Company Financial Analysis (2,000 words) You will be allocated a company within the FTSE 250 index to undertake this task. Collect share price data for both your company and the

FTSE 250 index from 1st February 2008 until 31st January 2013 from Morningstar company intelligence and Yahoo Finance (uk.finance.yahoo.com) and undertake the following tasks:
(i) Provide an introduction of no more than 100 words to your company and the sector in which it operates.

(ii) Using the data collected, calculate the beta for your company using Excel. Compare your results with the published beta for your company on uk.reuters.com. Explain any differences between the published result and your calculated result.
(iii) Compare the share price performance of your company with that of the FTSE 250 index. In your comparison, you should analyse your company’s performance using finance theories.
(iv) Compare the five-year performance of your company with the share price performance since the 31st January 2013

(i.e. 1st February 2013 20 April 2013). Within your comparison, you should identify the principal factors that have caused price changes over this three-month
period and how this may be explained by finance theory.

Referencing Requirements:

Arnold, G. (2007) Essentials of corporate financial management, Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education Ltd. chapter 5
Block, S.B. & Hirt, G.A. (2008) Foundations of financial management, 12th ed., New York, New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin chapter 13
Brealey, S.C., Myers, S.C., & Marcus, A.J. (2009) Fundamentals of corporate finance, 6th ed., New York, New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin chapter 11
Marney, J-P., & Tarbert, H. (2011) Corporate finance for business, Oxford: Oxford University Press Chapter 5
Ross, S.A., Westerfield, R.W., & Jordan, B.D. (2008) Essentials of corporate finance, 6th ed., New York, New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin chapter 10