Press Release: ICON Financial Advisory Services
February 11, 2002
SAN DIEGO, CA -- ICON FINANCIAL ADVISORY SERVICES, LLC (IFAS) Friday released two of the most comprehensive studies
to date on labor productivity and vertical gap analysis benchmarks for Cendant Corporation (NYSE:CD).
Drawing on the expertise of Professor Philip M. Parker of INSEAD (Fontainbleau, France and Singapore), IFAS has
benchmarked Cendant Corporation against competing firms in the real estate agent and management industry worldwide-going
beyond traditional methods of company benchmarking. The results are two specialized reports: (1) global financial
benchmarks using common-size statement ratios (vertical analysis), and (2) labor-productivity and utilization measures
collected across borders. Parker notes, "With the globalization of markets, greater foreign competition, and
the reduction of entry barriers, it becomes all the more important to benchmark a company's financial indicators
on a worldwide basis. World stock markets have recently witnessed a return to fundamental financial analysis. Sound
management as opposed to hype will in the long run generate shareholder value."
According to Aaron Freeman, President of IFAS, "We created these reports in response to two inescapable trends:
a return to fundamentals and globalization." The goal of these reports is to assist consultants, financial
managers, strategic planners, and corporate officers in gauging indicators of Cendant Corporation's human resource
and financial structure.
Freeman states, "We are intrigued by the wide variations in basic financial and productivity measures between
Cendant Corporation and other real estate companies. The gross profit margin, for example, varied from 84.50 to
7.43. We see this type of variation in the 100 or so ratios that we estimate."
What do the reports cover?
Two reports, labor productivity ratios and financial competitiveness ratios, are available for Cendant Corporation.
Each report reveals productivity and industry ranks for companies in the real estate industry.
The labor productivity analysis details the following: What has been the ratio of short-term and long-term assets
to employee? What are typical capital-labor ratios? What are the average sales and net profits per employee compared
to global benchmarks?
The vertical analysis report answers the following questions: How has Cendant Corporation's asset structure varied
compared to global benchmarks for the real estate industry? Does it generally hold more cash and other short-term
assets, or does it tend to concentrate its assets in physical plant and equipment? On the liability side, does
Cendant Corporation typically have a higher percent of payables compared to the benchmarks, or does it hold a higher
concentration of long-term debt? Does Cendant Corporation have a relatively higher cost of goods sold, operating
costs, or income taxes compared to global benchmarks? Have Cendant Corporation's returns on equity been higher
or its profit margins greater?
Reports for the following real estate companies and many others are available now:
Able Inc., American Real Estate Partners L.P., Amoy Properties Ltd., B Richard Ellis Services Inc., Countrywide
Assured Group PLC, Dia Kensetsu Co. Ltd., DTZ Holdings PLC, Homeservices.Com Inc., Insignia Financial Group, IVG
Holding AG, JM AB, Keppel Land Ltd., Liberty International PLC, Midland Realty Ltd., Mie Kotsu Co. Ltd., Mitsubishi
Estate Co. Ltd., Ringkjobing Landbobank A/S. Robinson's Land Corp.,Sagami Railway Co., Ltd. Shun Tak Holdings Ltd.,
Silverleaf Resorts Inc., Sumitomo Real Estate Sales Co. Ltd.
How do they do that? : Methodology
Most vertical analyses merely focus on benchmarking against domestic ratios, often published by government agencies
or commercial sources. In contrast, IFAS calculates thousands of industry norms by looking at firms at the global
level, pooling statistics on tens of thousands of companies across over 40 countries, and applying a seven-stage
methodology: (1) identification of industry classifications, (2) firm-level data collection and aggregation, (3)
standardization of raw statistics, (4) filtering outliers, (5) calculation of global norms, (6) projection of deviations
and gaps, and (7) projection of ranks and percentiles. For each part of the financial statement, the larger structural
differences and gaps between Cendant Corporation and the global benchmarks are provided with summary tables of
ranks and percentiles.
Previously available only through booksellers such as Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and Hoovers, two studies are
now available direct from the publisher at a 50% discount off the cover price. This special offer includes Labor
Productivity, Utilization and Global Benchmarks and Vertical Analysis and International Financial Benchmarks at
US$ 199.90 ($99.95 each). E-mail iconsubs@san.rr.com for more information.
About IFAS
IFAS assists managers with global benchmarking, gap analysis, and productivity studies. Clients can create their
own benchmarks by choosing their competitors from among over 20,000 companies.
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Contact:
Contact: Dannielle Andrews
Company: ICON Financial Advisory Services, LLC
Voice: 858-546-4345
Fax: 858-546-4341
Email: iconsubs@san.rr.com
CRD#: 119-292