latest Annual Report and to make comparisons with the performance ofone other company in the same industry. When writing the report, your focus should beon the main company, using the other company and any industry average data as abenchmark for comparison. Do not write your report as if you are analyzing the twocompanies separately.You are required to write a 3,000-word report to an investor, containing a detailedanalysis of the financial position and the financial performance of the company.Given that the latest annual report and the financial accounts of any company arealready out of date by the time it is made available, you will be expected to showknowledge of the present and likely future economic & business environment withinwhich the company is operating in order to make informed comments on the financialratios that you calculate. The completed coursework is to be in the form of a written report.You MUST include relevant extracts from the latest Annual Reports, namelythe Income statement, and the Statement of Financial Position (Balance Sheet) – with notesto the accounts where appropriate. These extracts should be included within theappendices to your report. They will be required to support your ratio calculations andyour analysis, and their inclusion is essential.
